The following is a small digression from the norm
found here. Why? I’m not sure. Perhaps it was needed more than I realized.
Perhaps it was a truth that needed to be shared. Enjoy.
The
Blessing
She sat behind her desk, fiddling with the ball
point that should be gliding across decorative paper, staring out the window
without seeing the scene beyond the pane of frosted glass. The day dragged on
as it had since 8 am. Memories held her attention, drawing her back to people
and places thirty years before and far away from this cold and dreary place;
memories of those gone from this world though never far from daily thought.
Emotional upheaval caught at her throat as she
pictured another holiday season, another room, another impending loss. Tears
threatened to take permanent possession of her eyes even as swallowing became a
challenge. How often did she have to relive those days and nights belonging to
the past?
A moment, a day, a lifetime later, the woman turned
away from the window to see where she’d left off on her annual Christmas letter
to family and friends. In the center of the bright red, beribboned page she saw
a portrait; an image she’d not seen smile in so very many years. The sudden
appearance of that face broke her resolve to forego crying.
Her mother’s laughing, loving countenance required a release
of the building tension that threatened to overtake her again this year.
Had her mother’s spirit found a way to visit long
enough to reassure her of the rightness of things? Was this a message
instructing her finally to let go? Or, was it merely a sign that her mother was
happy where she was?
Did it matter what the exact message was so long as
something positive came from it?
The woman found herself smiling at this gift that
had been given to her. Whether her subconscious had doodled the portrait or
some other means had put the beloved face on the page, the gift was gratefully
accepted. She could go on now with the holiday that had become a burden to survive
rather than a gift to appreciate and celebrate.
A slow smile began to spread across her face, her
throat loosening its muscles and tear ducts turning off their leaks. The time
had come to release the unshed grief. Blessings came in myriad packages, she realized.
