Family Life Love

The Peonies

June 17, 2015
“When people are alive they love, when they die, they keep loving. If love ends when person dies, that is not real love” ― Lisa See, Peony in Love

Son: Where are you going Dad?

Dad: I am going to go see your mom?

Son: Do you think she will know you today?

Dad: I don’t know, she bit me yesterday.

Son: I’ll go with you today if you like, are you ready to go?

Dad: Not yet, the peonies are in bloom and I want to take some to your mom, you know they are her favorite.

Son: I’ll help you cut them.

Dad: No thanks, I will get them myself.

As my Dad waited, I watched Granddad get the peonies for Grandma, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s and had slipped into the abyssal plain of her mind.  He took his time to cut the most perfect peonies and put them in a glass mason jar.  If ever there was a definition of what love between two people is, this was it.  Despite being taken off all medication except that for pain, Grandma lived a long time with this disease, 10 years or so.  She was abused as a child, and we all think she was scared, to die, to see her father again.  When my Granddad’s health deteriorated they were in the same room in long-term care.  Granddad died at the age of 91.  Three days later my Grandma passed.  We held a double funeral.  Yes, she had Alzheimer’s, but deep down I think she was always there and was too scared to go without Granddad.  He went first so he could come get her to take her home.  The beautiful way my Granddad cared for Grandma, not only until the day he died, but till the day she died.  To this day, if I see pink peonies, I cry.

Photo credit  Smilla4
Moved to Tears

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13 Comments

  • Reply vronlacroix July 10, 2015 at 10:46 am

    Beautiful love story.

  • Reply badfish June 17, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    KK, you mentioned in a comment on my blog that you believed you could not write in first person with “eloquence and vividness.” But this story gave me chills, made my hair stand up. Gave me a notion to shed tears (but I’m too macho and pulled myself together at the last moment). Lovely, lovely, lovely and eloquent and vivid.

    • Reply K. K. June 17, 2015 at 5:55 pm

      Thank you for you kind words Sir, I am honored. When I saw the daily post, I thought about it and this was the memory that came to mind. I tried to write it in my usual style, but it wouldn’t come out well, so I just wrote what it was….and so onward in practice…

      • Reply badfish June 18, 2015 at 4:47 pm

        practice makes perfect, they say…whoever they are

  • Reply tyastlc June 17, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    ….and I moved to tears when i read your story.

    • Reply K. K. June 17, 2015 at 3:52 pm

      Thank you for taking the time to read it…and yes, the true simple stories are usually the ones that get to me too!

  • Reply Lekhamisra June 17, 2015 at 3:25 pm

    I liked your beautiful post about your grand parent’s love.

  • Reply kingumu June 17, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    Beautiful short story… I always tell may mom and dad that I love them…

    • Reply K. K. June 17, 2015 at 3:08 pm

      Thank you, there is more to the story of course, but that is the soul of it for me.
      Like you I try to tell all my loved ones how I feel a little more often!

  • Reply Anonymous June 17, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    Got me choked up…

    • Reply K. K. June 17, 2015 at 1:11 pm

      Thanks for reading it!

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