Woman on the Wheelchair

I was visiting my town’s waterfront midtown. It was a usual Sunday evening, people were out to enjoy the last of summer breeze before autumn would kick in. I went to my favorite spot, not many like to hang around the shallow corners of the riverfront, people prefer the deep waters, where they can spot boats and fishermen. At this shallow end, people sometimes walk down to the shore and enter the waters barefoot, mostly school children and some lovers. 

As I approached my spot on the bridge I saw few well dressed adults looming over the rallings. I was little upset to find new people on my secluded spot. I took a side and glanced into the water. There was a wheelchair on the side of the bank, nobody around it. Then I looked into the water and I saw a man holding a young woman in his arms while managing to balance himself in the shallow riverbed. I instantly raised my brows wondering if he has lost his mind or want to drown the woman who looked half his age. It took me a couple more seconds to link the wheelchair with the woman, she had some special kind of boots on and was holding on to the man very tightly. 

I declared to myself that the woman is paralysed from waist below or has a disability in her legs. I left my thoughts and started eavesdropping the people standing at a distance from me, they were cheering and grinning at the sight. That gave me some relief, maybe the man who held the woman didn’t have any bad intentions after all. I was curious to know what the two were doing there? It made little sense to my mind, why are these two adults behaving like children? 

I started building scenarios in my head and arguing to my own self. I wanted to find the relation between the two, they looked like were related in blood. I gave up soon after and continued watching the two laugh at the top of their lungs while they both kept looking up in the sky. I could not understand their words, but their happiness was filling the sky with colors of roses. I could not contain my curiosity anymore. I went to the people standing near me and said Hello.

I asked the couple if they knew the two, who were ecstatic to be in the water and kept looking at the sky as if trying to communicate to someone. They looked at me with a broad smile. The lady responded first, “Yes my dear child, the guy is my brother and the young girl is his daughter who lost her legs in an accident”. My eyes turned empathetic as I took another look at the wheelchair on the side. 

I asked why are they here and what made them so happy? The lady’s partner joined in and answered, “They lost the mother in the same accident”. My face dropped and I felt their pain instantly. Before I could ask anything more, they both chimed in, looking at the pink sky and said “Today is her 50th birth anniversary, this is the spot where the father met the mother and started their love affair”.

“Today, they are reminiscing few moments from her life, her daughter wants to keep her mother’s memories alive in her heart. Her mother would often come here. This is where she met my brother and he proposed to her in this very riverside a couple years later. They moved out of this town and their daughter never visited this place until today.”

We fell silent and I joined them to gaze endearingly at the duo enjoying the river water. I wondered how sometimes we limit ourselves to enjoy the happiness around us because of a mental or physical disability. In this moment, neither the loss of the mother nor the wheelchair could take away the happiness they felt while playing in the cool water. Not even the wheelchair could stop this young girl from entering the river, the loss of her mother did not make her an unhappy person. They have accepted her death and still she is alive within them in this beautiful moment. No wonder I find this corner of the river most joyful!

#osdotme