For Pia.
The satin ribbon gracefully danced with the wind while it held her final breath.
//
“Love, can you push me outside?” she called softly for her husband of 50 years, as she twirled a white satin ribbon in her dainty, fragile hands – the same ribbon that she wore on her hair during their wedding. She wanted to see the rising of the sun, feeling that this might be the last time that she would be able to do so.
“Wait for a minute, my love,” she heard him answer her back from somewhere around the house. She waited for but a few heartbeats before she finally felt her wheelchair move.
“Won’t you be cold here outside?” her husband lovingly asked, even as he draped a thick comforter around her frail shoulders once they were outside on their patio. “I don’t understand why you want to get out of the house this early. It’s not even 5 o’clock yet. Plus it’s a bit cold here in the beach house and yet you still want to –”
“I’m all right, love,” she answered, cutting him off, looking up at him, smiling, trying to reach for his hand which he gladly gave. “I just want to see the sunrise, that’s all. Even for the last time…”
“Don’t say that,” he whispered, squeezing her hand lightly. He knelt beside her before planting a kiss on her temple. “You would still experience a ton of sunrises and sunsets. This won’t be your last. Wasn’t it only –”
“My love,” she interrupted once more, her other hand that was holding the ribbon – reaching up to touch his face. She smiled at him, amidst the pain in her frail body. She smiled at him, even through his worry for her. She smiled at him, like nothing was amiss. “I’ve accepted it already. You should too. Doctors said anytime now, remember? They couldn’t do anything for me anymore. As long as I’m comfortable. That’s the only thing that matters now. At least even in my death – I’m here. With you.”
“Love…”
“I love you.”
He closed his eyes, as a lone tear escaped which she lovingly wiped away. She leaned down and gave him a kiss which he softly returned. She smiled against his lips as she felt the soft rays of the rising sun on her face.
She gently pulled away as she watched the sun starting to rise on the horizon, painting the sky with its orange and yellow hues, the light blue backdrop beginning to shine through. She watched as the moon and the twinkling stars bid her goodbye to welcome the new day that the sun was bringing.
“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered with a smile, her eyes not leaving the beauty of a new day even though her breathing was becoming slightly labored.
“Love, are you still ok? I should take you back in. It’s getting chilly for you out here even with the sun rising. It’s not good for you. We could always go again in a — Love? Love?! LOVE!”
Her head suddenly slumped backwards, her hand in his slacking. Her hand that was holding the ribbon, falling on the side of the wheelchair – letting go of the ribbon. The wind picked it up, making it sway and dance as it took it in its embrace.
She took her final breath, watching the sun rise, watching a new day unfold, with the love of her life, with the memory of the happiest time in her life, with a smile on her face.
//
A/N: May pinagdadaanan lang.
Ruth Medina-Ilasco 