What Can Dates Tell You?

What can dates tell you, really?

That first day, February 15, 1928, she opened her eyes for the very first time and looked up into the brown eyes of her mother, smiling down at her. Such hopes, such dreams for this bright, blue-eyed little girl and the woman who held her. No one told either of them that this would be a short love affair; that in a mere five years, the mother would lie beneath the stone with the dates. September 28, 1985 - August 7, 1933. One day, when she was older and braver, and knew she would not crumble under the grief, the blue-eyed girl stood staring down at the dates, then reached to trace them with her finger. What can dates tell you, really? A mother gone too soon. But, what she wanted to know was, what did she love? What were the things that made her heart sing? Those were the things that mattered, the things that would tell you who she was. Years later, a lifetime later, when she was older and much braver, and knew she would not crumble under the grief, a daughter, this time a brown-eyed one, stood looking down at the blue-eyed girl’s headstone, tracing the dates with her finger, February 15, 1928 - June 18, 2019. What can dates tell you, really? A mother gone too soon. It’s always too soon, no matter the age. But, what she wanted to know was, what did she love? What were the things that made her heart sing? She closed her eyes to remember. She loved roses, pink ones, the beach and the mountains, music and Monet, children and animals, her parents, her life-long friends, her sister, the young man who died in the war, whose picture was found still in her drawer, all those years later, her husband, her sons, her grandchildren and her brown-eyed daughter. She loved her. Maybe these are the things that should be carved in stone, for future generations to see. Discover what she loved and you will know who she was. What can dates tell you, really?