Never Show Me Your Face Again!

'How times flies'! she thinks to herself looking down from the window of the plane that is taking her back to her home. Every time she buckles up before flying, memories from the past flash before her eyes - all the faces she has ever seen and all the hands she has ever shaken. She has her priority list though and on that list, her brother sits at the top.

Growing up together, seeing him teary eyed on her wedding day, celebrating his time and again success together, playing with his kids and then getting into that argument which became the reason to separate them. Not that they never had those quarrels and arguments before, however this time around, it stretched to days and months. This had never happened before.

'This time around I will ensure to sort everything out because I dearly miss him' she thinks to herself and the plane takes off. While she is up in the air she maps out all the ways that will help her putting her point across in the best possible manner. After all, he knows too, his sister loves him to infinity.

Weird dreams, annoying cold temperature in the aircraft, boring movies, quiet passenger sitting next to her - it all makes the flight pretty dreary. She opens her wallet and sees her family photo. There he is. Smiling broadly. She cannot wait to see him.

She reaches home. Warmly received by her family and friends. She cranes her neck to find him. He is not there. She conceals her disappointment and doesn't ask about him either. Its not ego; its simply because she decides to talk to him face to face. She looks forward to catch up with him and pour her heart out.

After two days of beating her jet lag, she dresses up. Her fragile figure seems sturdy today and excitement glows through her wrinkled face as she tells her son to takes her to her brother's. She is unable to figure the perplexed reaction. She thinks maybe her son is trying to remind her on their strife. So she tells him again, this time sternly, to drive her to her brother's place who lives in another town.

Tears roll down her cheeks as she recalls all that had happened after that.

Her brother did as he was told by her. He ascertained that and complied with her wish.

She will never see his face again. 

He could not survive the cardiac arrest and passed away a few weeks ago. No one in the family could muster up the courage to inform her over the phone. No one in the family had the heart to look in her eyes when she finally was told.

While she was thousands of feet up in the air for a few hours, he was several feet below the ground since a few weeks. It was a sad parting. 78 years of bliss ended on a sore note.

In her heart of hearts she knows he too wanted to hug her back. He too wanted to relive the time they had spent together; from playing together and get advised by their elderly to seeing their kids playing and advising them.

Life is too unpredictable to stay mad at each other she tells her grand daughter who lays beside her listening intently to her child hood stories. All she has his now are his fond memories topped with king size regret and unbearable pain.

Sometimes we blow things out of proportion and sometimes we say cruelest of the things to another in the heat of the moment. What matters is how we take things ahead after we hurt each other.

Would any of us want to hold a grudge if we knew we would not see them again?

About the Author: Believes in herself!