Susan was a successful woman in her career. She used to be a stewardess on international airlines and saw the whole world. This was thrilling and full of enjoyment. She did her task perfectly too and spent her half life with it. She had always visited Paris, New York, Africa, Australia, Thailand and what not.
Then it was her time to retire. She had a son and a loving husband. But her son lived in the different state. So, she returned to her husband. Susan and her husband both retired from their work and was enjoying their time together. He also liked to travel a lot. So, they went everywhere and got limitless happiness. But one day Susan's husband died from heart attack and she was all alone in the home.
This time her son invited her to join his family. His son John was married and they recently got a baby boy. Susan wanted to join his son and so she agreed. She also wanted to meet his grandson very soon and take care of the little baby. She knew that her daughter in law did a job and her maternity leave was going to be over soon. So, she herself wanted to help them so that Jane can build her career.
Susan was warmly welcomed to the house. His son and Jane was very happy to see her. She started to take care of little Sam and his mother went to work. If Susan only knew how she would be repaid for it later.
After this she was the only one who took care of Sam. From Sam's early childhood Susan not only cared about his holistic development but also was always there when he was sick. Jane and John hardly could manage time to take care of him. And so it was all Susan's responsibility while they were busy with their work.
Sam started to grown up fast. He also started to love his beautiful woman. Sam adored his granny. He made many habits and one of them was he never went to bed without hearing an interesting story about his granny's travels. Susan also loved his grandchild much and raised him as a good boy. She build some habits too and she was glad when Sam practiced them all by himself.
Whenever he wanted to hear a story, she asked him to close his eyes and took him in the place in his imagination. Thus Sam visited different cities, countries and many more places. And he developed a vivid imagination.
Years later when he was in school, those bedtime stories helped him win the most prestigious art competition for children. He used to imagine places beautifully and he expressed them through his arts. And thus his painting achieved this honor. He was on the stage and every audience was praising him. But he was sad because he knew that his granny was not present in the audience.
Susan started getting dementia and most often got lost in town whenever she was out of home. She couldn't recognize people or the place she was in. The only thing she did was to cry and run here and there to find out her familiar faces though they maybe in front of her.
Since Susan's memory problem had become worse, sometimes she didn't even recognize her own son, John. Every time she did so, John felt worried about her.
By then, Jane gave birth to her second child. She was on her maternity leave this time too to take care of her baby. But she was not able to do things all by herself. She was very tired taking care of her daughter. One day she told John that their daughter exhausted her a lot. She also said that taking care of Sam was not so tiring and was easier too. John asked her how would she knew that because Susan always took care of Sam. Jane remembered so but she said that her mother in law now even couldn't take care of herself.
Another day Susan was on the yard and Jane watched her. She wore a goose down jacket though there was 80 degree sunny weather. But she was not feeling discomfort. Moreover, she was going here and there in the yard in a happy face.
And the next morning of the incident in the yard, Jane saw her mother in law doing something unusual. She found Susan making soup on the washing machine. And sometimes Susan was opening the lead and taking smell of it too.
Jane again complained this to his husband and compared Susan with her baby girl. John became angry on her and told her to stop complaining. He told her that Susan was his mother and she was in trouble. He wanted to help her in this worse situation. Jane also angrily said that they all might be in trouble because of her behavior soon.
Unfortunately Jane's prediction came to be true. That day there was no one in the home but Susan. Susan wanted to make a cup of coffee for herself. So, she went to boil the water in kettle. She sat on the chair and went to sleep. The kettle was over hot and it caught fire in the kitchen. Later Jane came back with the baby and saw found the kitchen on fire.
John also came there and asked what had happened there. Jane got her point and told him that his mother almost had burned down the house. These all happened and Susan was still sleeping like a baby. John tried to protest her and said that all happened because of her dementia. But Jane didn't listened to him and said that Susan needed to be isolated otherwise they all will be in danger again.
As much as John hated to admit it, Jane was right. Unfortunately at that time he was the only one who was working in the family while Jane was on Maternity leave. Their income was not much and so they couldn't afford a nurse for Susan. So, they made a decision to send her in the nursing home which was the only option.
Sam cried a lot as he loved his granny so much. He never wanted to lose her. And he protested his father this time saying that he would not let his father to put her granny in a nursing home. He gave his all savings to his father and asked if that was enough to hire a nurse. But his father sadly said that it was not enough.
That's how Susan ended up in a nursing home. Sam visited her everyday after school with lots of flowers. And he did his best so she didn't feel abandoned. He told her that she was always there when he needed her and he would be also there when she needed. Then he requested her to tell a story. As per his habit he closed his eyes and went to visit through her imagination.
Later Sam started to paint pictures of her stories. He painted and his grandmother guided him. Thus they made beautiful paintings together. He asked his father to help him in selling his paintings online. And yes she did a great business. People bought his original paintings and he got a lot of clients soon. Very soon, the little artist made a fortune.
He had enough money and then asked her granny to quit stalling as she was going home again!
We should never forget that life is a garden; we reap what we sow.
