Valerie Kats - "Love comforth like sunshine after the rain". These simple but meaningful words have been the intensity for persistence in my grandmother's life.

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

Valerie Kats

“Love comforth like sunshine after the rain”. These simple but meaningful words have been the intensity for persistence in my grandmother’s life. As I sit in front of her, looking at her paper-like delicate hands holding an old photograph, tears begin to descend from her face as she begins to remember one of the most dreadful events of what one might call the most pleasant episodes in a mothers life. That event turned into a catastrophic and bitter end to an innocent man’s life, that man was her son. She has told me the story before and how she survived it, but every time I hear it, it sounds like the first. Perhaps the reason for this being is the nature and the graphic imagery that invades my mind when I picture it.

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My grandmother was a woman who appreciated the simplest offerings of life, so when the day of her son’s birthday came, she was filled with rapture. Being a woman of faith, she disregarded any minor details that were not going as planned. She thought, being the compassionate and remarkable mother that she is, she might surprise her son and meet him after work. This was only a few blocks from her house so she dressed quickly and headed there. Her heart was filled with bliss as she thought about him and how lucky he had made her feel to have him as a son. Upon arrival she noticed how the water had turned into slippery ice sheets that created the feeling of winter, but made even standing still troublesome. Russia was beautiful in the winter. The snow of the night painted each morning white. People would come out of their houses to look at the beauty before them. Her eyes light and projected a glow as she saw the truck pull up across the street with her son. The truck was tremendous. It was one of those trucks that you were terrified of, even if you saw it a mile away, you did not want to risk crossing the street.

He got out of the brute device carefully and closed the door. He immediately obtained a beam on his face when he saw that his mother was waiting for him. Without paying close attention to his steps, he slipped and landed right under the truck. My grandmother’s heart melted to the bottom of her stomach, being unable to move or speak, she battled inside herself with the pain. It had felt like everything was ripped out form inside her and thrown onto the street for anyone to step on. In a matter of a few seconds, the automobile crushed her son into a memory. It had seemed like the disaster had happened in slow motion. Every detail stayed in my grandmother’s memory as if she had just seen it happen. The way his soft hair was blown by the wind, the way his mouth opened as he tried to speak, and most of all she remembers the way she felt when she realized he was gone. Her screams were louder than any you have ever heard. They were the screams of a mother who had just outlived her son. The hours after were followed by silence and withdrawal form the rest of the family. How could one get over this situation enough to continue to live life? There is a way, as she told me. The way is through love. The mournful events of that day could never be forgotten but could be softened with the love and comfort of the people around her. I can not even begin to imagine the misery that she must have felt and the courage she must have had to overcome it.

Each time I look into her eyes I can not help but to smile. A woman who has endured life’s most formidable events has the force and capability to make others smile. She is truly a hero that needs to be acclaimed by the world around her, because to her, there is no greater one. Throughout my entire life she has instructed me to always remember one thing: that this too shall pass. I wish I would be able to deliver this message to others, so that they would not be completely unarmed when they face the cruelties of this world, a world that has so much to offer and so much to take. I have lived by her words and have made them my bravery and adequacy to surmount any obstacle.