Table of Contents
Story of a Beautiful Girl [HANDLE WITH CARE ]
When I was seventeen years old my dying grandmother gave me a small royal blue enveloppe containing a key to a safety deposit box and a small card with the location of the box written on it, along with a handwritten note for me to go the location on the 20th anniversary of her death to open the box, not a day before. She weakly smiled at me, as I blinked a single tear. [ Care]
“I love you grandma, you can go in peace. I will live my life knowing you raised me right and you can be proud of me.” I said as she closed her tired eyes for the very last time. I stayed with her until she died the following morning.
I had lost my parents when I was an infant, they were both drug addicts and they made a pact that if one of them died, the other would commit suicide so they could be together in eternity. I guess they had an affection for the words of Shakespeare. Luckily for me, my grandmother Therese, my mom’s mom took me in and raised me as her own. I loved my grandma so very much.
When I was fourteen she got diagnosed with cancer, she was on and off chemo and radiotherapy for the 3 years she was sick. Her cancer was aggressive and at one point she sat down with me and explained that she would eventually leave this world and I would have to be strong and live on in this world without her love and care. I was heartbroken but seeing her in so much pain and knowing that her suffering would end was what kept me strong through her illness and death.
Days past, the funeral was serene, full of love. Friends of mine and my grandma came and brought casseroles, flowers and kind stories about Therese. After the turmoil of my grandma’s death I was set to move out of our appartment. I was going to college and I would live in the College’s residence. My inheritance was small but enough for me to go to College and start out my life.
At 22 years old I got my degree in teaching. I moved from Halifax to Souris, PEI because I got a teaching job at an elementary school there. My friends from College helped me pack my belongings and off I was to new adventures in another province. I kept in touch with some of them and made new friends. At 23 years old I moved in with my first real boyfriend, a firefighter named Adam, a Souris local.
He had a genuine laugh and kind eyes. Grandma would’ve loved him. We were good together. We lived on a big land where we grew potatoes and bushes after bushes of juicy raspberries. Two years later we got married on our land surrounded by our friends and Adam’s family whom invited me in as one of theirs. The morning of my wedding I was feeling a bit blue, missing my grandma and Adam came to me with a small cream jewellery box.
“Open it” he said, with a big grin on his lovely face. I opened the box to find a simple silver chain. Adam moved his other hand from behind his back to reveal the blue enveloppe my grandma gave me 8 years before.
“I got you the chain so you could wear the key on your heart to have your grandma close to you for our big day.”
I was speechless, I put the small key through the silver chain and he helped me with the clasps so I could wear it around my neck.
“Thank you, this is exactly what I needed. I’m so glad I am marrying you today!” I said, filled with love and gratitude.
Years passed and the key remained on my neck. More times than I can count I held it in my hand, talking to grandma in my head, asking her for advice or simply laugh and cry with her in my heart.
After years of trying to conceive, Adam and I finally got the good news that we were expecting a baby. We were 37 years old. I had given up hope after 3 miscarriages and 4 rounds of IVF. It came as a surprise but we were over the moon. My belly grew rapidly and by the 20 week mark, I found myself holding on to my belly as much as I held on to the key on my heart. Baby and grandma were always there together, with me and the thought made me happy.
The 20th anniversary of my grandma’s passing came on a warm 7th of May. Over the years Adam and I took many guesses as to what would be in the safety deposit box. We wondered why you advised me to go there 20 years after your death. I knew you weren’t rich so it couldn’t be money. A family heirloom perhaps. All I knew is that in a mere couple of hours I would find out. A 20 years ongoing suspense.
We arrived in Halifax around noon. Adam dropped me at the bank because I wanted to do this alone and we arranged to meet at a nearby cafe after. I stand on the sidewalk as I watch Adam’s car turn the corner of the street. I felt a kick in my belly as I unclenched the silver chain and fetched the key in the palm of my hand. I nervously entered the bank and asked the teller if I could be directed to the box 208. She smiled and asked me to follow her.
This was it. I took a deep breath and turned my key in the keyhole and heard the click of the door as it opened. Inside was an envelope, dark blue like the one I kept with grandma’s note. I closed the box, pocketed my chain and key and I sat on one of the chairs in the room.
I looked at the envelope, she had beautifully written my name on it, on the back it was kept close by a purple wax seal, Therese’s favorite color. I grazed the embossed wax with my fingers and broke the 20 year old seal. I gently pulled out the letter, feeling like I was back in the apartment we shared, smelling her magnolia perfume, when she would bring me a cup of verbena tea as I finished my homeworks in front of evening television. I inhale my own little time capsule, savoring every minute of it.
My dear Isabella,
My sweet child, if you are reading this letter that means that you handled with care the envelope I trusted you with just before my passing. This might seem weird to you to read this letter today because you probably have changed so much since you last saw me. I know that over the years you wondered why 20 years from now and what you would find here.
Since I knew that cancer was going to take me from you so young and felt like my raising you wasn’t done I had to find a way to get to you after my death.
If you are here today, on the 20th anniversary of my death it means that I was able to teach you PATIENCE. You could have come anytime before this year but you would have found an empty box. The tellers at this bank were strictly instructed to put my letter in this box only 20 years after my death, not a day before. I know in my heart that you are reading it now.
You also acquired SELF-DISCIPLINE, you were able to go on and live your life despite the temptation to know what I had in store for you. You also learned about RESPECT by honoring my wishes to give you 20 years to learn and experience life. You are a grown woman now Isabella, perhaps a mother yourself or maybe it wasn’t in the cards for you.
Maybe you are the prime minister of Canada, a baker, a farmer or a teacher just like I was. Wherever you are in your life my sweet Isabella, I truly hope that you are happy and that the hardships you encountered made you grow into a beautiful and talented woman. I hope that you found ways to love yourself and be loved by others. Until we meet again Isabella, do not just let the time pass you by and live, live, live!!
I love you baby girl, you are forever in my heart and I hope that I will be forever in yours.
Grandma Therese
Tears were obstructing my sight as I was putting the letter back in the envelope. As I was closing it shut, I felt something hard on the left corner. Curious, I reached to feel something metallic with my fingers. I gazed at the tiny heart pendant I recognized from one of the last photos of my mother.
Grandma always said that the pendant wasn’t found after my mom died but here it was in the palm of my hand. She had kept it for me to give me as a reward for having completed her 20 year long quest of teaching me important life values. I put my just-acquired tiny heart pendant on the chain that Adam gave me on our wedding day, secured the chain around my neck as I left the bank with my grandma’s letter in my purse.
I’ll keep it forever close by. My left hand on my heart and my right hand on my belly, I left the bank, smiling at everyone I encountered. Grateful for my grandma’s final wisdom delivered to me after 20 years. She was right, I had lived and experienced life. I had grown so much, faced challenges and I had learned to love and appreciate who I’d become. « Until we meet again grandma » l whispered to the sky.
The air was lovely outside on this warm sunny May afternoon as I walked to the cafe where my husband was patiently waiting for me. I can’t wait to share this lesson my grandma taught me and spend the rest of my life with him and baby Therese.
The end.
