SHE WAS OLD NOW

This piece was written by visitor Linda, a school teacher and  member of the former Foothills Writers Group.

She was old now. Most of her friends had passed away so she had few visitors.  Her children or grandchildren would come to visit on most holidays.  They came when they needed something---money or information about their genealogy.

So there she sat in her old wooden rocking chair on the big front porch of her mountain home enjoying the first rays of the sun, holding onto the thought that maybe she could stay in her home one more year without needing help.  Maybe she could stay there until God came for her.

“Let’s just take a day at a time”, she said out loud in her squeaky old voice but no one was there to hear.

She pondered on her purpose in life. What did God mean for her to learn or teach in this last chapter of her life?  She had a lot of time to think of days gone by. She thought about the years spent raising children. She felt as if she’d had a purpose then. She was a good mother, focused on her family, working to satisfy their needs. She thought about the good and bad times spent with her husband, her only love for seventy years. He had promised not to leave her, but he really had no control over that promise. He had passed away last spring from heart problems. She thought about all the fun and adventure that came with grandchildren and great grandchildren but now she had been forgotten and discarded. They had become adults and were fulfilling their own purposes in life. So here she sat alone. 

Spring was in the air. She could feel it. She could smell the earth. After so many seasons it was easy to pick up the signs. She knew that although it was warm today, there was still the threat of that last winter snow.

Something moved in the air, startling her from her thoughts. Even with her failing eyesight it caught her attention.  She looked up to see the elongated red-tinted glass humming bird feeder her granddaughter had gotten her for her ninetieth birthday.  She hadn’t been able to climb the ladder this fall to retrieve it.  She had forgotten it was still hanging from the porch roof. She hated to bother the children to come and help her.

Something moved again. It came from behind the feeder. It was the first humming bird of the spring, hoping, anticipating that there might be some food in the feeder.  Her brain and her bones were slow to react.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized to the little bird.  “I’m sorry, for not remembering you would be back in the spring. I will get you something to eat.”

Slowly she lifted herself from the chair and headed for the kitchen. Maybe that was her purpose now. Maybe in this chapter of her life she was to help feed the little souls and creatures of God’s world. Well she would be patient. God would reveal his plan as he always did. She would take one day at a time.