Positivity VI

A friend I knew from high school spoke to me recently. We had a good time reconnecting and talked about the years where we had stopped contacting each other much. He was doing well but he sounded morose in a slight way. There is no such thing as "true love" or "soul- mates" he emphasized, because he had never met his. Doesn't exist says he. It was not a bitter remark, more like unbelief.

I read everyday, no matter for ten minutes or long weekends. I like to read success stories, positive stories, stories of faith of hope and even pure good literature. As humans the hardest thing in life is not acquiring success. Because sometimes when we try, fail, wait, try again, we might really succeed. It is being consistent. How do you keep your positivity consistent? How do you keep your love consistent? How do you keep your mood consistent? How do you keep your clarity (of mind) consistent? How do you keep your peace consistent?

This story I read brought pangs to my heart. I like the idea of people loving till the end. There will always be rocks, but consistence implies attempts and efforts to keep going. There is a hint of positivity in that energy.

There is this story where a girl talks about the love her grandparents had for each other. They were married for over half a century but they had played their own special game from the day they met met each other. They would write the word "shmily" everywhere and wait for the other to find it.

So places like the sugar and flour containers, even the steam on mirrors after a hot bath, the dew from a window, on puddings and cakes, at the end of a roll of toilet paper, snuffed in pillowcases and dashboards They all contained the word "shmily". Even shoes and taped to the steering wheel, there appeared the word. The dust upon the mantle to the fireplace had "shmily" too.

Her grandparents held hands everywhere they went and grandma would giggle and talk about how handsome grandpa used to be and how she had really known "how to pick 'em". They stole kisses in hallways and finished each other's sentences.

The girl had always been skeptical about the idea of true love but her grandparents kept her in awe. Yet, there was an ominous cloud in the lives of this lovely pair. Grandma had breast cancer a decade ago and grandpa had accompanied her everyday in her yellow painted room so as to make sure she felt the "sun" even when she could not go outside.

Grandma's cancer started to spread rapidly and she walked around with the help of a cane and grandpa's arm, they went to church whenever possible until the day came when she could not move. Grandpa prayed fervently everyday for God to watch over his wife. The day came when grandma eventually breathed her last.

"Shmily" was scribbled in yellow on the pink ribbons of grandma's funeral bouquet. And after the visitors had left, after the aunts, uncles, cousins and friends had paid their last respects, grandpa went up to his beloved wife's casket and started singing in his deep throaty voice. That moment was a moment of true beauty.

S-H-M-I-L-Y: See How Much I Love You.

Cynical as we can be, skeptical as we are, in truth we all want that sort of purity in that love. But having a love that deep required efforts. The two grandparents believed and they kept consistently loving each other. How hard it must be to trust, to believe or have faith if we've had disappointments, heartbreaks or broken friendships. But "shmily" lasted for more than a decade and these sweet people lived till a ripe old age not without hardships and farewells. The most important thing is not to bid our hopes farewell. I hope I'm not drowning you with my positivity entries, I just feel inclined to share what inspires and keeps me happy.:)