Cracks in Reality

I sat with my legs crossed on the floor looking up at my Grandparents’ on their coach. The color is faded and you could tell its aged but its comfort remains the same. I sit on a rug just as old, the blues, and browns, worn out from so many years of use. I smile and run my finger across it. I still marvel at how the fact that, my grandparents, as wealth as they are, prefer such humble living. At least I know where I get it from. Then again, I stare at this 88 year old woman, I know we have so much more in common then how we prefer to live. I watched as wisps of my grandmother’s white hair fall in front of her sparkling eyes, the last bit of her story still fresh off her lips. I smiled up at them, the perfect couple. The couple I will model my marriage after. Seventy years married and still glowing with love.

“So mom is named after Grams’? As in my great-grandmother? That is so cool. She never told me that,” my smile widens, happy that I get to spend another amazing summer with them.

I knew she wouldn't though, my mother stopped believing anything her parents said long ago. She thinks they made it all up, I think its because nothing really special ever happened to her. My three aunts and two uncles on the other hand, never stop believing in their love. Maybe that's why they smile so much more then Mom does. I feel pity for my mother, she fails to see the wonderful life she continues to live.

Mid-Thought, Grandpa James rises from the couch and ruffles my red hair, “That’s enough story telling for today Ruby. Let your grandmother rest.”

I beam up at the women who I got my name from and watch as she takes hold of Grandpa’s hand. I watch their wrinkled, aged fingers intertwine and how that simple touch seems to make them glow. I watch Grandma Ruby kiss Grandpa right on the lips before they shuffle to the stairs. They walk hand and hand up the steps with their smiles wide and eyes filled with love. I sigh as I watch them, I mean can it get more romantic then that?I love hearing their story; it’s nothing like mom’s, who met dad at a café. So mundane and ordinary. It so much more romantic and magical, and their love still sparkles like new. I wonder if they still dream or each other. If even after all these years the hold each others in a different world from this one. I wonder if they can be young in those dreams too. I make a mental note to ask them that tomorrow.

I get up from the carpet and wipe my jeans out of habit. I decide to do some work while my grandparents took a well deserved rest. I walk out to the barn tend to the houses with a silly grin on my face, I wonder if that will happen to me. I wonder if after seventy years married,I will still glow like I did when I first laid eyes on my husband. I daydream a bit then I get straight to work. After caring for the farm a few hours, I fall asleep in a bale of hay. It had to be around three pm, the sun was just shinning through the barn windows as my eye lids started to drop. Then I felt sunlight tickle the skin on my face and I knew that I was here again. In my field of wild roses. I dream of this place every time I sleep. I look around, hoping, and yes! I spot a figure standing at the edge of the field, he smiles and walks towards me. I wonder if he is real, then I think of my grandparents and smile. He just might be.