Most of us have read this email forward several times by now, yet it’s one of those that touch us deeply every time we come across it. It’s the story of this man whose wife asks him to take his mother out on a Friday evening dinner date. The wife obliges because she feels her husband is so caught up with his daily chores that he hasn’t been spending enough time with this other woman in his life who loves him as dearly as she does. Profound emotions and highly commendable, but equally rare, you would say. I would say, no, it’s not that unusual to find such wives.
Anyway, to come back to the story, the mother who has been a widower for several years, is as delighted at the prospect as expected, but apprehensive at the same time. She dresses up in her finest clothes and waits for her son to pick her up on his way back from work. They have a pleasant meal at a fancy restaurant, where the son helps mother choose from the menu card because she can only read large print. It
reminds her of the times when the son was a child and she would help him likewise. They get so engrossed in the talking that they miss the film that was to follow the dinner. At the end of the evening, he drops her home. But the mother offers to take the son out for another meal soon.
A few days later, she dies of a sudden heart attack, leaving everybody unprepared. Sometime after, the son receives an envelope by post. It contains a paid bill for two at the same restaurant he had taken his mother to, along with a note from her that read: ‘You will never know what that night meant for me. I want you to enjoy the same meal once more. But since I don’t know if I will be around when you receive
this, please take your wife along.’
PS: How many of you would expect the mother-in-law to acknowledge her daughter-in-law’s contribution in making that evening so special? I’m talking about it in real time, in the life of a modern day, independent, working woman.
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