5 views
A Full Circle
She was 73 and had lived a long, full life - she had been an obedient daughter, an honest friend, a loving and supportive wife, a caring and understanding mother, a wise, insightful, and friendly grandmother, an eager student (till date), and a raging success in her career as an author of various novels and poems.
As she sat in her favorite rocking chair on the patio, soaking in the warmth of the morning sun, carelessly humming to the light music coming from her collectible gramophone playing all her favorites, re-reading The Famous Five - Five on the Treasure Island yet again (to narrate it as a story to her soon-to-be visiting grandkids), with a mug of perfectly tepid green tea neatly resting on a coaster at her coffee table and a bowl of mixed nuts, diligently placed as a morning ritual, she breathed her last breath while turning the page of her 63 year old book with her wrinkled yet manicured hand...
Life had come a full circle - the first 'grown-up-people' book she had read when she was in class five; the mug she had received as a farewell gift in school; the self-made bookmark with pictures of her with her husband, and two kids, and five grandkids; her usual favourite shade of lipstick, giving her lips a rosy hue; her big, soulful, and still beautiful eyes, adorned with her typical winged liner; a random dew drop on her perfectly curled lashes, from the morning stroll she had just taken, admiring the flowers of her garden; her mother's pearl necklace; her father's wrist watch; the baby pink dress that her husband had gifted her; the snow white hand-knitted cardigan from her daughter; her favourite black muffler; a mansion that she had bought and nurtured into a home; her horse, Pegasus, neighing in the lush palatial greens; her eldest daughter's golden retriever, Bosco, laying at her feet, now suddenly attentive and somewhat agitated...
..And she herself in pigtails, in the green and white frock, the somewhat uncomfortable white bellies, with a prance in her walk, asking non-stop questions to her father, glancing sideways at her mother to feed her the cut guava, holding the hands of both her parents on either side, walking at the beach, welcoming a beautiful sunset...away to eternal peace...
© Prachi Shukla - The Untamed
As she sat in her favorite rocking chair on the patio, soaking in the warmth of the morning sun, carelessly humming to the light music coming from her collectible gramophone playing all her favorites, re-reading The Famous Five - Five on the Treasure Island yet again (to narrate it as a story to her soon-to-be visiting grandkids), with a mug of perfectly tepid green tea neatly resting on a coaster at her coffee table and a bowl of mixed nuts, diligently placed as a morning ritual, she breathed her last breath while turning the page of her 63 year old book with her wrinkled yet manicured hand...
Life had come a full circle - the first 'grown-up-people' book she had read when she was in class five; the mug she had received as a farewell gift in school; the self-made bookmark with pictures of her with her husband, and two kids, and five grandkids; her usual favourite shade of lipstick, giving her lips a rosy hue; her big, soulful, and still beautiful eyes, adorned with her typical winged liner; a random dew drop on her perfectly curled lashes, from the morning stroll she had just taken, admiring the flowers of her garden; her mother's pearl necklace; her father's wrist watch; the baby pink dress that her husband had gifted her; the snow white hand-knitted cardigan from her daughter; her favourite black muffler; a mansion that she had bought and nurtured into a home; her horse, Pegasus, neighing in the lush palatial greens; her eldest daughter's golden retriever, Bosco, laying at her feet, now suddenly attentive and somewhat agitated...
..And she herself in pigtails, in the green and white frock, the somewhat uncomfortable white bellies, with a prance in her walk, asking non-stop questions to her father, glancing sideways at her mother to feed her the cut guava, holding the hands of both her parents on either side, walking at the beach, welcoming a beautiful sunset...away to eternal peace...
© Prachi Shukla - The Untamed
