The Taste of Life

Family Short Story – The Taste of Life
Photo credit: cohdra from morguefile.com

This is a Catholic graveyard. It is arranged neatly, giving a sense of quietness and peace.

I stood in front of my mother’s grave, putting down a bunch of carnations, and I closed my eyes, gently relating to her the recent news.

“Mother, I am going to marry next month. It is David. Are you happy? Will you bless us?”

At that time a gentle breeze came nourishing our faces. I couldn’t help but thought about what Mother often told me when she was in serious ailment

“Miranda, be tough. Don’t be scared. I believe one day you will meet a person who love and care you.”

Tears unwittingly rolled out of my eyes, and I used a handkerchief to wipe away the tears.

Last year, my mother passed away from cancer. She died at 56. Mother used to be a person of optimism, but since my father ran away with another woman, additionally he had left behind some debt for us to repay, she was hit hard and eventually got the depression. Luckily, because of the help of grandpa and grandma, Mother’s illness had improved. I was still at high school back then. Since my family’s abrupt change, I became easily frayed. When I was nervous, I would subconsciously take out chocolate to eat. To me, chocolate had become a medicine – a medicine to relieve stress.

David was one of my few male schoolmates whom I knew in university. Due to the influence of my parents, I never gave a thought for romance, and I kept my distance with others.

On the day of my graduation, Mother, grandpa and grandma attended my graduation ceremony. When we took photos in the campus for my last remembrance, David came to me, holding a box wrapped with colourful papers.

“This is a graduation present for you.” He said.

After I returned home, I found a card inside the package, which wrote-

“Miranda, I made those chocolates. I hope you could truly savor the taste of chocolate.”

And I found chocolates with various types, which seemed to be a bit awkward in shape, inside when I opened the box. But it had quite a good taste.

“Mother, you are right. David does love me. You have told me already at that time, though I thought it was just your imagination. ”

True, I have been avoiding my romantic affairs. Afterwards, David and I occasionally went out for lunch, and I always treated him as a good friend.

Because I went to work, the burden of Mother was lighter, cutting down the number of part-time jobs from three to only one. I naively thought we could live happily together. Until one day, Mother suddenly got ill. It was already very serious. The doctor was unable to help.

“Mother, I knew you were not afraid of your illness. You were just worrying about my future life, and were afraid that I would be uncared for. Mother, don’t worry. David will take care of me. ”

Mother left less than three months after suffering from cancer. My addiction to chocolate got more serious. I could skip formal meals and just ate chocolate to relieve my hunger.

One day, David gave me a present of his hand-made chocolates, said

“Miranda, I know what you are suffering. But eating ample chocolate to avoid problems is not a good way to solve problems. Life is similar to chocolate, they are bittersweet. But this taste is still memorable. In our life there are glee and sorrow. To sacrifice the happiness in your hands to avert the possible agony, is that worth it? The chocolate that I have made probably would not be tasty, but it represents my love. I hope you can bravely walk out of the mist and live in the present.”

Since the chocolate incident, we formally entered into a romantic relationship, and I had extricated from the addiction to chocolate. Now I could really enjoy the flavor of chocolate.

***

In the graveyard, David and I, accompanied with my baby son in David’s arm, stood in façade of Mother’s grave. I whispered to Mother “Mother, this is your grandson, Matthew. I know you always worry about me, but now I can be sure to tell you that I have a wonderful family. Mother, I love you!”

At that moment a soft wind blew towards us. It seemed like the blessing of my mother to us, gentle and caring.

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