In today’s touching story, we will get to know the journey of Mrs. Lucy, who all her life thought she had a relationship with her daughter worthy of envy in other families, but when she suffers a terrible accident, she discovers that perhaps she has been deceived during a good part of her trajectory…
Lucy was born in a small town in the English countryside during a hard and delicate time. Her parents, as well as almost all the inhabitants of this place, suffered from war and famine on a daily basis, and had practically no prospects in life. Lucy, who was less than five years old at the time, had never played outside or attended school.
She was born in the midst of all this chaos, and didn’t even know what an ordinary life was, since for her, that was normal. She felt sad for not being able to play or meet people, she also had no dolls and spent most of the day just staring at the window and hoping that someone would pass by who could have fun with her. And seeing all this happen to the little girl, her parents then decide to make a difficult decision. Learning that her neighbors had obtained air tickets to a country without war, they decided that moving her would be the best thing for her future.
However, this would not be for free, and in order to pay for the ticket and the costs of the entire illegal trip, the parents had to sell their house and risk living on the dangerous streets of the country. They knew that this was good-bye to their daughter, for they would not stay alive for long without a house or money to feed themselves, but even so they did not hesitate and did what was necessary to save their daughter’s life. They had always felt terrible about not being able to provide Lucy with everything they wanted, and they saw this as an opportunity to give the little girl another chance. They wrote a letter with a pen that had barely any ink and gave it to the neighbors who were going to take the girl away. On the envelope it said that she would only truly understand the content of that letter when she became a mother, only when she had her own child would there be a chance for her to forgive them.
The young girl arrived in the new country and lived with her parents’ former neighbors for 17 years. She always grew up knowing that they were not her blood relatives, but she admired that that couple took her in and took good care of her even so, promising to be eternally grateful. The two of them, who never had a child, raised the young girl as if she were their own blood, educated her very well, and she grew up to be an incredible woman who had great examples. Lucy was always a hard worker. Since she was 13 years old, she went with her adoptive father to work in a stationery store, because she always wanted, in some way, to repay them for everything they did for her, and it was there that she got her first job. The couple that took care of her were also refugees, and they had a difficult time adapting to the new country, living in places that were often too small and going hungry during a terrible period.
Lucia grew up and kept her modest job in the stationery shop. She was never greedy and looked for big things, she was content with the low salary that covered her expenses and was not a person who had high spending. One fine day, a tall man with green eyes, who entered the store looking to buy batteries, bumped into Lucia and fell hopelessly in love with the shy girl who worked at the cash register. He invited her for coffee and asked her to marry him after only two dates.
The young girl was enchanted with the boy, she had no doubt that he would be the man she would spend the rest of her life with. He treated her as no one had ever treated her before, and saw her as much more than just a refugee. He even decided to give her a present and asked Lucy to marry him so that, in this way, she could obtain the license and papers to live permanently in the country. She said yes with great happiness and they decided to move in together after they both saved up enough money to buy a house in a suburb of the city. It was there that they had their first and only child at the age of 26. She named the little girl Patricia, who was already born with a lot of hair and pulled her father’s eyes. As she watched her daughter, Lucy remembered the letter she had from her parents.
She had never opened it because she didn’t have the courage to face the situation and be disappointed, after all they had left her with complete strangers. So she always preferred to live in doubt about what was in that letter. The couple she lived with all her life preferred not to intervene and left her free to read the letter if she wanted to find out why things are the way they are. But as she held Patricia in her arms, her curiosity spoke louder and she decided to open the mysterious letter, which made her shed tears from the very first pages. With the support of her husband, she read it and discovered the true story: that she had never been abandoned and that her parents had sacrificed themselves to save her life. From that moment on, she took this as an example and model to raise Patricia. She would have every determination and perseverance to do the best she could with her daughter’s life, just as her parents had done with her.
The years went by and her promise remained. Since Patricia’s childhood, she raised the little girl with the greatest affection in the world, teaching with all care and always telling her story and the bravery of her blood grandparents. She stayed in school and already when she was a teenager she defined that her dream would be to be a great entrepreneur. Lucy loved her daughter, and they had a great relationship together. Patricia never hid anything from her mother, she told her everything that happened, and she thought she was very wise, so she was always asking for advice from her adolescence to her adult life. Her mother was to her like a great oracle of knowledge, and Lucy was extremely happy and proud to know this. In her early twenties, Patricia had to deal with a great loss. Her adoptive grandparents, the nice couple that had taken care of her mother, had passed away. For the young woman, they were like her legitimate grandparents and so she suffered greatly from the loss, even though they were older and it was only a matter of time.
Dona Lucy, who was already in her almost 50s, was very upset, but she tried to be strong so that her daughter could live her mourning with dignity and look to her mother and father for support. However, after what happened to her adoptive grandparents, Patricia became more reclusive. She spoke less with her parents and decided to move to another city, saying that it would be better for her personal development, since she had spent a long time “under the wings” of her mother and now would be a good time to finally explore the world on her own. Mrs. Lucy and her husband accepted and began to receive letters from their daughter every week, and they also spoke to each other by telephone whenever possible. The humble lady was very happy to know that Patricia was working and going to college, she was proud of her daughter. Everything was going well, until a few years later, another terrible tragedy struck the poor family.
On any given Sunday night, the woman was watching TV in the living room until she began to smell a terrible odor of smoke coming from one of the outlets in the kitchen. She ran to check the smell, but it was too late. A fire had started in the wiring that had spread to the rest of the simple house, which was made almost entirely of wood. The old lady tried to run into the bedroom and call her husband to escape as fast as possible, but she had no more time either. The room where he was sleeping was next to the kitchen and the fire had already taken over everything, she couldn’t even hear her husband’s screams anymore, she could only hear the crackling of the flames. In the midst of so much tension, Dona Lúcia, who had previous health problems, suffered a stroke and fainted on the corridor floor. Luckily, the smoke and the smell alerted the neighbors, who managed to rescue the lady who was unconscious.
As a result, Patricia, who lived in another city and was already living with her boyfriend, dropped everything and returned to the place where she was born, to visit her mother in the hospital and go to her late father’s funeral. When she learned of the lady’s diagnosis, she decided that she would take her to live in her house, as she would need intense care for months to recover. She was very shaken by the death of her father, but decided to be the strong person, to try to repay what her mother had done for Patricia in the death of her grandparents. Because of Dona Lucy’s delicate moment, she had no choice but to accept the help, but she liked the idea that it would get in the way of her daughter’s life and felt bad about it. She knew that the young woman had plans and did not want to be a stone in her shoe.
It took months for the old woman to walk again, because of the stroke that caused the temporary paralysis of her limbs, and even longer to recover from the death of her husband. She insisted that her daughter and her boyfriend put her in a nursing home, feeling that she was disturbing their routine by staying there. But Dona Lucy hid that she was still extremely sad for losing her husband and her home. She was humble and worked her whole life, had no car and supported herself only with her pension money, she and her husband had built the house with their own hands. She grew a beautiful garden that had the same types of flowers that were found in her home country, she used to spend hours and hours looking at her beautiful flora that she cultivated. It was her favorite hobby, and now that she lived with her daughter in a small apartment, she could no longer practice it, which hindered her recovery even more.
Ms. Lucy noticed that the couple often started to stay late at work, only coming home after dark and progressively decreasing the moments of conversation and interaction with her. Could it be that her daughter and her boyfriend had only accepted her into their home out of pity and in return for a favor, but they couldn’t stand her anymore? She began to cry in her room and wonder where she could go, so that this way she would not get in the way of Patricia’s life anymore. After all, she had sworn an oath that she would do the best she could for her daughter’s life, and at this moment maybe the best thing was just to leave.
The next day, the old lady asked the two why they were always arriving so late and leaving so early. The couple then explained that they worked a lot because they were looking for a promotion, and because of this, they worked overtime, and ended up being too tired for conversations at the end of the day. Mrs. Lucy wanted to believe this, but she couldn’t, she could only conclude that her daughter and her boyfriend were avoiding her on purpose, because they couldn’t stand the old lady sick in that place anymore.
With tears in her eyes, she searched for a few weeks for nursing homes in the city where she lived. She was determined that she would move out and stop being a nuisance to the young couple.
She thought about going back to her old and humble house, but because it was all made of wood, all that was left there was smoke and embers, not even the roof should exist anymore. Mrs. Lucy felt bad, because she realized at that moment that she had failed in the upbringing of Patricia. After all, what kind of daughter would bother to take care of her mother for a few months? She needed medical care and support to walk again and to get over the death of her husband. She had found a collective place to live that she could afford with her retirement money and decided that she would no longer be a burden to them.
On a sunny Monday morning, she packed her bags with her clothes and the few items that had remained from the burned down house and approached the young couple. “Enough, please take me to a retirement home! I can’t take this horrible feeling inside me anymore! Patricia looked at her boyfriend with a suspicious look, as if she didn’t know what to do, reflected for a few seconds and took her mother’s hand and asked if this was really what she wanted. Mrs. Lucy, with trembling hands, looked away and said yes.
They had lunch together for the last time and the old woman began to talk about how the house would be good for her, that she would have lots of company and things to do. Deep down she was lying, she really wanted to stay at Patricia’s house, but she didn’t want her to do this for her out of obligation, but out of her own free will. After the meal, the boyfriend and the daughter said that they would miss work to take their mother to that retirement home she had chosen.
Once inside the vehicle, the old lady lowered her head and stared at the ground during the whole trip, holding back tears and the will to go back on her decision. She knew she might regret it at any moment. “You can look, mother, we have finally arrived at your new home,” said Patricia. However, as she looked out the window the woman was incredulous. She rubbed her eyes and even pinched herself to make sure she was not dreaming!
Mrs. Lucy started to look around and recognized the place where she was, it was her old street and she was standing looking at where her old and humble residence used to be. However, there was no ashes and smoke, but a house standing there, completely renovated! In the place where her beautiful garden used to stand, was a plowed earth, ready to be sown with new flowers by the old lady. Although very excited, she was confused. She didn’t understand how this could have happened. Patricia then explained, that she took her savings accumulated over decades and used them to build the new and improved home that her mother deserved.
And during all the months that her mother was recuperating, she would leave work early with her boyfriend and help with the construction, making sure that everything would be exactly the way she wanted it. Dona Lúcia opened the door of the house with tears in her eyes and had no words to express all her gratitude for Patrícia. She only thanked for the best gift she could receive in all her life, but she was not referring to the new house, but to her dear daughter, who did everything for her mother’s happiness.
At the end of it all, the old woman was sure that she had raised Patricia in the best possible way, she had become an extraordinary person, who promised to always take care of her mother, and so she did. Dona Lucy set up her garden again with even more beautiful flowers and lived quietly in her house. Her daughter visited her every week, making it clear that family is an eternal and sacred bond.
