Valentine Flowers for Grandma

Wes and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day (maybe one day when he remembers what day it is :P), but the day will always be special because of my grandpa.

When I was just three years old, I asked my mom, “If Grandpa dies does that mean that we’re all going to die?” Even then, it was hard to imagine a life without him.

My grandpa was the principal cook of the family, guardian of the garden and all the fruit trees that surrounded the house, and most importantly, the jokester king. No one was safe from his teasing, yet there was an unwavering sense of love and security in his presence. My grandpa was a very generous man. I never left his house empty-handed. He’d always send me home with bags full of fruit fro the garden or freshly baked empanadas. If a week passed and I hadn’t visited, he’d stop by my house on his way home from church to drop off fruit or to hang a freshly cut vine of tomatoes in our kitchen (he knew how much I loved cherry tomatoes).

My grandpa was a strong and hard-working man who lived to serve and give to others. This was probably why it was so hard to witness his health and spirit decline so drastically during his last months of life.

Two weeks before my Grandpa’s passing was Valentine’s Day. At this time, he didn’t speak much and it was nearly impossible for him to get up from his bed without assistance. His bones were fragile and multiple areas of his spine were fractured. About a week before Valentines Day, he asked the family (while my Grandma wasn’t around) if we could get flowers and a gift for her. Of course, we said. But our word clearly wasn’t enough.

The next day, my great aunt and I walked into my Grandpa’s room and were shocked to see that he wasn’t in bed. Instead he was kneeled in a corner of the room searching for his wallet. Since he didn’t leave the house anymore, he hadn’t had much use for it. He wanted to give us money for my grandma’s valentine gift, but his wallet was nowhere to be found. Finally, I took out my own wallet and showed my grandpa some money. “Grandpa, we have money and we will get the flowers, ok? Don’t worry.” That seemed to calm his worry and got him back into bed. The flowers weren’t mentioned again, until they were delivered and brought up to my grandpa’s room by my grandma, on the day that would be their last Valentine’s Day together.