Gentle Rose

Her husband calls her Grace. Among us, her friends she is known as Rose. She is medium built, slender a soft spoken lady. Fair complexion with short sassy hair. She is very thoughtful and she phrases her sentences very well when speaking. Rose is very observant and she only speaks when necessary. She would give much thought before speaking. She makes good eye contact when talking to. A conscientious character as I would describe her...Rose with her son and daughter left for Morocco two weeks ago to be with her husband. She called me from the airport before boarding. Telling me to take good care of myself, telling me she shall miss me, telling me life will be kind to me eventually, trust in God, telling me she asked God to bless me. I could not speak, I was crying, I could not contain myself, I was sobbing. Three days before her departure date Rose arranged for a small gathering for a group of us. We had breakfast and was served 'nasi lemak'. Rose had a friend to cater for the food. One Saturday before the farewell gathering I bought Rose some souvenirs. Since she enjoys reading novels and loves cooking, naturally I gave her books relating to her interest. To remind myself of her I got the same cooking book for my keeping. I was in tears when jotting down  some compliments in the books then wrapping them.... We hugged each other tightly, looking into each others eyes, crying because we both know that we would not be seeing each other again. I have many friends, only a few are dear to me but Rose is especially close to me in her own way. I guess we are both close to each other because we are both survivors. Rose is a cancer survivor while I am a survivor in lives' matters. We feel for each other. We both endure the sadness, the bitter painful difficult phases life laid for us...'Rose, it was a pleasant surprise when you handed me the picture of both of us. I miss you, Gentle Rose'.