I met a wonderful couple today: an old lady and her very old mother. We got to talking and the mother began to reminisce about her husband. They'd been married fifty years when he died. She is still grieving and it's been along time since he passed. Every day, she'd bring him a glass of orange juice in the morning while he shaved. He would reach over and kiss the hand holding the glass and say, "Good morning, my darling." Every night, he would give her a cuddle and say, "Good night, my darling." As he lay dying, she held his hand in their bed and coaxed, "My love, try and say it. Say, "good night, my darling." Her lip trembled as she told me this, then this beautiful smile broke through as she said, "He couldn't say it with words so he said it with his eyes." She went on with a few more beautiful stories and all three of us were a bit teary by the end of it. The daughter smiled in a bittersweet way. "Yeah, Dad was a really nice guy. A really nice guy." "Make sure you're friends first," the old lady instructed me, wagging a finger to make her point. "Friends first. Then everything will be fine."
I love stories like that; magical meetings that reaffirm the fact that love does exist, true love does conquer all, and even if it's fleeting, it's still a pearl beyond price. I don't feel envy or bitterness that I don't have such a relationship in my life right now. Mostly I feel gratitude that I'm given proof, every once in a while, that such wonders really do exist. In the cynical world we live in, so much shit is spinning in our heads every day; horrors on the news, financial disasters, relationship woes and physical ailments, that we lose sight of real magic. There's Merlin sorcery in the heart of a flower, whimsical fairy dust in the silver bell laugh of a child, and spiritual warmth in the sight of two people in love. I adore watching parents truly enjoying their kids, proof that that also exists. When you're raised by slamhound maniacs without a clue as to decent behavior (because they've never experienced it either), it's hard to see joy in another without a bit of gall in the throat. But there, right before you, is one child you don't have to worry about. One kid who's confident and happy. I'm not talking about spoiled brats who get their way in all things. I'm talking about children who are given proper boundaries and can flourish with such strong roots put down. I know a marvelous old woman who was born wealthy, raised by loving parents, married an adoring man, is surrounded by protective and adoring children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. People bitch about her gentle kindness, sneering such opinions as, "Sure, if I was that rich and spoiled, I'd be nice and gentle too." But don't knock that. Can you imagine what it would be like to be free of strife, want and emotional starvation? There would be no war and most likely no cruelty if everybody was raised that way. She is a philanthropist and does a great deal of charity work because she was raised to appreciate everything that she has, all the benefits and advantages she was born with. A garden of Eden, right here on Earth. So I am grateful for such lovely visions and signs of the depth, strength and beauty of the human spirit. Cruelty, I'm well acquainted with but kindness...that will always be magical, no matter what form it takes or where I find it. May you all have a little pixie dust sprinkled on your own lives, and may you also spread it around a bit yourselves.
Love, R
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