Happy birthday !!!

It was my mom's 75th birthday and I had promised to get her a diamond ring to commemorate the jubilee year. I bought her the ring a week prior to her birthday and my wife suggested we bring it to her on her birthday and spend the day with her. Of late, my mom seemed a little lonely and spending a day with her would be the kind of "pick me up" she needed. I took the day off and decided we will make that day special for her. However, on that day I recieved an urgent call from work and had to go. I asked my wife to visit my mom and present the gift on our behalf and I would try and join in. The work took longer than expected and late in the evening I got a call from my wife telling me that she had made reservations for dinner and I was supposed to take my mother out for dinner. I was not in the mood but she forced me saying my mom needed my presence to make this day special for her.


Well, I reluctantly went for the dinner and actually had a very nice time, it had been ages I had talked to my mom and this gave us an excellent opportunity to connect over dinner. In the end, I told her this would be my treat and that she would have to treat me in a bigger restaurant to which she said "anything for my son!!!". I dropped her home and reached my place. My wife was up waiting for me and asked me how did it go. I thanked her for pushing me to go out and I knew it meant a lot to my mother. Few days later I received a call from my mom and she said, it was time she treated me and said she would make reservations for dinner at a 5-star hotel for the two of us and that this "date" could not be cancelled. I was game for it; in fact waiting eagerly for it.


A week prior to our "date", my mom's friend called me in office; it was a frantic call that my mom was hospitalized and asking me to come immediately. I rushed to the hospital to see her. She had passed away before I reached. She suffered a major heart attack and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. As I sat there in a shocked state, unable to come up with any thought or words, her friend told me that my mom was very happy that I had taken her for dinner the other night and was bragging about it with her friends... She also handed me an envelope that my mom wanted me to have. Later that night, after mom's funeral, as I sat thinking about what kind of son I had been to to my late mother, I suddenly remembered the envelope. I looked for it and opened it. There was a dinner reservation for 2 and letter which read..

" Dear Son,
You have been a wonderful son to me and I will miss you. The dinner I had with you on my birthday was the best time I had and I cannot explain how much it meant to me. Thank you for giving me a special birthday present.

Your loving
Mom.

PS: I have kept dinner reservation for you and your wife along with this. I dint know if I would be able to come along so I paid for it in advance. Do enjoy my gift. "

I wept unconsolably that night thinking of all the days I chose to be in office rather than spend time with my family and my mother.

So long....