Never Forget

                                                             NEVER FORGET


         “Honey I’m concerned about your father,” Dawn said

         “Dad? Why?”

         Well you know your mom’s birthday is coming up and I remember how depressed he got last year.”

         “But it’s been a whole year since then.”

         “They say the special days are the hardest.”

           “Should we plan something to keep him busy?”

         “No.  He’d know that’s what we were doing.”

         “Of course he would, but we don’t want him sitting around that house getting depressed either.”

           “This is the grieving process we all have to go through.  We want him to get over it and be okay and he will, but I don’t think it can be hurried.”

         “And we don’t want him to think he has to pretend to be over it for our sake.”

         “We sure don’t.”  Miles walked to the window.  “They were together for fifty years and that’s a long time.  That’s a lot of history.”

         “He doesn’t want to forget her birthday.”

         Miles looked up with a smile.  “He did once.  Years ago when they were first married.  Bill was a baby.  He never thought of it until he saw the birthday card Grandma sent her on the table.”

         “What did he do?”

         “He had a good laugh telling me about it.  It was a snowy day, like this one, and he had to hurry out and get a card and candy and flowers.  The car got stuck in the snow and when he finally got home, he found out he had three more days to do all that.  Grandma’s birthday card was early.”

         “Was your mom upset?”

         “No. After that she always reminded him.”
         “How?”

         “She wrote it on his mirror with lipstick.” 

         “I can see her doing it.”

         Miles blinked away tears.  “So can I.”

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