A thoughtful gift

Melisa has been working her mind to death like a dog with the bone for the last few days to determine the apt gift for her mom Maggie on her ensuing 65th birth day that happened to be a Thanks giving day. She knew that her mom  never liked anything gaudy or rich. Neither a sari nor a jewel seemed appropriate this year. Her dad had passed away only ten months back and her mom would desire no celebration what so ever.

Her parents were very loving and caring to each other in their married life that spanned forty years. Each one of them gave in to make the other happy. Melisa had never witnessed even a single instance of their being angry with each other while tiffs seemed a matter of daily occurrence in her own life. Her mom had still not got over the shock and was living in her past memories refusing to move on with life.

 Melisa’s husband could be of no help with his crazy idea of taking her mom out to a picturesque spot on the occasion. He presumably thought that it would be a change from the surroundings. But then he had not understood his mother-in-law well. Her mom had emphatically told her that she would not like any celebration and that the day would pass off like any other day. She wanted her to respect her wishes.

As she was thinking about her parents while in bed still undecided what to buy for her, she dozed off to sleep only to have a wonderful dream. Her dad had come to her house alone from the evening walk and asked her to fetch him good tea with namkeens. It was unusual of him to come alone as her mom always accompanied him. He was in a happy frame of mind making jokes and laughing loudly.

 It was then her mom’s birth day celebrations came up. He said he wished to make it a big but a private affair starting with an appointment the previous day at a local beauty salon for a facial and massage. He would then take her to get for her a new outfit of clothes, shoes and a matching hand bag. On her birth day, he would pamper her with a breakfast in her bed with a bouquet of sixty five roses. In the evening they would have a quiet dinner at a nice hotel along with Melisa and her family.

She praised him for his thoughtful plans and asked, “What should be my present for mom?”

He said,” I have already thought about it. I think I have a beautiful picture of her along with me. It should be in my table drawer.Get a good frame to fix it. That would be the ideal gift she would like.”

The idea seemed very good and even as she was thanking him the dream ended abruptly. But she was happy that her dad had solved her problem so well.

Next day she visited her mom’s place that remained vacant and locked. She rummaged the old photo albums in her dad’s table and found the latest picture of her parents that her dad had mentioned. She quietly had it enlarged to the size of the beautiful golden frame she bought.

On the Thanks giving day, she took the frame neatly covered in a sober gift wrapper to her mom's room. When Melisa handed over the same, her mom was upset and said angrily “I told you clearly that I will have no gifts or celebration and yet you bring this packet. Don’t you respect the sentiments of your mom?”

Melisa said ”Ma, this is no ordinary  gift. I am respecting the wishes of my dad to get this for you. He came in my dream a couple of days back and suggested that I do his bidding. Open it and see for yourself. Do remember today is Thanks giving day and dad had so lovingly thought of this.”

When Maggie opened the packet to see the picture in a wonderful and large frame with her sitting by the side of her  husband standing  with his arm around her, she was thrilled beyond words. She turned to see Melisa looking intently at her with some trepidation as to how she would react to the framed picture and realized instantly Melisa’s loving care and affection for her and how she made a big difference to her life. Realizing how lucky she was,Maggie wiping the tears thanked the Lord for His blessings even as she pulled Melisa towards her and hugged her tightly smothering her with kisses.

“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.”