The Early Bird and The Night Owl

Audrey walked through the hospital doors. She was numb. She’d just watched her grandma take her last breath. One moment she was here, the next she was just, gone.

The walk outdoors seemed foreign to Audrey, although she had visited her grandma there every day- walked that very same walk- for the past week. Her grandma had been fighting cancer for years, but it finally beat her.

Audrey reached her car and opened her door. Her body must have known what to do because her mind was on nothing. She didn’t even have any tears left.

She drove home on the long country roads, empty save for a few passing cars. It was two in the morning and there was a light snow falling. Audrey managed a small smile, knowing that in the past, her grandma would have been awake right now. Probably on her computer playing Mahjong or Solitaire. They’d always picked on each other; Audrey the early bird and Grandma the night owl. It always amused her how different they were yet had a bond as solid as a rock. Her Grandma was her rock.

Audrey pulled into her driveway and lumbered into the house. Typically regimented, that night she fell into her bed with the same clothes on she’d worn all day. She must have slept deep because she woke the next morning late, her husband and children already gone. She knew her husband had taken them somewhere so she could take some time to process. She missed their noise, but she buried herself deeper under the covers and remembered. She grabbed her phone and lost herself in memories. Her Grandma and her first son on a walk. A selfie, each of them with a glass of wine in hand, her grandma’s cheeks as rosie as the wine. Text messages from her grandma, late at night, just telling Audrey that she loved her and was thinking about her. Thanksgiving with enough pies for everyone to have their own. Trips together to the chemo treatments, laughing as they played cards or read magazines. Audrey closed her eyes and dozed off. That was enough for now.

The day passed slowly. Audrey managed a shower and some laundry. She was still lost for tears. She hugged her children when they walked into the house, let her husband hold her a little longer than he usually did. Life would go on. She was grateful for this beautiful distraction she had, for these precious gifts in her life.

After dinner that evening, Audrey decided to go for a walk in their woods. She wrapped up in her cardigan, slunk into her boots and made her way. She breathed the fresh air like finding water in a dessert; how she needed it.

Weaving through the trees, Audrey let her mind wander. How fragile life was. She worried so much about mundane trivialities- ever the Type A. She’d always admired her grandma’s way of just going with the flow. Everyone who knew her grandma loved her. Audrey was lucky to have known her, to learn from her. In time, she knew she would be able to move passed the grief, and her grandma would live on in her precious memories.

She gazed up at the moon, a full bright circle. Stars peppered the sky. It was a remarkably clear night. Audrey could see her breath as she exhaled. Her boots crunched through fresh snow. She stopped and closed her eyes. Nothing but silence filled her ears and her mind. After a few moments, she heard it: an unusual sound from somewhere close by. Her heart quickened and she opened her eyes. Looking up in the trees, Audrey gasped when she found where the sound was coming from. There, perched on a branch, illuminated by the light of the moon, sat an owl. She had never seen an owl in her woods before this; never in real life. Audrey gazed into the yellow eyes of the owl, the tears finally streaming down her cheeks. A night owl. “Thank you for the visit,” she whispered. She took one last look, turned toward her home, and with a smile spreading across her face, she walked a little quicker this time.