The Last Candle

The pastor continued on with his eulogy as the church stayed silent. It was a bitter sweet day saying my final goodbye to my last living friend, Edna Gonzales. She had suffered long enough and I was at bliss that I watched her go peacefully. The service her son Henry put together was lovely.

After the service, my daughter Linda and I drove back home.

"So are you excited for your birthday tomorrow, Ma?" She asked.

"I'm turning century old Linda. I'm not excited at all!" I exclaimed.

"Don't be like that mom. You have made it to an age most people never see. You over achieved life expectancy" she stated.

Instead of arguing with my 70 year old daughter, I shut my eyes as I thought about another birthday coming. After watching so many friends and family go, I couldn't bare the thought of having another year seeing whose next. Old age turned my once glistening skin wrinkly and brittled. I watched the hair on my head turn from brown to grey and the ache in my bones were once non existent. As I saw it, I would give back twenty years to have the strength I did back then. I struggled getting out of bed everyday from the weakening of my back. My feet ached just from walking to the kitchen. If I knew what I know back then, i'd tell myself to cherish my mobility a little more.

We arrived at the house and I noticed a blue minivan parked in the driveway. My son Danny must've stopped over. As I suspected, he opened the front door and came to help me out of the passenger seat. To think I once carried him as an infant, he'd be doing the same for me. When we came into the house, I saw that it had been decorated already with purple balloons that had 100 printed across them.

"I decided to come prep for tomorrow ma so we'd have the house ready on time." Danny said offering me a small smile.

"I can see that. Thank you, Danny boy!"I said back.

He disappeared to help Linda with the streamers and banner. As I watched my last two out of five remaining children alive, a tear began to fall. The thought of God taking them before me made my heart drop. I had buried enough children of my own and my husband. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in this world alone. Reaching a 100 years old isn't a blessing, it's a tragedy. I wiped my tears quickly as I heard a movement in the kitchen.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, happy birthday. Happy birthday to you!" I heard as my grandchildren were making their way over and their children as well.

I let out a chuckle and tears started to fall again. I saw that they had bought my favorite cake from Mascalodo's. A velvet cake with buttercream and ganache with"Happy Birthday Nana" written across it.

"It's not my birthday yet." I said to them.

"We know but we thought we'd celebrate it now with just us. Tomorrow can be for everyone else to come and see you, we just want you to know how much we appreciate you for sticking around long enough to guide us." Linda said.

"Blow out your candle Nana and make a wish!" My great grand daughter Katie said as she jumped up and down. I looked around at everyone surrounding me in the room before I closed my eyes. I said a silent prayer as I attempted to blow out 100 candles sprawled out across my cake. When I came to the last candle, I made my wish. This would be the last candle i'd have to blow out forever.