What Had Been Given

This short story was originally titled ‘Reality Moves Forward from the Past’. It seemed too long and unwieldy. Written for New Year's in 2013, it really did need some fixing! So, after editing, fixing typos and doing general upgrades I’m pleased. We all do those things on a daily basis. Learning more effective ways of doing or saying things. Typos? I’m not sure about that one unless we’re actually writing something by hand with a real pen and a real piece of paper! Although changing frown wrinkles to smile wrinkles seems possible. General repairs tend to get a little more necessary over time. Changing eating habits and increasing exercise are difficult choices! My attitude toward each year that passes can be filled with just bit of resentment. Having to adjust activities when sleep is at a premium, when I can’t eat as much as I want, when my eyes need more help……….I won’t go on. What we have been given by our families, friends and mentors, whether a quilt or homespun wisdom, can be cherished anyway. Being grateful for the good and, strangely the bad, has moved me forward in my heart.

What Had Been Given

Elizabeth sat in the middle of the tiny bedroom. It was the only room that held all of  her past. Videos, books and cassette tapes. A crocheted picture created by her aunt decades before. Elizabeth had tried to create something out of her life, purchasing bits and pieces to build her home ‘from the inside out’. She hadn’t realized there were so many memories in these few charming gifts that did not fit her lifestyle with Rudy. It was New Year’s Eve. Elizabeth wore her new slinky floor length black dress. Traced on the black silk, tiny diamonds flowed left shoulder to waist to join pleats encrusted with tiny rubies. The diamonds faded in starlight streams twinkling gently over her bosom, waist and hips. The narrow but slightly flaring skirt only caught a very few of the diamonds. Simple ruby earrings and a pendant would be her only accessories. Her hair was silvered with only few streaks of black streaming from one temple. Hair that would be styled in a fashionable chignon. Held in place by silver combs. Because the evening was a formal dinner, she had chosen the black satin and low pumps. A very tall woman, she preferred wearing flats or low pumps. She had no illusions that her figure was anything but that of a mature woman. The youthful gleam in her eyes complemented her maturity.

Rudy, her ‘prince charming’, still elegant and still charming, hated wearing what he called the 'dreadful penguin suit’ with the bow tie that he was certain threatened to strangle him. Preferring walking shorts and a golf club, he felt completely out of his element. Brushing back the consistently wayward curl from his forehead, Elizabeth had convinced him that he was dressing up only for her. She assured him he could play golf without question any time at all, even though Elizabeth seldom complained about his golf games. He had kissed her tenderly and said ‘Only for you, my love. Only for you.’

Her reality was now and just as joyous. Her past was tucked up comfortably in one of the many spare bedrooms in this grand home that her parents had never dreamed possible. Elizabeth cherished all that she had been given. The twin bed with the quilt her grandmother made for her. The Ann and Andy porcelain dolls in the old rocking chair given one Christmas by her great aunt. So many joyous memories made before she and Rudy had even met.  A time when diamonds and rubies were merely sparkles seen in jewelry store windows. Gently putting her old dolls back in place, smoothing the quilt, she checked the time. Closing the door on her memories, she began preparing for the New Year to come.

“The gift was not large as money goes, and my need was not great, but the spirit of the gift is beyond price and leaves me blessed and in debt.”

~ Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten