Behind The Smile
Waking up to the smell of coffee and a hot breakfast on a Saturday morning is the best feeling in the world. Hearing the footsteps of your husband bringing you breakfast in bed, covering you in good morning kisses. The warmth of his body next to yours while you both eat and talk about the plans for the day. The deep tone of his voice while he tells you all he has planned for you because today he is going to celebrate you. No, it is not your birthday or any other special day, it is just another day. You both get dressed and head out to enjoy the beautiful summer day.
This entire day is filled with the beauty of the unknown, some flowers, a few gifts, and a beautiful love letter. Along the way, they meet a couple who are doing a maternity photoshoot. They stop and talk to the couple to congratulate them and tell them how beautiful they look. During the conversation, the couple shares how they tried for the longest to build their family and the struggles they faced. The woman starts to cry because they share how they lost a child and how this was their rainbow child. The beauty in the unknown is as beautiful as they look in these photos you would never know the amount of grief, they hold from what felt like endless.
Continuing their day, they see a dad and a daughter playing and the ball rolls off and your husband catches it right before it hits the street. The little girl looks up at you all with these big brown eyes and says “thank you” in the sweetest little voice and runs off to continue her game. You look at them and say “they are having so much fun,” not knowing they are doing all they can to keep from crying because mom is sick and fighting for her life. You smile at your husband, grab his hand, and continue your walk. You share a few dreams and desires along with a few laughs. You come to a flower shop and your husband says” hey let's stop here.” The florist greets you and to your surprise, she has been expecting you.
She goes to the back and comes back with four dozen red roses with a dozen sunflowers in the middle. Attached to the flowers was a note and as you read the note tears start to run down your cheeks. “My love, I know today is usually a hard day for you, so I wanted to do something extra special to make this day just a little easier to get through” you look at the date and realize it is your grandmother's birthday. You have been so busy enjoying everything you did not realize the date. You look around and realize this is the flower shop you and your grandmother would come to every Saturday morning. You start to cry harder because even though it was a beautiful day, you still feel like a part of you is missing ever since she passed.