Merry Xmas! Here's another story for the season (the first one is here.)
I had a friend who passed on about a decade ago. He had an inoperable brain tumor. He was my junior in the army.
When we heard of the news, a bunch of us visited him at his place one night.
This was when the display of true strength started:
When we arrived at the door, we heard a joyful holler, "Eh, come already?!"
It was his mom. The joyfulness continued.
"Boy! Your friends are here!"
She let us in. She was really, really happy to see us.
She led us to our friend's room.
We were greeted by the sight of him being bedridden, a tube stuffed up his nose and what seemed to be an attempt to put a smile on his face.
I heard beforehand that my friend was half-paralyzed by then.
It was honestly a really sad sight.
But whatever joy he couldn't bring, his mom brought it.
She made sure we all had stools to sit on.
She served us drinks, from a tray.
She made friendly banter with us.
She always had a smile on her face.
She was just really, really happy we were there.
I gotta say, that's true strength right there.
I cannot imagine having to go through the pain of knowing that your own child wouldn't make it, yet digging deep down for the strength in yourself to support, give love and basically make sure everyone around you is ok.
The mom was a hero.
It wasn't the right order of things, for a parent to bury their own child, but life happens anyway.
She kept on keeping on.
As should you, with whatever strength you have within.