Yesterday I sat down to breakfast next to a plain-looking couple who, I later learned, are both well into their 80s.
Perhaps ten minutes after they had sat down to eat, the husband mysteriously stood up. To be honest, neither his wife nor I noticed him leaving. It was only as he returned that I gained insight into his mystery mission.
There he was, both hands full and left hand shaking with Parkinson’s; his mind unflinchingly focused on the task of bringing a cup of orange juice safely back to the breakfast table. It was the resolve in his eyes that deterred me from rushing over to his aid. He would get that cup back to that table without a spill no matter how shakingly his left hand threatened to derail his mission.
My heart rate slowed as he rested the cup on the table. Safe and sound. Then tears tested their boundaries when I saw the look of accomplishment in this gentleman’s eyes. His wife enthusiastically thanked him for his unsolicited kindness and swelled with pride at her husband’s thoughtfulness.
It took me a while to collect myself and get back into our breakfast conversation but that happy scene kept running a background program through my mind all day. This elderly gentleman had turned the simple act of fetching a cup of orange juice into an heroic act performed on behalf of one’s beloved. It was so beautiful it made me want to cry.
Isn’t that what we’re all looking for? The simply beautiful things in life that bring tears of mixed emotions to your eyes!
I teared up reading this–such a beautiful gesture 🙂 Thanks for sharing this experience, Sikhu.
It was touching (*tear)