The stories that stay with you…
The stories of love, hope & positivity that refuse to leave you
“The speaking tree” a page of the reputed daily The Times of India published anecdotes from readers. I remember reading a story 15 years back — A kid wanted to tell his father about his best friend & tried his best to point him out during a football match. “The one who’s wearing green socks” but many had those socks on, he tried many other ways but failed till the friend walked up to him. The father was baffled to see that his son never uttered “black or dark” because his friend was the only player of color on that team. Probably it didn’t even strike him. Before we suffer from our own prejudices, there’s a phase of innocence… Why can’t we let it linger?
This too I’d read almost 15 years ago in Reader’s Digest — yeah reading newspapers & magazines was natural in the “no smartphone” era!
A beachside picnic went horribly wrong as the mother noticed her kid who, till a while ago was playing on the shore had ventured into the water & was almost drowning. In a reflex, she jumped into the sea & got to her daughter & brought her out. When people spoke about her heroism & prowess, she shocked everyone by saying that she didn’t know how to swim & she doesn’t remember clearly how it all happened in a span of minutes… Divine intervention, maternal instincts anyone ?!
My infertility expert whom I consulted for my secondary infertility had become a mentor with time.
When treatments failed, he counseled me to focus on one kid I had because the others in the waiting area had none. He told me about people getting pregnant during the adoption process & other stories including a woman whose last-ditch attempt at getting a surrogate “clicked” & she too got pregnant spontaneously… 9 months later they took 2 babies home. Overstimulated ovaries, hormone supplementation, stress reliever by surrogate spotting, or luck? We don’t know…
Miraculously, a year later when I took a positive pregnancy report to the doctor, he playfully refused to believe it but knew all along the power of prayers…
A couple of years back my help reported to work in a mask, I got worried about a COVID surge in her area… she pulled it out to show her swollen lips & cut marks due to domestic violence. Her husband was a jobless drunkard & she was raising the kids on her own. She never filed any police complaint.
The next day I called her up when she didn’t turn up… she said she was in a hospital where her husband was undergoing angioplasty.
Is this dedication or weakness, can we name it? …
