Story - On the Veranda - Essay Example

1 On the Veranda It was a warm summer afternoon in the month of April, as I reclined in my favorite armchair soakingin the sunshine and breathing in the fresh air that wafted in from the garden with a mixture of fragrances from the beds of flowers nearby. Our house was rather old fashioned but held an aesthetic beauty quite hard to define. It had large rooms with huge French windows that opened out into the garden and the lawns that surrounded it. Being the matriarch of the house, I shouldered the responsibility of keeping it spick and span because that’s the way my family liked it. My reminiscing takes me back to the days when I was a blushing bride and lovingly carried across the veranda of our house and gently lowered down by my tall and handsome husband Jack, who gave me a warm embrace and then took my arm and showed me around the house. He was an engineer in the construction business and had lovingly designed every bit of the house himself, and would often say “Julie dear, I’ve built this house with you in mind and it is here that I want to live with you forever”. I would smile back and say, “Of course Jack, that’s what I want too”. 2 Every evening, when Jack returned from work, I would serve him tea and snacks while he rested for a while on a recliner on the veranda, overlooking a beautiful garden. Besides being husband and wife, we were soul-mates to each other and our conversations did not linger on random issues, but on the other hand, we could talk to each other on just about anything we wanted to say. We were frank with each other and laughed a lot at the humor shared between us. We would often sit on the steps of the veranda holding hands and discuss about raising a family. We were ecstatic when I became pregnant and Jack doted on me all the more and would teasingly say, “I can’t wait for the little one to arrive”. Finally the great day came and we were blessed with a sweet baby girl whom we named Cindy. We now had one more member added, to share space with us on the veranda. Cindy was the joy of our lives and as she grew up, we often played hide and seek with her. Her most favorite hiding place was behind any one of the marble pillars that dotted the fairly broad veranda, while the patter of little feet and tinkling laughter resounded in its corridors. The innocence and wonderment of childhood unraveled before our eyes as our little daughter filled our lives with such joy. When Cindy turned three, I fell pregnant for the second time. I felt a bit giddy and had a squeamish feeling in my stomach and felt like vomiting. I remember Jack bringing me to sit on a chair in the veranda as he phoned to the doctor. After checking 3 me, he happily congratulated my husband for becoming a father for the second time. We felt so happy that a new member would soon be added to our small family. That evening when Jack returned from work, he had bought a huge bunch of red roses and a big box of my favorite chocolates and giving me a warm hug placed them on my lap. As we sat having tea and snacks on the veranda, we planned ahead for the baby’s arrival. We were so engrossed in our conversation that we did not notice that the box of chocolates was suddenly missing. As we got up from our chairs wondering what happened to it, we spotted two tiny little feet behind the pillar. When we went to the spot, we were surprised to find that nearly half of the chocolates had been eaten by Cindy. We could not stop laughing to see her little face and her golden curls covered in chocolate. The veranda had some of the sweetest memories that we treasured. In the days that followed, our second beautiful baby girl was born and when Cindy was brought to the hospital to see the baby for the first time, she was beside herself with joy and said “I can play with the baby now”. I smiled across to her and replied, “Of course you can dear”. We named her Donna. Both my girls grew to be healthy and good at their studies too but above all they were such good friends. When they came back from school, they would help me with the chores and then play outside on the lawn while my husband and myself had tea on the veranda and watched their lively antics. The years flew by and both our daughters got married and went away to live with their new families and only my husband and myself would sit and reminisce about the 4 happy times we spent with our children. After they had left, the place seemed so quiet and desolate. Gone was the patter of feet and the tinkling laughter and gone was the love we shared as a family on this veranda. As the days and years passed us by, we became older and older. Our daughters hardly visited us because they had migrated to other countries far away. Both of us longed for our daughters to come back and fill the void of sadness that we were experiencing. But, this was not to be, as more difficult times were faced by us after my husband’s retirement. We had become old and frail and did not have the comfort of being looked after by our daughters as they were caught up in their own families. While Cindy had two daughters, Donna had two sons. Since we were old and not too healthy, it was impossible to make those long trips to visit them. In the years that followed, life became more difficult, as my husband became more feeble after getting Parkinson’s disease. He found difficulty in moving about and his memory had faded badly. Finally, he succumbed to the disease a few years later. My grief knew no bounds as I struggled hard to cope with his loss. I now sit alone on the veranda and gaze openly into space wondering when my time would come to meet my loved ones once again. However, I learned from life, that even though material or physical things can be snatched away, memories always remain with us. I am happy and grateful for the wonderful memories I cherish of my loving family. I have also learned 5 that we should make the most of everything while it lasts, because it is never going to last forever. References John Singer Sargent’s On The Veranda. Web accessed on 25th February 2014 www.jssgallery.org Read More