Ms. Maude's Roses

I felt as though I were going back in time each visit. Each time I
listened to this lady speak. Ms. Maude was 102 years old today and
still as spry as ever. I loved to hear all the stories, adventures and
funny little things she did as a child. She was so wise, smart, and for
lack of a better word, completely sane. With a wonderful memory. But,
as I listened to her today, things were different.

Ms. Maude had been admitted into the hospital and had been there for
about two weeks. They had rushed her from the nursing home to the
hospital. They said that she was having heart problems, at her age,
definitely not uncommon at all. The nurse told me that she should have
died the first night she came in, but has been strong and happy the
entire time, and just doesn't seem ready to give up.

She was constantly walking the halls, visiting other patients, and
singing. She had even requested a room by the maternity ward, for she
loved the babies.

As I sat with her she started to tell me more stories of the past. Like
the time she was out in the fields working and a tornado just came out
of nowhere. How they all got in a ditch and started praying to God and
for some reason they were all spared.

How pieces of straw were put through a tree, and how houses were picked
up and relocated, being sat back down basically unscathed, yet one mile
away, a house was torn to shreds. How they all survived, yet the
neighbors, not even a half-mile away, were all killed.

How she remembered traveling in a covered wagon across from Oklahoma,
to Mississippi, and that she would not have traded those times for
anything. For she literally was able to see the countryside and could
not have asked for a better view. She was able to see the country
before all the people, houses and buildings covered the land, and had
taken over everything.

How she saw real Indians in official Indian attire. It is not like
Indians that have been forced onto reservations today. She got to see
the real thing.

How the doctors used to make house calls and they not only treated
people, but also animals. For country doctors were just that; country
doctors. How doctors accepted chickens, homemade breads, pies or eggs,
as payment. They were not out to get rich like most doctor's today.
They were in the profession because they loved it.

As I listened to her speak I wondered what a day in her life would have
been like. My father and I are alike, for we both wish that we could
travel back in time, to spend just one or two days.

Ms. Maude seemed to be dozing off for a bit, so I sat quietly, watching
her breathe and was very saddened that I had not met this lady years
ago. She had been in this world for 102 years. Can you imagine?

She raised three children, saw all three die, before she did. One
daughter from a heart attack, one daughter had cancer and finally lost
the battle, and her son died from a car crash. He was the last to
go.

She had watched her husband, Harvey, die some 30 years ago, and she had
never even considered getting remarried. From what she told me they had
a wonderful relationship and out of all the people that had gone before
her, with exception to her children, Harvey she missed the most.

She said Harvey had given her a rose every week they were married and
it started the day they were married. And he never missed a single
week. He said that a wife, woman, mother, was something special.
Someone to be loved and adored. Someone to be cherished and put upon a
pedestal. What a great man he must have been.

Whenever she spoke of Harvey you could just see the lights go bright in
her blue eyes. It was almost as if he had just walked into the room at
that moment. I swear I could feel the love myself, through her. And
each time she mentioned him she would hold her hands together, rubbing
her finger. I assumed to keep her mind busy, as not to cry.

It was about midnight whenever she started to come awake again, and she
called me over to her bedside. "Doris," she said, "I have something
that I want to give you my dear. I feel that my time on this earth is
coming to an end and it is time for me to leave."

As I sat by her side, on the bed, I felt tears starting to well up in
my eyes. She pulled from her finger a small gold ring that had a golden
rose on it. She started to place it on my finger, but I told her that I
could not accept such a gift. "Surely, Ms. Maude, your grandchildren,
or someone else, deserves this more than I do." She started to shake
her head at me.

"Doris," she told me, "You have visited me, have talked to me at
length, and have let an old lady ramble on about things of the past,
things long gone, and not once did you interrupt me, or seem
bored."

"You have taken recipes from my memories and have made them for me. My
apple pie and coconut cakes, and my own mother's recipe for fried
squash and chicken. You didn't have to do that. You have literally made
me a part of your life, of your family, so I do consider you mine. I
love you like my own daughter."

"I had not seen my grandchildren in about two years, not until I was
admitted here. Even then only one has come to visit me twice."

I just could not image this, for she only had three grandchildren. She
held my hand and a tear rolled upon her cheek and I knew that the time
must be drawing near.

"Ms. Maude," I told her, "You are a very special woman, not just to me,
but to all. You have brought such joy, such grace, love and light into
our lives. Your coming into my life has been one of the best things to
happen to me. The stories you have shared with me were not rambling in
my eyes. It gave me the chance to sit back and hear true wisdom. To
close my eyes and imagine, if only a second, the experiences you have
had, that I will never be able to have. I love you as my own
mother."

She placed the ring upon my finger slowly and then patted my hand,
telling me the story behind it.

Harvey had given her a rose a week, every week, until he died. He had
cancer and he knew that he was dying, so he went out and he bought her
this gold rose ring. Harvey told her that even in death, he loved her
and would patiently wait until her time to join him.

But, just because they were separated by death, this did not change the
facts. The fact that he loved and adored her and from the day he saw
her he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She
had been the best friend, best wife and mother he could have ever hoped
for, and couldn't have made a better choice. She had given him three
wonderful children to love and brighten his days and he still felt the
same as he did the day they married.

A wife and mother is to be loved and cherished, for no man could handle
the pain, trials, and jobs that a woman, wife and mother face. To him,
women were elite, special and the best creation God had made. To treat
a woman otherwise, he would not be a real man. Not in his eyes.

Harvey told her that he could not leave this world happy, a real
husband, unless she knew just how much he loved her. Just how special
she was. He thanked God for the years he had with her and would not
have changed a thing.

So, he bought her this golden rose ring and told her that just because
he was dead, was no reason to stop showing her just how much he loved
her and how special she was to him. That even though he would no longer
be there she deserved her rose each week, as he had always done, so he
wanted her to have this ring. He wanted her to continue getting her
roses, only now she would just have a permanent rose, a golden one,
that matched her golden heart.

Tears streamed down my face now. "What would I ever do without this
wonderful, lively, beautiful woman in my life?" I thought.

She touched my face and wiped the tears away and told me. "You are a
woman, a mother and a wife Doris, and you are very special indeed. If
you never remember anything, remember that."

"You have also brought such joy and happiness into my life. Into
other's lives, so, I pass this golden ring to you. I give it to you so
that you may receive a rose each day, each week, until it is your time
to leave this world. There is no other person I would rather see
wearing it."

I looked at her and said, "Won't Harvey wonder what happened to it once
you see him in heaven?"

She smiled at me and then said, "Darlin', if I know Harvey, he has a
rose waiting for me as we speak, and once there, I will receive a rose
each week again, for eternity. So, I no longer need to wear that ring,
it is best worn on your finger now."

I thought to myself, what I wouldn't give to have a love such as that.
A man such as that, to love me.

I thanked her and leaned over to give Ms. Maude a kiss on her cheek,
and while doing so, I heard the last breath she ever took upon this
earth.

When she died she had a peaceful look, actually a smile upon her face,
so I figure that Harvey was there, waiting on her. That with her last
breath on earth, as she passed over into another land, there stood her
Harvey, arms out, rose in hand, to welcome her home!

The End