Smiling roots

It should not be amazing but somehow it is: as we mature we often become wiser.

We see and learn things from the most unexpected sources. We open ourselves up to the possibilities of the world and positive events occur constantly. Events that I know have been giving me strength and building me up - from the inside. An earlier source of irritation may change to become a source of great comfort. I may not always know when, how or why this change has occurred but I do know that receiving the benefit of that alteration is life enhancing.

A few days ago I had a rare phone call with a brother who has not left the town our family grew up in several decades ago. Every other family member has migrated several miles, moving to different counties and sometimes different countries. He alone has remained where our roots are.

He had sent me an unexpected gift and I was calling to thank him. It was not my birthday or any other special anniversary but he had thought of me and chosen to let me know with this present.

We spoke for a while and shared the latest parts of our individual journeys with each other. When I remember our childhood I remember different things about each of my siblings. We had some wonderful times and we also had some terribly sad times. We are a big family but now I know that even though were were bound together, back then so many of us often felt very lonely – which is so different to being alone.

When it was time to say goodbye, my brother, who is nearly a year and a half older than me, said something that changed my day totally.

He said simply, ‘Smile lots because you’re not on your own.’

What an unexpected gift of happiness to him to give and for me to receive. In all ways these parting words surpassed the magnitude of the other gift (which was in itself wonderful) and will last much longer in my memory.

© Marjorie H Morgan

The nurture from roots can surface to great benefit at unexpected times.