Let Go With Grace

I attended a meditative writing workshop a few years ago, and this is what I wrote. It was a small gathering of people where we began to listen to a guided meditation and we would have ten minutes to transfer our thoughts onto our journals. This was actually from five years ago, but I just came across this piece paper the other day. Our starting line for that night was “As I stepped onto the path…” Although I have slightly revised it a bit.

As I stepped onto the path I take a look back and see how far I’ve come and everything that has happened to me, the good, the bad, and the “not so pretty” times, I realized that everything happened for a reason. I learn just how grateful I am for everything. I remember my challenges that gave me the strength to conquer all that I need to in my journey. I trust the universe.

As I stepped onto the path, I I let go of fear of would, or will happen to me. Overthinking at its finest. I let go of the past for it has shaped me into who I am and who I am meant to be. I let go of all that no longer serves me or sparks joy. I let it all go. I let go with grace.

As I stepped onto the path I am lighter. I am free. I release all judgement from others, but more importantly from myself. I welcome joy and allow myself to do things that adds happiness. I become mindful and don’t fret about the past or the future. I stay present.

I keep on moving and welcome great things. As I step onto the path, I can invite new opportunities to better myself.

I no longer let other people judge me or belittle me. I am only trying my best. As I step on the path I know I can do anything I set my mind to. If something goes wrong, or if I stumble, I make it part of my dance and keep on travelling. I let go of what no longer serves me. I listen to the music in my heart, and keep on striving for many adventures on the horizon. As I step on the path, I let go with grace.

Unimaginable Treasure – Chapter Three

Here it is, the third chapter of my new story. It’s called Unimaginable Treasure. Please know, that I will never judge anyone from holding on certain things. So there’s no need to feel embarrassed about it. We are all humans, and we are doing our best. I am not one to judge or express shame among anyone. Please feel free to provide me with any feedback. I will be posting a chapter every Wednesday. Although I am a bit late with posting this week. I apologize for that I was just thinking about what I should write next. I can’t wait to start writing chapter three of this story. I hope you like it.

For those of you who will like to catch up or just reread the first two chapters of the story, click here, threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/unimaginable-treasure/

Chapter Three

After Ben had dropped Sophie off at her house from donating their winter accessories to the homeless people. She walked up to her room, and realized that her room was too cluttered, despite giving away some of her things. She came to the realization that she was just like her Grandma, Mary. She had kept things that she no longer needed to keep. She didn’t need to hold on to three of her Grandma’s tea collection to hold on to her memories of her Grandma. She only needed to keep one set. She decided to keep the rose set, which is the collection her Grandma used whenever she visited her.

Sophie knew that Lisa admired the blue porcelain set, so she figured she would give that to her the next time she saw her. As for the teddy bear collection. She figured a little girl would be able to make memories with her grandma, the same way Sophie has memories of her Grandma.

Sophie later learned that she didn’t need to keep a bunch of Grandma’s belongings to remind herself of Mary. Sophie knew that her Grandma lived in her heart.

She became inspired that she had asked if her parents can help her declutter their whole house. She even called her cousin and asked if they go through their house, donating various items.

She has been encouraging her friends to participate in their school’s donation drive. A few days she had talked it over with her principal, Mr. Johnson, if she can be in charge of the donations. She was planning on giving them to various shelters. Shelters that helped the homeless, men and women who have recently left abusive relationships and didn’t have much of anything since they left in a hurry. Depending on how many people, she would donate some things to thrift and second hand stores.

Mr. Johnson said she could make an announcement on the P.A. system during their morning announcement on Monday. She was so excited that she had began writing her speech.

***

Meanwhile Lisa is asking her mom if there are any duplicate items in their kitchen. Her mom then joins her with donating some of the things she no longer uses. Lisa’s mom is very proud of Sophie for organizing this event to help others.

Ben is in the garage with his Dad and he is asking if there are any items that they no longer need anymore.

Monday morning rolls around. Sophie is in the principal’s office with her cue cards waiting for her turn to speak during the morning announcements. When it comes her turn, she clears her throat, and grabs the micrphone.

“Hey there, everyone. My name is Sophie and I’m in the twelfth grade. I have decided that this is the perfect time for us to go through our belongings. Carefully examining if we still use these items, if we have duplicates of them, if they genuinely add happiness to our lives. And whatever we no longer use can be brought in to be donated. There will be a few boxes in front of the principal office which is where we will place our donations. You can donate anything to clothes, kitchen ware, books, games, and any hygiene products. I will then organize everything, and send them to various locations such as shelters that will help out homeless people, people who have left abusive relationships and don’t have much. There’s no better time than right now, since the weather is getting colder, and there are so many people that are in need. We can add some cheer to people’s hearts. We will be accepting donations until next Friday. Thank you so much. Have a great day!” Sophie explained, as she handed the microphone back to the principal.

Sophie was very eager to partake in this challenge. She hoped that everyone donated at least 10 items. She figured she would be spend an hour after school with her friends organizing everything. But as long as she was with her friends, she didn’t seem to mind. She also loved the idea of being able to help others. From a young age, Sophie enjoyed helping others.

Unimaginable Treasure Chapter Two

Here it is, the second chapter of my new story. It’s called Unimaginable Treasure. Please know, that I will never judge anyone from holding on certain things. So there’s no need to feel embarrassed about it. We are all humans, and we are doing our best. I am not one to judge or express shame among anyone. Please feel free to provide me with any feedback. I will be posting a chapter every Wednesday. Although I am a bit late with posting this week. I apologize for that I was just thinking about what I should write next. I can’t wait to start writing chapter three of this story. I hope you like it.

For those of you who will like to catch up or just reread the first chapter of the story, click here, threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/unimaginable-treasure/

Chapter Two

They entered Ben’s room and it was fairly organized for the most part. He had two dirty mugs on his night stand, but it was fairly cleaned. Although he could have used a good dusting.

Sophie sneezed loudly.

“Bless you.” Ben said, handing her a tissue. “Sorry, I should dust more frequently.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Said Sophie.

“So where should we start?” Lisa asked as she made a spot for her tea cup on his desk. Ben and Sophie then placed their cups and the plate of cookies beside Lisa’s tea cup.

“For me I think it is easiest to start with the closet, and the clothes. I recommend that you start with the things you don’t have much attachment with first. That way you can build up the strength to get rid of more things, including your sentimental items.” Sophie announced as Ben opened his closet.

“Hm. This is interesting. For starters I have never see you wear this shirt before.” Sophie confessed. She was surprised to see a tie dye shirt stashed away in his closet.

“Okay, well I just thought, I’ll wear it for whenever my aunt comes over. She bought it a few years ago.” Ben admitted, as Lisa laughed.

“Oh, my word! I can’t picture you having that shirt.”

“No, if you haven’t worn it a year, it goes. There are so many people in need, and would love to have this shirt.” Sophie explained.

“This is so much fun. I’m going to quickly grab a reusable bag from the kitchen. I’ll be right back. Does anyone want anything?” Lisa offered.

“Perhaps, you can boil the kettle, if you don’t mind? Maybe in a few minutes you can make us more tea. Cool?” Ben suggested.

Lisa then departed the room.

“I love that girl.” Ben said with the biggest smile on his face.

“I know that! I’m happy that she has found someone as amazing as you.” Sophie replied.

Lisa came back and began placing all of the clothes that Ben no longer wanted in the bags.

“I think the kettle finished brewing. I’ll go make us another cup.” Lisa announced as she carefully carried their mugs downstairs.

“So I see that you have three suits and jackets to match. I think that is a bit much. I think you should see if any one of these sets fits you. Then decide from there.” Sophie ordered, as she removed his suits from their hangers and placed them in his hands.

“I know that this one is too small. I actually forgot that I had this. But this one is my favourite. And I also like this one, too. Is that okay?” Ben asked as he grabbed another suit.

“Well, it depends. If you were to see this in a store, would you buy it?” Sophie asked.

“Hm…” Ben began to ponder. “I would want to buy this one, but I don’t think I would buy this one.”

“Okay, that’s great.” Sophie said as Lisa had brought up Sophie’s and Ben’s cups of tea. She had to go back down to the kitchen for her cup.

Lisa came back up with her tea, and she had curled up on his bed.

“Wait, are you really getting rid of your suits. But your parents spent a lot of money on those?” Lisa wondered.

“Yes, it would appear like they have, but to be fair, one of them no longer fits. And secondly, it would be expensive for him to keep it.” Sophie explained.

“What do you mean? I don’t get it.” Lisa answered.

“Because it will be taking up space in the closet. And someone else can benefit by having this suit. This sophisticated suit will make someone happy, especially this is something not everyone can afford.” Sophie confessed.

“That is an interesting way of explaining things.” Lisa said.

“Now, that you say that, I think I might add a few more shirts.” Ben admitted, removing clothes from their hangers.

“This is awesome!” Sophie squealed.

“This is making me happy knowing that I am helping someone else.” Ben admitted.

“Next, we should see if you have any winter accessories, like extra coats, scarves, etc.” Sophie said, grabbing a cookie.

Ben grabbed a container at the bottom of his closet. He went through it, and followed Sophie’s rule of only keeping two of everything. She explained that if he had to wash something, he would have an extra to wear if he needed to go out.

After sorting through this container, he ended up giving away several things. He had six different jackets, and he realized that he should only need two jackets. He donated a bunch of shoes as well. He didn’t need five sneakers. He had kept a pair of waterproof sneakers, when he realized that his boots would suffice. Sophie had told Ben that he should set aside his winter accessories from his clothes, although he didn’t ask why he needed to separate it from his other belongings.

Sophie suggested that he go through his bed sheets. A lot of people can use these — more than we realize. She told him to put his bed sheets next to his winter accessories.

Lisa was observing Sophie’s method of how to declutter.

“Sophie, you are amazing! His closet is really starting to look more spacious already.” Lisa expressed.

“Thanks, and we’re just getting started.” Sophie admitted.

“I’m so happy with this process.” Ben confessed.

“We can probably work on Lisa’s room next weekend. I’m really glad you two are on board. The donation week is in two weeks. Perhaps, you two can talk to your parents and see what they are willing to donate, as well?” Sophie asked with sincerity hoping that their parents were willing to help.

“Oh no! It’s already 10 o’clock. Ben, you have to drive us home, it’s already passed curfew.” Lisa said with frustration.

“I feel incredibly bad but I won’t be able to wash my tea set before I leave. But we’ll be back tomorrow. Perhaps, that can be your homework for tonight.” Sophie announced.

“Sure, thing. I will take good care of it, for the night.” Ben promised, as he was grabbing the car keys.

Ben’s parents were nice enough to let Ben borrow the family car from time to time. Sophie and Lisa grabbed their purses and walked out of the room.

As they were putting on their shoes, Sophie said, “I couldn’t help but notice, but you have six umbrellas!”

“That I didn’t realize, but maybe I’ll work on that later.” Ben said, as he locked the front door. They were suddenly hit by a chilly breeze, that caused the fallen leaves to dance with the wind. It was also a bit foggy, too.

Ben started the car, and he drove to Sophie’s house, and thanked her for all of her help.

“Thank you so much, Ben! I really appreciated you driving us home. It sure beats walking in this.” Sophie said as she opened the car door, and walked towards her house.

“I feel really good about myself, and all of my progress.” Ben said.

“I’m proud of you, too.” Lisa said, giving Ben a quick peck on the cheek.

When Sophie unlocked her door, she gave them a wave as Ben resumed driving. Ben was raised to always wait until the person he is dropping off is safe in their house before driving away. Thankfully, Sophie and Lisa lived within a few blocks from each other.

“I can only imagine how many bags I am going to get rid of.” Lisa wondered.

Ben and Lisa arrived at her house, he ended up walking her to the door, and kissed her good night.

“Good night, I love you.” Lisa announced.

“Good night, I love you, too.” Ben said kissing her, before she went into her house.

Ben drove home, and began washing the dirty dishes from his room. He even made a vow to never leave his room messy, again.

After all that, he decided to go to bed.

***

Sophie woke up and she immediately called Lisa.

A few rings went by before she heard Lisa pick up her phone.

“Hey?” Lisa had said sluggishly.
“Oh, did I wake you? Sorry.” Sophie apologized.
“It’s seven thirty.” Lisa asked as she slowly sat up in her bed.
“I know, but in the morning is the best time to get things done!”
“I guess so, it just isn’t me, but… What’s up?”
“I organized my winter gear, so I was thinking that Ben could pick me up, so I can bring my winter gear with me to your place. As can Ben.”

Lisa didn’t seem to respond since she had nodded off.

“Uhm, hello?” Sophie asked.
“Yeah.” Lisa said as she yawned.
“Oh, okay, you know what I’ll call you back in a few hours. Bye.” Sophie said as she hung up.

***

Sophie had called Ben asking him to pack all of his winter gear that he no longer wanted, and she had asked if he can pick her up before they headed off to Lisa’s house.

They eventually arrived at Lisa’s. Ben and Sophie left their containers of winter accessories in the car. They made sure it wasn’t too early for her, since she isn’t the biggest morning person, especially on the weekends.

“Let’s go through your winter gear. We’re going to be doing something special today.” Sophie announced.
“Okay, I actually have a lot of winter gear. Like more than I thought I did.” Lisa said, all embarrassed.

Ben sat on Lisa’s unmade bed as Sophie began digging through the piles of winter coats and scarves. Lisa was kind of the messy one.

“That’s okay. I don’t judge anyone for having too much stuff. My Grandma’s house was filled with stuff. Like floor to ceiling of things. So I understand.” Sophie explained.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Lisa said.
“It’s okay. I just wished I could have been there for her more. I feel like I could have helped.” Sophie confessed.

There was a short pause, as Lisa and Ben didn’t know what to say to Sophie.

“I have never seen you wear this before!” Sophie exclaimed, as she held up a coat to Lisa, so she could see it.

“Ooh, I was looking for that!” Lisa said.
“Were you actually though?” Sophie asked.
“I guess not, no. But it looks cute.” Lisa expressed.
“Yes, but if you haven’t worn it in a year, you should let it go.” Sophie explained.
“Well, I guess if you put that way, okay, I’ll get rid of it.” Lisa replied as she set her coat aside in a pile filled with her other coats she was letting go.

Sophie came across as a hat with a price tag on it.

“You bought something that you haven’t worn, yet?” Sophie asked as Lisa looked guilty.

“It was on sale, and I thought I needed it.” Lisa added.
“Did you know that things are 100% off if you don’t buy it?” Sophie asked.
“I guess I never really thought about it like that before.” Lisa revealed.

When a container became empty, Ben began folding all of Lisa’s coats and her other accessories she no longer needed.

“Now, you officially own two of everything for this winter.” Sophie happily said.

“Now what?” Lisa asked.

“We have to load it up in the car. We’re going on a mission.” Sophie answered.

As they were starting to put on their gear. It began snowing — the first snowfall of the season.

“You ladies stay here, let me put the container in the car, and I just got to brush off of the snow on my windshield.” Ben said as he was carrying out Lisa’s container.

“You should be so proud of yourself. We’re about to make a lot of people warm and happy.” Sophie said.

“Yeah, I think so.” Lisa said, as she was locking up her house. Sophie and Lisa carefully walked to the end of the driveway to Ben’s car. Lisa sat up front, and Sophie sat in the back seat next to their three containers of stuff.

“Ben, do you remember the plan?” Sophie asked.
“Yes, I sure do.” He replied.

Ben drove them to the downtown mall, because there were a lot of homeless people who looked really cold. Most people didn’t have a lot of stuff. They parked the car in a designated parking lot, as they each carried a container.

“What are we going to do with all of our stuff?” Lisa asked.
“We’re going to give it away to others.” Sophie said.

They began handing out their clothes that they no longer wanted anymore.

They walked up to a middle aged woman, who had a walker filled with miscellaneous items. She was wearing a pair of gloves that had several holes in them.

“Hi there.” Sophie said as she walked up to her.

The lady looked scared.

“It’s okay. We’re not trying to hurt you, or take anything from you.” Sophie said, as she was taking out a pair of pink gloves for her.

“Here, we thought you might like these.” Sophie explained, as the lady smiled when Sophie gave her a pair of new gloves.

“Thank you so much.” She said as she had put them on.

“I wish there is something more I can to do to help everyone. It breaks my heart knowing that there are people who are living out in the streets all cold, and lonely.” Sophie expressed.

“Yes, but these gloves will make a difference.” She said.

“It isn’t much, but I have some change for you, too.” Sophie said, as she pulled out a $5 bill.

“Sweetie, I love your kindness, but I don’t need it. There’s someone else in the world that needs it more than me.” She said, smiling at Sophie and her friends.

“Okay, I guess so. It was nice to meet you. Stay safe out here.” Sophie said as she put her money away back in her pocket.

“You, too.” The lady said, as she admired her gloves.

The three friends walked around to see more people.

“Where did you get that money from?” Lisa wondered.
“It’s from my Grandma’s inheritance.” Sophie answered.
“This is really noble of you, Sophie.” Ben said.
“Yeah, but I want to help people.” Sophie explained.

They came across a father and a daughter sitting in the cold, as his daughter was in his lap.

“Hi, there. You look so cold. Let me help you.” Sophie said, as she was digging through her container to find some extra blankets to give them.

“Here, this might help.” Sophie said, as she handed it to the father.

“Thank you so much!” He said, as he was unfolding it to cover his daughter with it.

Ben was digging through his container and he gave him a hat.

“You are really nice. Her mother was so sick, and I had just lost my job at the time. And between paying for her medicine, her funeral costs, we just couldn’t stay ahead with the bills.” He explained.

“I’m really sorry to hear that. I know it must be hard. I lost my Grandma not too long ago.” Sophie explained.

“I don’t even know what to do anymore.” He said, as he began crying.

“Here, I know it isn’t much, but I hope you can get some soup with it.” Sophie said, handing him a $20 bill.

“You have no idea how much this means to me.” He said, as tears rolled his cheeks.

“Trust me, one day I will make this world a better place.” Sophie promised.

They spent the rest of the afternoon, helping and talking to various people. Lisa was really proud to have Sophie as her best friend, since she has the biggest heart.

They have enjoyed helping people throughout the day. They had learned a lot from other people. They were glad that they were able to let go of these things and make others smile, and keep them warm. They gave others some change as well.

“Sophie, you’re amazing! I am really glad to have a best friend like you. Thank you for encouraging me to get rid of this stuff that was just stashed away in a container. I feel so proud of myself.” Lisa expressed.

“Thank you. I am proud of you both.” Sophie said, as they carried their empty containers back to the car.

Unimaginable Treasure Chapter One

Here it is, the first chapter of my new story. It’s called Unimaginable Treasure. Please know, that I will never judge anyone from holding on certain things. So there’s no need to feel embarrassed about it. We are all humans, doing our best. I am not one to judge or express shame among anyone. I hope you like it. Please feel free to provide me with any feedback. I will be posting a chapter every Wednesday.

Chapter One

It was a chilly Friday afternoon in late September. The leaves began changing their colours, and some trees were completely bare, whereas other trees still had the majority of their leaves. Lisa had just got home from school a half hour ago. She was worried about her friend, Sophie who wasn’t at school earlier.

Sophie was briskly walking through a pile of leaves, where she saw her friend, Lisa reading some kind of scary book on her porch. She had saw Lisa drinking a cup of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. Sophie can tell Lisa didn’t make it too long ago, since she was able to see the steam rising from the red mug.

Upon Sophie’s arrival, Lisa put her book away, as Sophie sat down on the bench beside her. Lisa knew something was wrong because she noticed that Sophie’s face was red and her eyes were puffy and glossy.

“What’s wrong?” Lisa asked.
“It’s my Grandma…” Sophie began, but couldn’t hold back her tears long enough to tell Lisa.

Lisa began hugging Sophie, but that just made Sophie sob even more.

“Shhh… It’s okay. We’ll get through this together.” Lisa promised, hugging her tighter.

The last time Sophie had called her, she had told Lisa that her Grandma had suffered a stroke, and she wasn’t doing well. Lisa was really sad for Sophie, but at the same time she didn’t know how to comfort her friend since she had never lost someone close to her before.

“Here, you need this more than I do.” Lisa confessed as she handed Sophie her mug of hot chocolate.

“Thanks.” Sophie said, grabbing the mug and began taking sips from it, as she was wiping away her tears.

“Listen, let’s have the best weekend ever! And then after that we will seriously have to study for our history test this Friday.” Lisa declared.

“Yeah, sounds like fun. But I think on Sunday I have to be with my family, to help make funeral arrangements for my Grandma.” Sophie announced.

“Understandable, let’s have a lot of fun. I can even cancel my date with Ben tomorrow. I can see if he wants to reschedule until Sunday. For now, I’m all yours. Let’s turn the frown upside down!” Lisa said hopefully.

“You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate you doing that for me.” Sophie said, realizing that she has the best friend in the whole world.

Lisa and Sophie have been friends since they were toddlers. They first met each other in preschool.

They had spent the weekend doing many fun things like staying up all night, making sundaes, painting their nails and reading the latest gossip from Hollywood.

After all that fun, Sophie had to leave and get ready to spend time with her family. They needed to discuss the funeral arrangements, and get the photos ready for the funeral room.

Sophie had thanked Lisa for giving her an amazing weekend. Lisa was happy that she got to help Sophie. Sophie is an only child, and all of her cousins live in another city, and weren’t planning on coming in until Sunday morning. Sophie was more than grateful to have Lisa help her through this difficult time.

Sophie was surrounded by her family as they had made arrangements for her late Grandmother. Lisa got to hang out with Ben since she had rescheduled their date.

***

The next few days were filled with sorrow for Sophie attending her Grandma’s funeral. Lisa and Ben made study cards and started studying for their history test.

Eventually Sophie’s family went to her Grandma’s house. They didn’t realize that her house was jam packed with various items. Every room except her kitchen and dining room was filled with stuff floor to ceiling. They finally realized that’s why their Grandma didn’t allow visitors anymore.

Sophie’s father, David, the son of her Grandma began cleaning up her house. Sophie looked around and she knew that she wanted her Grandma’s recipe books, her Grandma made the best cherry cheesecake. She had talked to her cousins and wondered if they could make a three way split between their Grandma’s doll collection.

Her family agreed to take some things from the house. Sophie loved drinking tea, and her Grandma had various collections of matching tea cups and tea pots, as well as the milk jug, and sugar holder. She had a collection set in roses, teddy bears and plain porcelain. Sophie had her eye on all three sets.

Some of the things that her Grandma had kept were a lot of paper from her son and daughter’s school years. She had kept a lot of photos and cards from various holidays and birthdays. Her fridge was completely covered with magnets from all of the places she had travelled to. She had a lot of clothes. Despite having a walk-in closet, two dressers it just wasn’t enough. She had kept her clothes in the spare room, too. Her jewelry spilled all across the top of her dressers, and her countless jewelry boxes.

Her family had spent two weeks shredding papers, donating the clothes, the jewelry after they had all agreed to keep a few things each.

Sophie had hung out a lot with Lisa and Ben. She had showcased all of her cool new things that she got from her Grandma’s house. Lisa admired the porcelain tea set collection a lot.

After all of that, they moved on to the next phase which was to donate the furniture, clean the carpets and floors which hadn’t been seen for several years. The last time David remembered seeing the floors was when he had helped his mom deal with his Dad’s belongings after he passed away seven years ago.

Next David, and his sister, Claire found a realtor, because they wanted to list her house on the market, and hopefully sell it by Christmas.

After a few weeks had passed, Sophie realized that her parents were going through all of their belongings, and updating their wills. It was now the middle of October and all of the leaves had fallen to the ground.

“Hey, what are you up to?” Sophie asked.
“Well, having to clean up after both of my parents. It’s a lot of work. My Dad didn’t have a lot of stuff, but my mother had a bunch of things. I don’t want you to be left with this burden after we pass away.” David confessed, as he was filling up another bag of his belongings. His wife, Samantha was doing the same thing.

There was a small pause. Sophie was processing what her Dad had just said.

“What are you going to do with all of these things?” Sophie wondered.
“We’re going to donate these. There are various donation sites around the city that accept donations.” Samantha answered.
“I think that maybe Grandma was lonely, so instead of filling her home with memories she filled it with things. Like maybe that was her way of remembering us. Hear me out, she had kept yours and Aunt Claire’s school work throughout the years. It’s like her way of holding onto you.” Sophie explained.
“Yes, that can be a fair assessment of what happened.” David agreed.

This made Sophie really think about things. She went to her room and began examining her things, as well. She started with her closet. She began asking herself if she had worn any of these clothes in the past year. If she hadn’t she threw them on the floor until she had realized that she had a mountain of clothes on her floor. She decided it would be a good idea to grab a reusable bag and start packing all of these things. Next she had moved on to her books.

A few days later she was hanging out with Lisa and Ben at Ben’s house. Sophie had brought the roses tea set with her this time. They eventually made some Earl Grey tea. They started making pumpkin cookies as they were trying to decide on a scary movie to watch.

“I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.” Lisa noticed.
“Yeah, what’s your secret?” Ben asked.
“Well, you would think that with everything that has happened to me, you would like that I wouldn’t be happy. But I found a way.” Sophie explained as she was sipping her tea.

“These past weeks have taught me a lot of lessons. I realized that it is good to let things go that I don’t use anymore. My Grandma must have had 250,000 items in her house. Most of them were memories of my cousins, aunt, my parents and myself. We don’t need to hold on to things to remind things by, our memories are kept in our minds and hearts. I was inspired to get rid of some of my belongings. I feel like it’s allowed me to feel more joy since I’m no longer bombarded with all of this clutter around me. I have even spoken to the principal if we can have a donation week. It’s where we can donate our stuff, and it gets donated to places where people can help themselves if they are in need.” Sophie explained.

Lisa and Ben were in awe with her enthusiasm to help other people.

“How about we forget this movie and we can take our tea and cookies and we can get started with Ben’s stuff first?” Sophie asked.

“That sounds like a great idea.” Lisa confessed.

The three of them carefully carried their tea cups up the stairs and walked into Ben’s room to start their decluttering mission.

Writing Another Story

A couple of days after I had finished writing Taxi Driver, for those who are new to my blog, it is a short story that I had written. I learned what I needed to improve on, such as more thorough editing, and learn to be more descriptive with the setting.

With that in mind, I’ll be beginning to focus on my second story. I’ll be writing about the unknown ripple effects of decluttering and how you can become more comfortable with learning to be with less.

I hope that it can encourage others to donate things that you no longer need or use. Especially since it’s starting to get colder where I live. There might be items that you may have forgotten about, and you no longer use anymore. You just never know how much those items will make a complete or a friend so happy.

I really hope that this story might help others declutter, because you can help out so many people and not even realize it.

New Story Idea

Hey everyone! I have been thinking about new ideas for an upcoming story. I really like what I have thought of, so here it is. Although it’s still in the early stages, so I don’t have any names, or much development so far.

But my idea is basically about how another person’s trash per se becomes another person’s treasure. It’s going to focus on the benefits of decluttering, and how you may be unaware of the positive effects it has on other people.

I am really excited about to write it. I’m going to brainstorm more ideas this weekend, and hopefully be able to write and publish the first chapter for Wednesday.

Taxi Driver Chapter Seven

Here is the seventh and final chapter of Taxi Driver, in case you are behind or would like to reread the previous chapters again, here is everything Taxi Driver related.

https://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/taxi-driver/

Chapter Seven

Meanwhile…

Elizabeth decided she was done browsing around the gift shop, until something drew her attention. She knew she had to immediately buy it.

She decided to go back up to see Theodore and Evan. She hopped on the nearest elevator and pressed button four, and waited for the doors to close, suddenly someone had extended their arm in the nick of time. It was a gentleman about her age. He was able to hop on to the elevator as well.

“Good afternoon”, he said as he pressed button five.

“Hi,” Elizabeth said, patiently waiting for the elevator to reach the fourth floor.

“I’m visiting my mom. She had surgery yesterday.” He said, making conversation.

“Nice, I hope she is okay. I’m visiting my father-in-law. Have a great day!” She said, as she waved back, hopping off the elevator.

She then walked down the long hallway, thinking about what she would say to Evan after he had said something so hurtful. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Finally, after that long walk to Theodore’s room, she wiped all of her tears before she knocked on the door.

The knock then alerted Theodore, who was lost in thought at the time.

“Come in!” Theodore said, not knowing who it was.

“Hey, I just need to talk to Evan. Alone. If that’s okay?” Elizabeth said.

“Sure. I’ll be right back, Dad.” Evan said squeezing his Dad’s hand before departing the room.

“I heard what you had said to Theodore.” Elizabeth confessed.

“Babe, what are you talking about?” Evan said all confused.

“That you wished you weren’t having a baby!” Elizabeth raised her voice a bit.

“There is something I have been keeping from you.” Evan began.

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” Elizabeth asked, trying to fight back the tears, again.

“Look, you can’t tell my sisters, and especially not my mother. Promise?” Evan asked.

“Okay, I promise.” Elizabeth said meaningfully.

“My dad was born with this super power, if you will call it that. He has been able to help others deal with their problems.” Evan confessed.

“So, he’s like what? A therapist on the side? Or something?” Elizabeth wondered.

“No, not exactly. Let’s take a walk around the hospital, instead of just standing here. Like when he was driving his cab, he was able to detect what was actually happening in his clients’ lives. Like he met your dad awhile back.” Evan replied.

“What about my dad?”

“Our memories must have gotten altered as we grew up. My dad told me that our dads go way back. He also said that he stopped Deryck from robbing a bank in order to help your grandparents, since they didn’t have a lot of money at the time. He couldn’t find a job, so he resorted to rob a bank. Because my dad stopped him from doing that, they became really good friends, and you and I got to hang out a lot when we were babies and toddlers. In fact our Godparents are now our in-laws.”

“That is really crazy. How come my dad never told me this?”

“Maybe he was embarrassed. But anyway, I’m getting off track now. My dad was able to help out so many people like your father make better choices for themselves. I’m proud of him. He has an amazing legacy. But what he failed to tell me was that…” Evan said, but he paused to clear his throat because his eyes became glossy.

“Let’s sit. You seem really distressed.” Elizabeth said, as they walked over to chairs in the seated area.

“See, this secret power is passed down a father to his son, so my sisters don’t have this ability, like I do. The same thing has happened to me before, I took people to places they didn’t realize they needed to go. It happened countless of times. All this time, I felt like I had to hide this from everyone, but I actually didn’t. My dad knew I had this whole time. My dad was born with this, just like I was. And so was my grandfather.”

“Okay, but I don’t see how this resulted in you saying that you don’t want a baby.” Elizabeth said with sadness.

“See, that’s the thing. There can only be two of us that have this magical power at a time. So, because we are having a son, he will be born with this, which means the world doesn’t need my dad anymore.” Evan said, as he sobbed.

“So, you’re saying that’s how he knew we were having a son? Because he knew he was dying.” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes. I said that if I had knew that us having a baby boy, would result in my dad dying, I would have waited a few more years, or something. Or just adopted, or anything so I could have had more time with him.”

“Honey, listen. I know this must be tough for you, and I somewhat get everything, although this has been a lot to take in. But, just know that your dad did a lot of great things. He has helped many people. He brought us together, which I am really happy. Eventually, we all have to go through those gates, he is just going there before us. With his passing, he will be able to be reunited with all of the other people that have passed before him. It doesn’t mean that we won’t ever see him again. His memory will live on in us. In our baby. So, don’t be sad. Be glad that he was able to live such an amazing life.” Elizabeth said, as she hugged Evan.

Evan released himself from the hug, to sob in his hands.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. His memory will live on. This isn’t the end.” Evan admitted, reaching out and touching Elizabeth’s stomach, and felt him kick.

They both laughed, through their tears.

“Just know that your dad wouldn’t want you hate yourself. He wanted to live out your life to the fullest, just like he had.” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth’s words really did comfort Evan.

They decided to go back to his dad’s room.

When they had walked in, Elizabeth pulled out her gift from the gift bag. It was a blue onesie that read “My Grandpa loves me” with a big red heart.

Evan and Theodore both smiled.

“Well, Dad, we should getting go, dinner is going to be here soon. We love you so much.” Evan said as they gathered their belongings.

They each gave him a kiss good bye, before departing from the room.

When they got back, they ate dinner, and began getting ready for bed.

Elizabeth had woken up in pain, as she noticed her water just broke.

“Evan! It’s happening!” Elizabeth yelled as she changed her clothes.

Evan took off the sheets so he can eventually clean them. He was feeling really happy, until… the phone rang.

He ran to his phone and answered it.

“Hey, it’s me, Sarah, sorry for calling this hour, but I just got off the phone with one of dad’s doctors.”

“Yeah, bad news I assume?” Evan asked, fully knowing what Sarah was going to say.

“Yeah, they are telling us he doesn’t have a lot of time left. They have sedated him since he has been in a lot of pain.”

“Yeah, I gotta take Elizabeth to the hospital, do you think you can call Olivia?” Evan asked.

“Oh, wow! Is it happening?”

“Yes.” Evan said nervously.

“Well, I gotta call Olivia, so I’ll meet you there. I love you.” Sarah said.

Evan and Elizabeth grabbed their overnight bag, and hurried over to the hospital. They eventually met up with Olivia and Sarah. Their husbands stayed with the children since they were all too young to understand.

Evan and Elizabeth excused themselves because a nurse was escorting them to their delivering room.

“When you have our baby, my Dad will pass away, just like when my parents had me, my grandpa died. I would like to spend the last few hours with my Dad, if that’s okay. I’m so sorry.” Evan confessed.

“Yes, you can do that. I won’t mind. My mom will be here shortly. Tell him I love him, too.” Elizabeth said.

Evan ran to Theodore’s room, where Olivia and Sarah were. Eventually so after that Amelia walks into the room.

The three children all looked sad and hugged their mom.

“Wait, Evan, why are you? Aren’t you supposed to be with Elizabeth?” Sarah asked.

A moment passed before Amelia pieced the puzzle together.

“Elizabeth is having the baby?!” Amelia said with joy and sadness.

“Do you think she would want me there with her?” Olivia offered.

“Her mom is coming, so it’s up to you. She will understand.”

Evan, his sisters and his mom decided to stay with Theodore.

Olivia and Amelia went to the cafeteria to get everyone some tea.

“I’m going to miss him so much.” Sarah said crying.

“Me, too.” Evan said, as him and Sarah held onto Theodore’s hand ever tighter.

They all shared their favourite memories growing up, and how their father shaped them into becoming the best versions of themselves because of him.

Simultaneously, as Theodore left Earth, Evan’s and Elizabeth’s son was born.

They all took some time to mourn him. A priest came by to bless him on his journey to Heaven.

They eventually would say goodbye to him as they took his belongings with them.

“I’m going to check on Elizabeth now, I’ll be right back.” Evan said slowly walking to the nurse’s station to find out which room she was in.

He eventually found his way after getting lost.

“Hey, I’m here.” Evan said walking into the room, looking at his precious son in Elizabeth’s arms.

Evan kissed Elizabeth, and then gave his son a peck on the forehead.

“Meet Eli Theodore Henderson.” Elizabeth said.

“I love it. Thank you for adding my father’s name. That means so much to me.” Evan said as he threw himself onto the chair.

“Well, Theodore will live on in Eli.” Elizabeth said.

“He looks like my dad and myself.” Evan realized, as Elizabeth smiled.

Eventually the ladies stopped by to meet Eli. They were admiring how cute he is.

A few days have passed and they had laid Theodore to rest. It was an emotional day, but they got through because they had each other.

Although the pain and emptiness was too much for Amelia to bear, and she had passed away a few months later. The siblings were able to stay in touch and be apart of each other’s lives throughout the months. The deaths of their parents actually brought them closer, as they learned not to take moments for granted.

April 2082

All of the Henderson family members are doing well. The siblings are all close, and the cousins get along just fine.

They were all celebrating Easter dinner.

“Would you like some wine, Ashley?” Erica asked.

Ashley politely declined.

“There is something we would like to tell you. We are pregnant with a baby boy, and he’ll be here at the end of August!”

“Oh my goodness! I’m going to be an auntie!” Emily exclaimed, jumping up to hug Ashley.

Eli was the first one of the cousins to get married and have a baby. Evan was secretly sad but happy for Eli. He realized that his grandson was the reason why he hasn’t been feeling all that great since the year started.

Elizabeth was too happy to realize why Evan wasn’t as joyful as she was, until the day drew to a close.

Evan made plans and goals for himself that he could do with the remaining four months of his life.

He spent a lot of time with his family. Him and Elizabeth prepared their will, and he donated lots of things.

Evan and Elizabeth spent the summer at a cottage. He picked up the skills of fishing by watching videos and reading books. It was a hot day in July. They really enjoyed their vacation together. They expected it to be their last one.

After a delicious lunch, Elizabeth decided to take a nap, because Evan was going to to the pond and catch some fish.

Evan took all of fishing accessories and rods with him to the pond. He began to set up his station, by organizing his bait.

Suddenly the clouds got darker. Evan didn’t think it was supposed to storm today, but he thought wrong. It began to pour and lightning lit up the sky. And eventually struck him knocking him to the ground.

The loud thunder woken Elizabeth up. Elizabeth realized she had overslept from her nap, and woke up to an empty cottage. She began to panic, calling out for him.

No answer.

She wondered if he was still fishing, although he doesn’t stay out this late.

She put on her shoes and grabbed her phone as she ran out towards the pond.

The ground was drenched from the downpour so she had almost fell a few times.

She then saw Evan’s motionless body. She ran up to him and saw his lightning burn. She quickly called an ambulance. Elizabeth hugged him dearly until the paramedics came.

They placed Evan on the stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. Elizabeth hopped into the back and held his hand.

They went over his medical history and she had told them that he has been experiencing headaches for the past few months now.

Evan was in a coma, but that never stopped Elizabeth or his family to visit him.

A few weeks and he was still unresponsive. Elizabeth couldn’t let her husband go, so she never let any of the doctors unplug him.

Elizabeth still remembers what happened to Theodore. She was counting down the days until August 19th – Ashley’s due date.

Suddenly in the evening of August 18th, Ashley was feeling severe stomach pain, followed by her water breaking.

Elizabeth stood by Evan’s side, holding his hand, telling him all of their great memories they’ve shared together. She had seen something that she hasn’t seen before.

“Nurse! Somebody please!” Elizabeth hollered as she ran into the hallway begging for someone’s assistance.

Ashley and Eli rushed to the hospital, where she had gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

“What do you think of Eric?” Eli asked.

“Yes! That’s it!” Ashley said giving Eric a kiss.

Meanwhile, the nurse came in and asked Elizabeth what happened.

“He squeezed my hand, and he opened his eyes!” Elizabeth exclaimed as the nurse was examining Evan.

Three Days Later

Eli, Ashley and Eric all stopped by to visit Elizabeth and Evan in Evan’s hospital.

“Hey, Eli” Evan said weakly.

“We would love for you to meet Eric Evan Henderson.” Ashley said handing him to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had the biggest smile on her face, as she was in awe.

Ashley and Eli eventually left.

Elizabeth was so happy that she still had Evan.

“Honey, you did it! You’ve beat the curse.” Elizabeth exclaimed.

“I guess me getting struck by lightning saved my life.” Evan said, as Elizabeth held his hand.

All Good Things Come to an End

This is it. This is the final chapter of Taxi Driver. It was a pleasure to write this for the past two months.

I really hoped everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. I appreciate any feedback, tips, likes and dislikes, etc. This was my first go at writing a story like this in a really long time.

I will definitely want to write another story in the future. Perhaps a suspenseful/thriller for the upcoming spooky season. But, I need to think of an idea first.

So, I will keep you posted with that.

A fun fact, I wrote each chapter in one sitting, which would take up about two hours, some days three hours. Although the last chapter took me about four hours, just because of how long it was. I would also drink a tea latte while writing and editing my chapters. I do apologize if it wasn’t consistently published on the Wednesday as I had promised. When I write my next story I will be more consistent with that. It was because I would have an outing with the family, or sometimes I had to plan out what would happen next.

Another fun fact, not everything in the story was originally planned, it just happened like that. For instance, the whole side story of Deryck, and who he is. I didn’t actually planned for that. That’s what the moment took me in my writing, so I went with it. I feel like it completes and adds that extra piece to the story. Also, the story was originally going to be more about Theodore, but Evan sort of sneaked in.

Regardless I hoped you have enjoyed this adventure!

Taxi Driver Chapter Six

Here is the sixth chapter of Taxi Driver, in case you are behind or would like to reread the previous chapters again, here is everything Taxi Driver related.

https://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/taxi-driver/

Unfortunately, this is the second last chapter. Next week is the final chapter.

Chapter Six

Three Days Later…

It was a brisk Tuesday morning. It continued to snow, like it had throughout the night. Evan had woken up first, so he decided to take a shower before Elizabeth wakes up.

As soon as he had finished getting dressed, he saw Elizabeth slowly opening her eyes.

“Morning, beautiful.” Evan said softly climbing back in bed to give her a kiss on her forehead.

“We should start packing our overnight bag for the hospital. I made a list of what to pack, so we won’t forget anything.” Elizabeth said trying to find the strength to get out of bed.

Evan and Elizabeth began packing what they needed for their hospital stay.

“I can’t believe we’re going to be meeting our baby boy soon.” Evan said excitedly folding the last onesie on the list, and placing it in their bag.

Elizabeth smiled, “You’re telling me. He has gotten so big. I just want to hold him already.” Elizabeth said, giving Evan a quick kiss on the lips.

“Whoops! I should have brushed my teeth.” Elizabeth said with embarrassment, as Evan let out a chuckle.

Evan made them some bacon, toast and eggs while Elizabeth got ready. They were going to one of their ultrasound appointment.

After they ate their breakfast, they cleaned up and drove to the hospital.

Evan and Elizabeth were getting so happy that the day was almost here.

After they saw the doctor they went to visit his Dad just like they promised.

Before they had walked in, they saw a man they haven’t seen before.

“Hey Elizabeth and Evan. I don’t think you have met, but this is one of my friends, Stephen and his two daughters, Heather and Christina. This is my son Evan, and his wife Elizabeth.”

They both waved at Stephen and his daughters.

“It was nice meeting you two. It was a pleasure catching up with you again, Theodore. I was just leaving. I’ll call you later.” Stephen said as he put on Christina’s coat. Each of his daughter held on to one of his hands as they left the room.

“I’ve missed you Elizabeth. How is he doing?” Theodore asked, as Evan moved the chair over closer to Elizabeth so she can sit down.

Elizabeth looked confused because her and Evan didn’t tell anyone the gender.

“He’s doing great. I just want him to be in my arms already. I’m really excited!” Elizabeth said.

“I can’t wait to see him, too.” Theodore said with some hope.

“Well, sorry to do this, but I am getting hungry, I am going to go to the cafeteria for some lunch. I’ll be back afterwards.” Elizabeth said grabbing her purse, and gave Evan a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the room.

“So how’s Stephen?” Evan asked.

“He’s good. His wife Jessica is here, because she had an ultrasound appointment. They’re excited. He just told me they’re having a boy. Jessica is due in May.” Theodore expressed.

“That’s so exciting!” Evan exclaimed.

“How was your appointment?” Theodore wondered.

“It went well. He should be here within the week. I’m so excited but a bit stressed out.” Evan confessed, although he looked at his dad with what appeared was a tear drop falling.

Evan figured his dad was trying to conceal it, so Evan didn’t bother asking why he was crying.

“So, the baby is coming within seven days? That’s exciting. I’m happy for you, two.” Theodore replied.

“Yeah…” Evan began as if he didn’t what to say next.

There was a slight pause of silence. But Evan knew that he needed to get something off of his chest.

Evan sighed.

“Dad, I have to tell you something.” Evan confessed.

“Yes, son?” Theodore asked.

“I have your super power.” Evan replied.

“Oh, yeah? What’s your story?” Theodore questioned.

“Well, I started picking up this one lady. She was really nice. I didn’t write anything down, but I still remember her story. I would pick her up from a school she works at, I took her to her house and various office stores so she can some school and classroom supplies.” Evan began.

“What else happened?” Theodore asked.

“Dad, you of all people should know that you can’t rush a good story!” Evan jokingly snapped at his Dad.

“Of course, continue.” Theodore said.

“The second time I had saw she had told me I looked familiar to her, but I haven’t seen this girl in all my life. So I became a bit confused, but I brushed it off. She must have gotten me confused with someone else. But she was still determined that I looked like someone she knew.” Evan continued, taking a sip out of his tea, and Theodore nodded.

“So, after I saw her three times, I was able to read her. I can tell that she needed to stop by this address. I picked up on the vibe that she had good news to share. She knew that good news is always delivered in person. The GPS typed in this address that I needed to go. To be honest, at first I didn’t recognize it, but it looked familiar. I didn’t realize, until I saw the neighbourhood but it was my childhood house. I totally had forgotten the address since I haven’t thought about it in a long time.” Evan said.

“So, did you figured out why you looked familiar to her?” Theodore asked.

“Yes, I did. As it turned out. She remembered you, and how much you have helped her. I guess you and I look a lot alike.” Evan answered.

“Oh, that makes sense.” Theodore interrupted.

“Dad, I’m telling you a story! So I had driven her to my childhood house, because you and mom still lived there. I had gotten a reading from her, saying she needed to thank you in person.” Evan cleared his throat.

“Yes, I remember her. Her name was Alice. She was the lady I helped get out of that abusive relationship. I remember seeing her that day.” Theodore confessed.

“Yes, she had won some teacher award, wanted to know if you could go with her since without you she wouldn’t be a teacher. She was saying this news was too important for a letter. I stayed in the car, because I didn’t want you to see me.” Evan confessed.

“Oh, why not? I would have been happy to see you!” Theodore added.

“Yes, but I didn’t know how to explain it to you at the time, so I just sat there waiting for you two to finish. She wanted you to attend the award presentation. I can tell she was really proud of herself and you were happy for her.” Evan happily said.

“Yes, I was extremely happy for her. I don’t know if you ever knew this, but she became an grade 10 English teacher. She loved teaching her students To Kill A Mockingbird.” Theodore explained.

“Oh, yeah, that was one of Sarah’s favourite books. I remember when she made me read it, and then she begged me to watch the movie with her. I didn’t think I would like it, but I loved it. I mean, not as much as Sarah did, obviously.” Evan expressed.

“Did Sarah ever tell you that her favourite teacher was Ms. Carter?” Theodore asked.

“Yeah, of course, I knew that. I don’t see how that is relevant.” Evan pondered.

“Well, I didn’t know until I went to the awards, that her last name was Carter. The person that I helped was Alice Carter. At the time when I helped her, I had no idea that she would become my daughter’s favourite teacher. And I also had no idea that she was going to inspire Sarah to become a lawyer because of their passion of To Kill A Mockingbird. She always dreamt of becoming a lawyer just like Atticus.” Theodore explained.

“Wow, that is so cool! I’m so glad you had helped and inspired so many people. You’re amazing!” Evan cheerfully said.

“Son, I have to tell you something.” Theodore confessed.

“Yeah?” Evan said with a bit of confusion wondering what he was going to say.

“I knew that you had this super power.” Theodore admitted.

“What? I have hid this from you for no reason?! Why didn’t you tell me?” Evan said angrily.

“Hey, calm down. Let’s be civil. This was something I wanted you to know.” Theodore explained trying to calm down Evan, which he wasn’t to successful with.

“No, you had no right to do that. I had no idea how to approach this to you. And here, all this time, you knew about it. And you had this secret power, too. You’re just unbelievable right now.” Evan said, as he began pacing the room.

“Look, do you really want to know why I kept this from you?” Theodore asked.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” Evan expressed, with a deep sigh.

“I kept this from you, because I knew if I have told you this, you would have stopped living your life for me.” Theodore explained.

“What? I don’t understand.” Evan said, sitting in the chair, trying to calm himself down.

“You see, your Grandfather Thomas did the same thing to me. He never told me about this either until he was on his death bed. He told me it wasn’t fair for me to stop living my life.” Theodore said.

“Whoa! Hold up! My Grandfather had this, too?!” Theodore shouted.

“Yes, he did. Something he had told me was that there could only be two of us with this super power at a time. It is carried only in the male’s gene. So when a father has a grandson from his son, it means he will eventually die when the grandson is born. That’s why I knew you were having a boy. I was very healthy before my cancer diagnosis. If I had told you then you wouldn’t have wanted a baby. I couldn’t deprive you of the greatest joys in life which is becoming a father.” Theodore explained, trying to reach out and hold Evan’s hand.

“So, you basically only have one week left?” Evan said sobbing, holding his Dad’s hand.

“Yes, son. That’s it. But I know you are going to be an amazing father.” Theodore confessed.

“Isn’t there anything I can to do help? There’s got to be way!” Evan said.

“No, I’m sorry. It has to end like this.” Theodore expressed.

“I’m not going to let you die!” Evan said in denial.

Theodore sighed.

“Well, yeah, had I known I was basically going to kill you, I wouldn’t have had a baby. I would have picked having my father, than being one myself. I don’t care about what Elizabeth thinks. I wish I wasn’t having a baby.” Evan said with so much anger.

Just as Elizabeth was about to walk in the room, she had heard what Evan was truly feeling about having their baby. She didn’t know what to do, but she began crying. She didn’t know why Evan had suddenly changed his mind about fatherhood.

She waited a few seconds to ensure that Evan didn’t know that she had heard him. She quickly wiped away her tears, as she had entered the room.

“So, what are we talking about?” Elizabeth asked.

Evan slowly got out of his chair and let go of Theodore’s hand.

“Uhm, nothing much. Just came to the realization that Dad’s time is almost gone. The end is coming faster than I realized.” Evan lied, as Elizabeth sat in the chair.

“Yeah, listen, maybe I should go to the gift shop or something. I feel like you two have unfinished business to discuss. I feel like I was interrupting you.” Elizabeth had left faster than she had entered the room.

“That was weird…” Evan said.

“Yes, indeed.” Theodore began. “Look, I’m sorry, son, but keeping this from you was the best thing I could do. Let’s just enjoy what we have left, together.” Theodore confessed.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Evan said, trying to fight the tears.

“Also, not a word about this your mother. I have went on all of this time without her knowing this.” Theodore said.

Evan nodded, and sat down in the chair. He then reached and held on to Theodore’s hand. The snow began to fall, once again.

Taxi Driver Chapter Five

Here is the fifth chapter of Taxi Driver, in case you are behind or would like to reread the previous chapters again, here is everything Taxi Driver related.

https://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/taxi-driver/

I apologize for taking a little longer than usual to write this chapter, I have been really busy in the past few days. But I’ll be sure to make it up to y’all, soon.

Chapter Five

One Week Later…

Since Saturday mornings were reserved for Evan and Theodore, Evan was heading to the hospital. Though he arrived a bit late, since it was snowing more than he had expected, and not a lot of roads were plowed yet, since it was still early in the morning.

He had walked in with his tea for himself and his dad, as per usual.

“You made it, Evan!” Theodore exclaimed.
“Yeah, it was a bit of a struggle, with all of this snow out there.” Evan explained, as he was pouring Theodore’s tea into his mug, just the way he liked.

Theodore smiled, and asked, “Are you ready to hear about my last favourite customer?”

“Yes, and no. I say no, because it feels like our time is winding down. I don’t want to say goodbye, just yet.” Evan admitted, trying to hold back his tears.

“I know,” Theodore said, reaching for Evan’s hand, “but let’s enjoy the time we have together.”

Evan wasted no time reaching for the journal his dad pointed to. Evan took a sip of his tea, before he began reading.

“September 8, 2049

I had picked up this gentleman from his house, and I suppose this guy was in his mid to late 30’s. He was wearing a wedding band, but he didn’t seem all that happy, unless he was just having a bad day.

He was a lawyer, since he had told me to drive him to this law office. He didn’t really say much to me, because he was on his phone a lot. But I didn’t seem to mind. He had felt bad, so he had tipped me a bit extra.”

Evan stopped reading, because he wanted to take a drink of his tea.

“So, what’s so special about this guy?” Evan wondered.

“Because he was about to be taught an important lesson. But you have to continue reading the journal to find out.” Theodore said.

“Okay.” Evan agreed, picking up the journal again.

“September 27, 2049

I had picked him up again, only this time he wasn’t on his phone. He was feeling a bit better, but not by much. He had apologized about his rude behaviour last time. He had properly introduced himself as Stephen. I had also introduced myself, too. He had told me that the reason why he was on his phone was that he got informed that he had an important deposition with a client. The meeting wasn’t supposed to be for another three weeks, but it got moved up. It caused him to be stressed out even more. I know a lot of his job is confidential, so I didn’t ask him many questions about his work.

But I asked him how everything else in his life was going. He had told me that things can be better. But that is all he had said. He didn’t involve many details about his life, but I noticed that he wasn’t wearing his wedding band anymore. I didn’t bother asking him more questions. I knew if I was meant to know more about his life, than I would be able to see him for the third time and have a better reading on what is happening in his life. From there I would be able to figure out how to help him.”

Evan said, as he was closing the journal, for a moment.

“I am really going to miss spending all of this time with you.” Theodore confessed.

“Me, too.” Evan replied.

Theodore had finished drinking his tea.

“I know you must have saw him again, but I wonder what is going to happen to Stephen.” Evan pondered, as he was turning the page.

“October 7th, 2049

I saw him again, and I was able to get clearer reading on him. This time I picked him up from his office, and heading home, or so he had thought. I had another place in mind.

Before he even told me that he wanted to go home, I started driving him somewhere else. He eventually realized I wasn’t driving him back to his house. He got a bit upset, about what was happening. I began explaining to him that I was able to read what was going on in his life.

I recommended that him and his wife attend couples’ counselling. I can tell that him an his wife were going through some challenging times. He demanded that I tell him how I knew that. I told him that I had a secret power that I was able to take people where they actually needed to be, instead of where they thought they needed to go. I was able to help them by advising people what to do next.

He without a doubt agreed that seeing a therapist would be beneficial. He admitted to me that his marriage has been falling apart as of lately. He has been working late a lot, and there hasn’t been much time to actually bond. He just feels like their marriage hasn’t been working. Teresa feels like she is raising Heather as a single mom, because he has been working too much. He then proceeded they’ve been trying to stay together for Heather. Teresa has been thinking about having another child hoping that this baby would be the answer to all of their problems. He told her he would rather wait for them to be stable first.

He didn’t want to be like those couples that have a baby in order to save their marriage. He was angry that one night and took off his wedding band, but he still had it in his briefcase.

I took him to a couples therapist office. He had informed the secratary and he would like to register him and his wife for some counselling. He was given some paperwork, and he booked an appointment.

And then after all that was done, I drove him home.”

Evan said putting the journal down, flipping through the next pages, realizing the pages after this entry were blank.

“He was one of my last customers that I was able to read. I retired in January 2050. The customers after him, I didn’t see enough to get a clear idea of what was wrong. I knew that I wanted to spend time with grandchildren, and your mom and I had enough money to live off.” Theodore explained.

Evan just nodded, as he grabbed the envelope that had Stephen hand written on the front of the envelope.

“October 11th, 2050

Dear: Theodore,

I just want to thank you for everything you have done for me, and my family. Teresa and I have gone to couples therapy since you had recommended it to us. We have been going for the past year now.

We came to the conclusion that our marriage had way more problems than we had initially thought. We came to the realization that we were both unhappy and we had thought we were doing the right thing for Heather by staying together. But it was selfish for us to let her be around two unhappy parents together, than be with two happy parents separated instead.

Teresa realized that having a baby together in order to save our marriage wasn’t the answer. Her and I have split custody of Heather. At first Heather was sad, but when she saw her parents happy for the first time in a long time, it made her smile, too.

I am thankful that you and I get to reconnect throughout the past few months now. I hope this can continue, because I enjoy these talks. Thank you for all of your help.

Regards,
Stephen and Heather”

Theodore started crying, so Evan handed him a tissue.

“Why are you crying, Dad?” Evan asked.

“Because there’s another a letter I want you to read. It just always gets me sad.” Theodore admitted.

“December 11, 2054

Dear: Theodore,

I have appreciate you for taking the time which has allowed us to bond. I would like to tell you I have received the best second wedding anniversary with my wife, Jessica. She had told me that we’re going to be having a baby in August. I am so happy! Heather is excited that she gets to be a big sister.

Speaking of Heather, she is turning 8 in January, and we would love if you could bring your grandchildren and we can all have a tea party. More details to follow.

Thank you so much for everything. I hope you and your family are doing well.

Merry Christmas and happy new year. Wishing you and your family love and happiness.

Warm Regards,
Stephen, Jessica, Heather and Baby”

Evan said, as he was folding the letters back into the envelope.

“I’m just so happy for him. I’m glad I was able to help him.” Theodore explained.

“I’m really glad that you were able to help all of these people. It’s nice to know that you have continued to make a difference in other people’s lives. I’m proud that all of these people stayed a part of your life. I love it, and I’m glad you are my dad.” Theodore said, holding his Dad’s hand.

“I’m happy I can help a lot of people. I try my best.” Theodore confessed.

“Dad, I promised to take Elizabeth out for lunch, so I gotta leave now. Elizabeth does have a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday, so we’ll be able to visit you then. I love you.” Evan said, giving his Dad a kiss on his forehead.

“I love you, too.” Theodore said as Evan had grabbed his coat, and closed the door behind.

Theodore was really excited since their due date was fast approaching. He couldn’t wait to see Elizabeth and take her out for lunch. She was really happy to see him.