Grandmother's Love

Friday

It was a very cold and rainy day in the small town of Smyrna, Delaware. That was not unusual, especially in the Wintertime.

Smyrna almost always got rain instead of snow. That is unfortunate for someone like Carmen who likes to be in the snow sometimes but oh well.

It was now about 3:30pm and time for Carmen to go home from work. Carmen’s job you may wonder… She is a school counselor and usually a busy person personally as well.

Carmen was having a very busy day and really needed to get to her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother just passed away and her family and herself have to go through her things to see if they would like anything. Not that Carmen was thrilled by any means, but you have to do what you have to do right?

As Carmen arrived at her grandmother’s chipped brick steps and rickety porch she was greeted by her parents. “Hey Mom, Hey Dad” Carmen greeted.

“Hey Carmen, how was work today?” said her mother, Ann.

“It was good mom. How has everything been with the funeral stuff and all today?” Carmen asked her mom and dad with genuine curiosity because it’s usually never easy in their family.

“It actually went ok, just ready to see if there is anything here so we can lay all of this to rest” said Carmen’s dad, Gary.

As they continued with small conversation back and forth, Carmen went to explore upstairs. Carmen knew anything of true value would be hidden somewhere because her grandmother did not keep things out and exposed if they were important. A lesson learned from being there during most of her young childhood. Carmen was going through the bedroom and saw so much jewelry on the dark wooden dressers. Untouched, pressed clothes still hung up in the small closets. It made Carmen sad to not know the backstories of all of these things but happy to know that her grandma Rosa was happy with what she had.

Carmen could hear her parent’s downstairs talking about all of the hoarding that had gone on in the living room over the years and unfortunately, they were not wrong it was an absolute mess. That is why Carmen went upstairs to explore, at least upstairs there were valuable things.

Carmen was going through some of the random trinkets when she found a small black notebook under the right side of the bed. It had a nice pattern on the outside. Carmen decided to hide the little notebook in her jacket so that she could see if anything was in it later when she got home. She went back downstairs to see what her parents had gotten themselves into but when she got back down there, they were ready to leave. That is more than ok with Carmen, she was ready to get out of the house and just go home.

Carmen’s car ride home was a good jam out session to Fleetwood mac and then switch over to Aventura when she finally pulled in her garage it was 630pm. Time for a protein shake and to read this notebook.

Carmen finally got settled into her bed underneath her weighted blanket and open the small black notebook. It had many dated entries all the way back into the 1960’s. Different little notes and hearts, small totals of what were spent on the specific dates of the entries. Nothing major but definitely interesting. Carmen decided to set the book on her bedside table for the night, turn on some Tv and get some rest. She had off the next day as it was Saturday, but she just felt very tired tonight. She could do more searching through the book when she woke up the following day.

Saturday

Carmen woke up feeling very refreshed and ready for some coffee. Carmen thought, hmmm vanilla latte coffee with a bagel sounds mighty good today. So, she hopped out of bed to go start on the coffee and bagel. It would be a good, comfy kind of day. Still kind of dull outside, perfect for just relaxing. Soon her coffee and bagel were all done, and she was ready to return to her comfy bed where she could read more of the details in the notebook and enjoy her breakfast.

As carmen was sipping her coffee, she decided to look at the back of the notebook today to see where it actually ends. The date was more recent August 13, 2018 and the note was a heart with her and my grandfather’s name, Robert. That is interesting, Carmen thought. She continued to read it backwards and came upon a phone number from 2005. The note read, ‘For Carmen’ and then the phone number underneath. What could this mean? Did she ever tell anyone? How would I have ever known if I was not told or found this little notebook? Carmen thought to herself. Carmen put the book down and had to breath for a minute. She was not sure what she wanted to do with this information. A minor freak out is normal in this situation, right? Because that is exactly what Carmen was feeling.

Once Carmen settled some, she decided that she should give this phone number a try even though she doubts it would actually go through. It is from 2005, she was almost positive it would have been disconnected or rerouted to someone else by now. However, she dialed the number and hoped for the best.

A few seconds after the phone started ringing, a voice answered the phone.

“Hello” came a strange man’s voice.

“Um Hi, my name is Carmen, and I found this number from my grandmother and I was directed to call it”. Carmen stuttered out through her nervous, shaky voice.

“Ah yes. My name is Fred. Your grandmother was always very worried about whether or not the message would make it to you someday. I always told her when the time is right, she will find it. Anyways, your grandmother has left you something, that she wanted me to give to you when the time came. Is there any specific time you can meet soon?” Fred said.

Carmen was yet again freaking out a little bit but replied “Yes, of course. I have today and tomorrow open at any time”. She was hoping for today, the sooner the better at this point or else the curiosity would surely kill her.

“How about today at let’s say 12:00pm?” Frank asked.

“Of course, I can meet you at the park in Smyrna by the schools by where I live if that’s ok?” Carmen asked.

“Sure”. Frank replied.

Carmen gave him the name of the park and prepared to meet him at 12:00pm.

At the Park

It was now 12pm and Carmen saw a truck pulling in. It was an old pick-up truck red with silver. That had to be Fred. The truck parked and the man got out with an envelope. He explained that her grandmother wanted her to have this and to use it wisely or save it. That was all he really had to say. Unfortunately, for Carmen she still was very confused.

Carmen had driven home before opening the envelope. The anticipation was killing her, but she wanted to make sure she was focused when she opened it. Carmen made it inside of her house and finally opened the envelope. The note inside read “I love you my darling Carmen. Use this for your future or for anything else you need” and then inside was $20,000 dollars. The shock that was going through Carmen’s body, she did not even think was human. The confusion and shock coursed through her. Tears sprung at the corners of her eyes and began to fall a couple seconds later. Even though she was shocked and emotional, she was so grateful. Carmen just sat, holding the envelope close to her heart for a while.

Tuesday- The Funeral

As Carmen laid a rose on her grandmother’s casket, she stopped and just kept repeating “Thank you Grandma Rosa, I love you” until she felt comfortable enough to walk away, knowing that her grandmother heard her.

She had the love of her grandmother in her heart and she knew that she would use the money given to her only if needed for serious things. Maybe she would finally buy the house she always told her grandma about.

Either way, Carmen walked away from saying goodbye feeling very loved and extremely grateful.