Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Pros and Cons (08/14/14)
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TITLE: Handful of Pearls | Previous Challenge Entry
By Brenda Rice
08/21/14 -
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“We must weigh our options, honey and not make a snap decision.” Dad said as he patted my mother’s hand. “I can see some pros with the nursing home option.”
“Well I don’t see any pros; all I see are cons. I can’t leave her to live with strangers. She can live with us. It’s going to be painful enough telling her she can’t live in her home anymore.” My mom became more agitated as she spoke. “She loves that old house. I hate this, all of it!”
Options, pros and cons were words I didn’t understand, but I knew they had something to do with my gran not being able to live in her old house in the country anymore. Visiting her during the summers when school was out was great fun. We had tea parties and sat on the veranda listening to the frogs and crickets singing down by the pond.
Once she asked me to help her put on her pearls. My poppy gave them to her the day they were married. Carefully I draped the strand of matching pearls around her slender neck, but as I fumbled with the clasp the pearls began falling to floor and bouncing on the hardwood. I yelled and started crying.
“Ginny girl, there’s no need to cry. Just pick them up and put them in my hand. This could have happened anytime, but I am glad it happened while you’re here, because it would have been difficult for me to have picked them up.”
Although, I felt a little better, I was still upset. “What will you do with them?”
“I’ll have them repaired and one day, they will be YOURS! Now, find me another necklace. We have to leave for church.”
My dad passed away two years ago and my mom is showing signs of dementia. It’s time for me to weigh my options. This is so difficult. I’ve prayed for guidance, but I haven’t heard anything. It’s clear to me now how my mom felt when I was ten.
I remember Mom’s struggle and her ultimate decision to have my gran live with us. I know in my heart she would never want to live with strangers either, but am I strong enough? “Lord do I have her strength and her courage? How will I cope with losing her when she’s so close? At times it seems putting her in a nursing home would be easier.”
“Ginny my child, death has been a part of life since Adam and Eve. Your mother has had a long and prosperous life which is a blessing from Me. You are more like her than you realize. She imparted her faith and her strength to you. Whatever you decide I will be with you. You are never alone.”
I wanted God to tell me what to do, but he didn’t. It was my decision. I decided to talk with Mom while she was still able to comprehend my dilemma.
Early one morning I visited Mother. Her maid was preparing breakfast so I took my opportunity while brushing her silvery locks. As I struggled to speak, Mom beat me to it. She looked into the mirror and smiled, “Ginny put my pearls on me please. I haven’t worn them in so long. You know, your dad gave them to me on our wedding day just like my dad did for my mother. They were enough alike to have been father and son.”
Memories of the day Gran’s pearls broke and I picked them up one by one placing them in her hand flooded into my mind. I gathered Mom’s pearls into the palm of my hand, and as my fingers closed around them, my decision was made.
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Well done.
God bless~