T-Bone Steak and Yellow Roses
Unknown
I walked into the grocery store not particularly interested in buying groceries. I wasn't hungry. The pain of losing my husband was still too raw. And this grocery store held so many sweet memories. He often came with me and almost every time he'd pretend to go off and look for something special. I knew what he was up to. I'd always spot him walking down the aisle with the three yellow roses in his hands.
He knew I loved yellow roses. With a heart filled with grief, I only wanted to buy my few items and leave, but even grocery shopping was different since he had passed on.
Shopping for one took time, a little more thought than it had for two. Standing by the meat, I searched for the perfect small steak and remembered how he had loved his steak.
Suddenly a woman came beside me. She was blonde, slim and lovely In a soft green pantsuit. I watched as she picked up a large package of T-bones, dropped them in her basket.. hesitated, and then put them back. She turned to go and once again reached for the pack of steaks. She saw me watching her and she smiled. "My husband loves T-bones, but honestly, at these prices, I don't know."
I swallowed the emotion down my throat and met her pale blue eyes.
"My husband passed away eight days ago," I told her. Glancing at The package in her hands, I fought to control the tremble in my voice. "Buy him the steaks. And cherish every moment you have together."
She shook her head and I saw the emotion in her eyes as she placed the package in her basket and wheeled away.
I turned and pushed my cart across the length of the store to the dairy products. There I stood, trying to decide which size milk I should buy. A quart, I finally decided and moved on to the ice cream. If nothing else, I could always fix myself an ice cream cone.
I placed the ice cream in my cart and looked down the aisle toward the front. I saw first the green suit, then recognized the pretty lady coming towards me. In her arms she carried a package. On her face was the brightest smile I had ever seen. I would swear a soft halo encircled her blonde hair as she kept walking toward me, her eyes holding mine.
As she came closer, I saw what she held and tears began misting in my eyes. "These are for you," she said and placed three beautiful long stemmed yellow roses in my arms. "When you go through the line, they will know these are paid for." She leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, then smiled again. I wanted to tell her what she'd done, what the roses meant, but still unable to speak, I watched as she walked away as tears clouded my vision.
I looked down at the beautiful roses nestled in the green tissue wrapping and found it almost unreal. How did she know? Suddenly the answer seemed so clear. I wasn't alone.
Oh, you haven't forgotten me, have you? I whispered, with tears in my eyes. He was still with me, and she was his angel.
The Dragonfly
Unknown
Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads, there lived a little water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond with few disturbances and interruptions.
Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was dead, gone forever.
Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined that he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he had found at the top.
When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun felt so warm, that he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful blue-tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body designed for flying.
So, fly he did! And, as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had never known existed.
Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they were thinking by now he was dead. He wanted to go back to tell them, and explain to them that he was now more alive than he had ever been before. His life had been fulfilled rather than ended.
But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they, too, would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!
Just for this morning...
Unknown
I am going to smile when I see your face…and laugh when I feel like crying.
I will let you choose what you want to wear, and I will smile and say how perfect it is.
I am going to step over the laundry, pick you up, and take you to the park to play.
I will leave the dishes in the sink and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.
Just for this afternoon…
I will unplug the telephone, keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard blowing bubbles.
I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble, when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck…and I will buy you one when he comes by.
I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.
I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them.
I will take us to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening…
I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you.
I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.
I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.
I will snuggle beside you for hours and miss my favorite TV shows.
And just for this evening, when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given. I will think about the mothers and fathers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and the mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly while screaming inside that they can't handle it anymore. And when I kiss you good night, I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then that I will thank God for you and ask him for nothing, except one more day…
A Wasted Day?
A father and son view the time they've spent together very differently.
Mac Anderson and Lance Wubbels
In the faint light of the attic, an old man, tall and stooped, bent his great frame and made his way to a stack of boxes that sat near one of the little half-windows. Brushing aside a wisp of cobwebs, he tilted the top box toward the light and began to carefully lift out one old photograph album after another. Eyes once bright but now dim searched longingly for the source that had drawn him here.
It began with the fond recollection of the love of his life, long gone, and somewhere in these albums was a photo of her he hoped to rediscover. Silent as a mouse, he patiently opened the long buried treasures and soon was lost in a sea of memories. Although his world had not stopped spinning when his wife left it, the past was more alive in his heart than his present aloneness.
Setting aside one of the dusty albums, he pulled from the box what appeared to be a journal from his grown son's childhood. He could not recall ever having seen it before, or that his son had ever kept a journal. 'Why did Elizabeth always save the children's old junk?' he wondered, shaking his white head.
Opening the yellowed pages, he glanced over a short reading, and his lips curved in an unconscious smile. Even his eyes brightened as he read the words that spoke clear and sweet to his soul. It was the voice of the little boy who had grown up far too fast in this very house, and whose voice had grown fainter and fainter over the years. In the utter silence of the attic, the words of a guileless six-year-old worked their magic and carried the old man back to a time almost totally forgotten.
Entry after entry stirred a sentimental hunger in his heart like the longing a gardener feels in the winter for the fragrance of spring flowers. But it was accompanied by the painful memory that his son's simple recollections of those days were far different from his own. But how different?
Reminded that he had kept a daily journal of his business activities over the years, he closed his son's journal and turned to leave, having forgotten the cherished photo that originally triggered his search. Hunched over to keep from bumping his head on the rafters, the old man stepped to the wooden stairway and made his descent, then headed down a carpeted stairway that led to the den.
Opening a glass cabinet door, he reached in and pulled out an old business journal. Turning, he sat down at his desk and placed the two journals beside each other. His was leather-bound and engraved neatly with his name in gold, while his son's was tattered and the name "Jimmy" had been nearly scuffed from its surface. He ran a long skinny finger over the letters, as though he could restore what had been worn way with time and use. As he opened his journal, the old man's eyes fell upon an inscription that stood out because it was so brief in comparison to other days. In his own neat handwriting were these words: Wasted the whole day fishing with Jimmy. Didn't catch a thing.
With a deep sigh and a shaking hand, he took Jimmy's journal and found the boy's entry for the same day, June 4. Large scrawling letters, pressed deeply into the paper, read: Went fishing with my dad. Best day of my life.
Someone
Author Unknown
someone
is very proud of you
someone
is thinking of you
someone
cares about you
someone
misses you
someone
wants to talk to you
someone
wants to be with you
someone
hopes you aren't in trouble
someone
is thankful for the support you have provided
someone
wants to hold your hand
someone
hopes everything turns out all right
someone
wants you to be happy
someone
wants you to find them
someone
is celebrating your successes
someone
wants to give you a gift
someone
thinks you ARE a gift
someone
hopes you are not too cold, or too hot
someone
wants to hug you
someone
loves you
someone
wants to lavish you with small gifts
someone
admires your strength
someone
is thinking of you and smiling
someone
wants to be your shoulder to cry on
someone
wants to go out with you and have a lot of fun
someone
thinks the world of you
someone
wants to protect you
someone
would do anything for you
someone
wants to be forgiven
someone
is grateful for your forgiveness
someone
wants to laugh with you about old times
someone
remembers you and wishes you were there
someone
needs to know that your love is unconditional
someone
values your advice
someone
wants to tell you how much they care
someone
wants to stay up watching old movies with you
someone
wants to share their dreams with you
someone
wants to hold you in their arms
someone
wants YOU to hold them in your arms
someone
treasures your spirit
someone
wishes they could STOP time because of you
someone
can't wait to see you
someone
wishes that things didn't have to change
someone
loves you for who you are
someone
loves the way you make them feel
someone
wants to be with you
someone
hears a song that reminds them of you
someone
wants you to know they are there for you
someone
is glad that you're their friend
someone
wants to be your friend
someone
stayed up all night thinking about you
someone
is alive because of you
someone
is wishing that you would notice them
someone
wants to get to know you better
someone
believes that you are their soul mate
someone
wants to be near you
someone
misses your guidance and advice
someone
values your guidance and advice
someone
has faith in you
someone
trusts you
someone
needs you to send them this letter
someone
needs your support
someone
needs you to have faith in them
someone
needs you to let them be your friend
someone
will cry when they read this
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