Flowers At The Door

The room was decorated. The cake was ready. The music was on. The lights were shining. It was her 50^th birthday.

She had been living with her husband for the past 22 years. Soon there were bound to celebrate their silver jubilee wedding celebrations. But today, her husband had planned a surprise party. He had finally convinced their son to come down from America for the celebrations. He had invited all her old friends and classmates.

That day she woke up a little earlier than usual. Not knowing what the day was holding for her, she set out to fulfill her endeavors. She cleaned and cooked before heading off to work.

Back home her husband started preparing for the big celebration.

She entered the staff room. Across the big noticeboard were the words, “Happy Birthday Pushpanjali!” When they saw her entering the staff room, all the teachers got up from their seats to wish her. During the assembly, the principal also shared some kind words about her and had a special prayer and also sang the birthday song for her.

During the day, the students kept coming to her and wished her. She was happy but something felt missing.

Her phone kept beeping with calls and messages from all her loved ones. Her timeline was also filled with greetings.

When the school left, she went straight to church. She knelt down, prayed, and thanked God for this beautiful life that she was gifted with and for all the amazing people in her life. Outside the church, she saw an old woman selling flowers. She went and purchased a bouquet of flowers and headed straight to the graveyard. She placed the flowers on her parent’s grave. She stood there and prayed for some time before heading home.

It was almost 7 pm now. She used the key to open her door thinking her husband’s at work. But there he stood, with flowers and cake, in a room decorated and filled with people. She had tears in her eyes. When she saw her son standing there, she ran and she hugged him.

The party began. She freshened up, got dressed, put on her finest sari, wore the jewelry her husband bought for her, and joined the party. The guests were dancing, singing, eating, sharing stories, and enjoying the night. Her coffee table was filled with gifts.

As time passed, slowly, the guest began to leave. She asked her in-laws to stay back as it had gotten too late. Once everyone had left, she began the cleaning. Too tired from traveling and planning the party, the rest of the family members went to sleep.

She spent some alone time among all the gifts and decorations. She was thankful for the wonderful day that had gone by. But she yet felt something missing.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She opened the door to find a big bouquet of her favorite flowers, “roses” outside at the door. She looked around and couldn’t find anyone. She brought the bouquet inside the house. There was an envelope hidden somewhere among the flowers. She opened the envelope to find a pen-drive in it.

She quickly opened her laptop and inserted the pen drive. There was a video. She clicked play. What she saw next left her in tears. On the computer screen where her parents with a pre-recorded message:

“Our loving baby Pushpa. Today you have turned 50. Half century, WOW! We are so proud of you, our angel! We came across this ad last week where the husband records a sweet message to his wife and gives it to her after 2 years! We thought of trying that and so with the help of Amit, here we are!

Do you know why we chose the name Pushpanjali for you? It means offering and you were like a ray of hope in our troubled lives. Before you were born, our lives were miserable. But with you, I don’t know how, but everything fell into place!

You have no idea how much we love you. We both are aware that with our degrading health we may or may not be present to personally bless you on this auspicious day. But no matter what, you will always be our most loved angel and we will shower all the blessings and love in this world on you.

You may have turned 50 today. You may have become an old lady now. But for us, you will always remain a daddy’s little princess and a ma’s little gudiya! We are sending across your favorite roses along with this message. You remember how one time you cried your eyes out to wear a rose in your hair. And then you didn’t take it off for so many days, even if the rose had faded away. It was so cute and funny!

Darling, we just want you to know, that life may hit you with new highs and lows. But don’t worry. You are our strongest child, our brightest child, our smartest child. But if in case any time you feel left out or unloved or low in life, play this video to know that ma and dada are always there.

On a farewell note, if when your watching this video we are in God’s abode, we will ask him to keep blessing you abundantly in all your endeavors and keep you healthy and happy always. Stay positive and always have faith. And last but not the least, don’t forget to smile betta! Happy Birthday”

Watching this, she sat down and cried like a child. She knew her day was complete. She missed them but she knew they were still there always. She saved that video and played it whenever she felt lost or lonely.

No matter how big you grow, parents' love is incomparable. You will always remain a little baby for your parents.

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

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