a DATE
After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman
out to dinner and a movie. She said I love you but I know this other
woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.
The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has
been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three
children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.
That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.
“What’s wrong, are you well?” she asked. My mother is the type of
woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is
a sign of bad news.
“I thought that it would be pleasant to be with you,” I responded.
“Just the two of us.”
She thought about it for a moment, and then said, “I would like that
very much.”
That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up. I was a bit
nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed
to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on.
She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to
celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that
was as radiant as an angel’s.
“I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they
were impressed, “she said, as she got into the car. “They can’t wait
to hear about our meeting”. We went to a restaurant that, although not
classy, it was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she
were the First Lady.
After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Large print. Half way
through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there
staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. “I was the one who
used to have to read the menu when you were small,” she said.
“Then it’s time that you relax and let me return the favor,” I
responded.
During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation – nothing extraordinary, but
catching up on recent events of each other’s life. We talked so much
that we missed the movie.
As we arrived at her house later, she said, “I’ll go out with you
again, but only if you let me invite you.” I agreed.
“How was your dinner date?” asked my wife when I got home. “Very nice.
Much more than I could have
imagined,” I answered.
A few days later, my mother died of a
massive heart attack.
It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have time to do anything for her.
Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant
receipt from the same place mother and I had dined.
An attached note said: “I paid this bill in advance. I wasn’t sure
that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates – one
for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that
night meant for me. I love you, son.”
At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time:
“I LOVE YOU” and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off
till “some other time.”
Think about this…. Pass the story along to everyone with an aging parent, to a child, to an adult, to anyone with a parent.
Author: Unknown (& edited by Richard Bejah)
Have an awesome day…!!
Quote:
“Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.
~ Reinhold Niebuhr