Golden Moments

A story about goodbyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Moments

 

I’ve always hated goodbyes. I had gone to see my Grandmother in the hospital with my family before I left for a Canadian ski trip with my boyfriend.  

 

“Hello Mimi! How are you feeling?” I said.  “Oh Honey, I’m Okay. Don’t you worry at all about Mimi,” she said.

 

She was sitting up in bed and talking to my Father.  She was so happy to see me, her face lit up with a big warm smile. 

 

I introduced her to my long-term, long distance boyfriend that she’d heard so much about.

 

“Mimi this is Mark from Waco” I said.  I had always wanted them to meet, even though she didn’t like him at all. No one was ever good enough for her, when it came to me.

 

She shook Mark’s hand and said, “Hello Mark I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s so nice to meet you.  Thank you for coming to see me!”

 

“Nice to meet you Ms. Wilkins and I hope you start feeling better soon. I just wanted to come in and meet you. I’m allergic to hospitals, so I’m heading downstairs to give you and your family your privacy together.”

 

Mark left the room to go downstairs to take a smoke and watch his football game on his laptop downstairs.  He’s not a fan of hospitals and he knows my Mimi isn’t his biggest fan.

 

“Sugar come sit here with me,” Mimi said as she patted her bed wanting me to sit on her hospital bed with her. I had never sat on a hospital bed with the patient actually still in the bed before.  I felt like I was breaking a cardinal rule.

 

I don’t really like being in hospitals either, they make me anxious. Plus they smell too sterile, like swimming pool chemicals to me.

 

But my grandmother and I were always very close. She always loved me to be within her touching distance.  I adored her, so I sat on her bed while we chatted. 

 

I was glowing with happiness! I felt like The Princess and The Pea sitting on top of Mimi’s tidy white hospital bed with her wedgewood blue blanket from home.  We talked and she held my hand and stroked my hair lovingly.

 

Like a slice of apple pie alamode everything blended together well and felt natural. I stayed for hours sitting on her bed with her.

 

Soon we were asked to leave briefly so the doctor could examine Mimi.  My family went downstairs to the cafeteria to get a cup of coffee and a snack.

 

It was nice to laugh and fraternize together as a family in the cafeteria for a while. Dad was popping off his water cooler jokes and I was laughing at them while Mark shared his dirty jokes too.  We all seemed to be relieving our high anxiety about being in the hospital.

 

Emotions are always heightened in hospital settings. You never know if this could be the end of our time together as a whole family or not. 

 

Taking one member out of the family equation and our group just might not be a whole anymore. Mimi could be the allspice that made our apple pie taste just right. We didn’t know and we weren’t ready to find out either.  Are you ever ready to part with those you love dearly?

 

Contemplating such thoughts suddenly I just wanted to leave. I was too nervous to go back upstairs to see Mimi.  It was if I was five years old and it was time to go to the doctor’s office to get my yearly shots.  I hastily retreated to the safety of my red Civic. 

 

My Dad came out to my car and said that I needed to go up and say goodbye to Mimi before I left. “Hon you need to go back up and say goodbye to your Mimi, because she’ll be hurt if you don’t.  You are her favorite and you know it,” Daddy said. 

 

I started crying and said, “Daddy, I just love her so much and I have this feeling inside that this might be the last time that I will ever see her.”  I just couldn’t say goodbye.  I loved her so much.  I wanted our relationship to last for eternity. I wasn’t ready for an ending.

 

He said, “Baby that means that it’s even more imperative that you get up there and hug your Grandma and say goodbye to her. Life doesn’t stop for you Michelle!”  He had tears streaming down his face too.  I shook my head in agreement. He took my hand.

 

Together we went back up to her hospital floor.  When I entered her hospital room, I immediately ran over hugging her neck gently and kissed her forehead, as I often did. Mimi said, “Oh, that’s just what Mimi needed Sweet Pea, just what the doctor ordered.”

 

She was smiling and offered me part of her lunch.  I obliged her by eating her chocolate pudding.  She seemed even happier with me eating lunch with her.  We watched her favorite show M.A.S.H. together holding hands.

 

Then I told her I was going to have to leave to catch my flight out with Mark and she told me to call her when I got back from my skiing trip. 

 

I looked back and I saw a happy smiling, grey haired woman laughing at the Golden Girls while eating a bowl of ice cream.  That’s the last time that I ever saw her. That’s a snapshot of my last memory of my dearest Mimi.

 

I’m so glad that I said goodbye to her because it was a happy closure for both of us. Thank goodness that my Father insisted like he did! 

 

My intuition was right, that was a monumental moment in my life.  Mimi died while I was away on my ski trip.  For me to have a sense of peace when she died, I needed to say goodbye before she died.

 

I’m so glad that I didn’t let that special moment pass by without fully participating in it.

 

I did feel her spirit rush over me and smelled her signature perfume on the ski lift, just at the very moment she died.  Apparently, closure was important for Mimi too.

 

 

Author's Note

I just wrote this, there are probably errors. I'll have to comb through this and fix them after my football game.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A beautiful and sad story. Those good and kind people will never leave our memory. I was raised by a dear Grandmother. She taught me to be kind and have a open door for my kids. I like the kind words and story told in this story of a goodbye. Thank you for a excellent story of a good woman.
Coyote

[Michael of Gilead]

Always with the football! ;)

[Black Cat Fever]

What a beautiful story about your love for your grandma. I think you would have regretted it terribly if you hadn't gone back. Sometimes we must do what's best for others in their time of need or suffer a life time with our guilt if we don't because in our hearts we know what is right in these situations.

[Wolfwind Words]

This was a beautiful tale of familial love. Not only does it show us the value of keeping those bonds close during our lives. But this piece show the bright heart that guides you. I have have felt the shoes that you wore that day. Once with my favorite Uncle and again with my Grandfather. I remember the reluctance of wanting to go back and say that final goodbye. Yet, forever glad that I did.

Thanks for sharing such a heart touching piece.
Hugs!
Wolfie

[alesuriko]

Very nice story, very touching and exceptionally emotional. Lots of people feel that way about the end I imagine, you portrayed it well.

[M Garcia]

Nicely written.

[Mauricio Montoya]

awesome write!

[Short.Nerd]

So sad. I hate goodbyes and hospitals too.

Makes me think of my grandmothers. (: I love them bunches

[YouoweYoupay]

Tender and Touching. Goodbyes really are difficult and scary.