Wrapped with Love
Delivering some Christmas presents today to a friend I never seen over the holidays. And it reminded me of other presents unopened.
It was her birthday.And I shopped for presentsWhile she lay in a hospital ward.Tailoring the gifts to suit the occasion.New Pyjamas, toiletries, things that would be useful. Things she might not want, but would definitely need. I'd take them to her at visiting, And they would be from Granny's boy, and she would be delighted. And I smiled as I thought of her face. I shopped, while her condition changed.While I browsed and pondered over which colours she'd like,Doctors rushed to her side,Assessing their next move.While I pushed a child in a pram adorned with shopping bags, Like a Pandora bracelet adorned with charms —She was being prepared for the 4 hour ambulance ride to St James hospital in Dublin.While I gathered the purchases together, and waited for my brother,She was placed in the ambulance, with the priest giving her last rights...And as we pulled in, and rushed over,She smiled, and asked where I had been."Buying you some birthday presents" I said.Presents she never got to open.Presents that I could now never part with.Presents wrapped with love that sit in her wadrobe, where she would have left them.Unseen. Untouched. Unworn.