Photo by Helena Hertz on Unsplash – Grateful for the access to high quality, royalty-free images!
In the fall of 2004, my mom’s treatment had been moved back to Athens for a bit. She was following her chemotherapy regiment and was in and out of the hospital for various procedures. One day, she returned to her hospital room from one such procedure and found a plant with a note leaning against the pot. The plant and note were from my father’s first wife, my older brother’s, Stefanos’, mom.
The note read something like this,
Dear Marialena,
I am sorry I missed you before you went into surgery. I brought you this plant, which is supposed to have healing properties. It helped a good friend of mine, who also had cancer.
I wish you health and pray you get well soon, because all three of your children need you.
Love, Vivi