“AND I don’t know what tomorrow holds for me, but your memories will forever live in my heart, my son,” Melissa voiced in silent grief as she looked at her son’s portrait on the wall.
“Happy birthday in Heaven, baby.”

Life had been so good and promising—her enthusiasm and love for her job as a schoolteacher, being a mother, and the bliss of marriage—until disaster struck.
She had been on her way home from school with her son when the minibus they were travelling in crashed head-on into a loaded Canter. It was a horrific accident, and the last thing Melissa remembered was hugging her son close to her.

Two days later, she regained consciousness, crying in extreme pain from the serious injuries she had sustained, asking for her son.
She was told he was okay as doctors worked to save her leg, which had been crushed in the accident. Her recovery was closely monitored until the doctors thought it was safe enough to tell her the truth about her son.
The news that he didn’t make it devastated her so much that she screamed uncontrollably until they had to sedate her again. A few days later, she had calmed down a little, the pain tying knots in her stomach.

At his funeral, she could barely cry, having lost her voice, and she moaned, “My baby boy, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”
Her husband, who had been working overseas, stayed by her side, sharing her grief and pain, offering supportive words of comfort. But when the doctors explained that the injury to her leg would be a long road to recovery, and that she might not walk the same way again, it brought a change over him.
He slowly drifted away from her and returned to America.

“So much for love,” Melissa bemoaned.
It was another devastating blow for her, but she had cried so much for the loss of her son that she had no more tears left, and her heart could take no more grief. The road to recovery—mentally and physically—was not easy, but through therapy, support from women’s groups, and her colleagues, she made it through.
Her husband did not return, asking her instead for a divorce.

“So now, I’m alone,” she sighed deeply. “Lost my son, my husband, and the beautiful life we had.”
She had to start all over again, and, one day at a time, got her life back as a primary schoolteacher. She rented an apartment and moved around with an electric scooter because of the limp she was left with.

“It is God’s will that you survived,” were sentiments expressed to her by family and friends. “You’re still young, and you have your whole life ahead of you.”
She smiled at the kind words, but within her was silent pain and no joy.
“I feel so empty and lonely,” she said with deep sadness.

All she had left was teaching, and she dedicated her time to that. Her students achieving excellent grades became her happiness, and the school itself earned greater recognition.
The years went by, and during that time, she changed apartments three times for better convenience and comfort. Then one day, she received a call from the Ministry of Housing, telling her that her application for a house lot had been approved. For the first time in a long while, she felt a special joy in her heart.

The process for a bank loan took some time; then it was about getting a contractor to prepare the land and build. She rediscovered her enthusiasm for something new—on-site daily to watch something she could now call her own take shape.
One year later, she moved into her dream home during the Christmas season so the lights and décor could bring a spark into her life. During that blessed season, she adopted a puppy born to a stray mother. He was so cute and chubby that she named him Bubbles. He would cuddle on the sofa with her when she was reading or watching television. Some nights, though, she would hear him whimper and wonder, “Is he missing his mother?”

So one day after school, she drove back to the compound where the stray mother had given birth and saw her sitting there, so lonely, for all her pups had been adopted.
“Are you missing your babies?” Melissa asked, stroking her head.
The mother dog looked at her with longing, soulful eyes, and she decided to take her home. It was such a joy watching the mother-and-son reunion—it brought tears to Melissa’s eyes.
“Well, at least you have one of your sons with you, and we’re now one family.”
The mother dog, named Penny, overjoyed, lifted herself up on her hind legs to lick Melissa.
Melissa hugged her, saying, “I know how it feels to lose your child.”

They were now a family, and it gave her quite a nice feeling to take time out in the afternoon for walks.
“And when,” her mother asked her one day, “are you going to find someone to share your life?”
“Am I not happy and comfortable as I am?”
“Yes, but you know…”
Melissa interrupted her, a little teasingly, “Don’t worry, Mum, a nice guy may walk into my life one day, but right now I am not looking.”

Two months later, someone came by—but it wasn’t a nice guy. It was her ex-husband on holiday, wanting to see how she was doing.
“I survived,” she told him, “and found some joy again in my life.”
“That I can see,” he said. “Happy for you. I’m sorry—”
She lifted her hand to stop him. “Don’t say it, I don’t want to hear it.”
He sighed with a wry look on his face and took out two bags from his SUV.
“I brought a little something for you.”
“No, thanks,” she said with a kind smile. “I’m doing okay.”

That night, lying in bed, she sighed, “The nerve of him; he didn’t even mention our son.”
That Sunday, whilst she was walking her dogs in the park, a man exercising smiled at her as he walked by.
“Nice guy,” she said to Bubbles and Penny. “What do you think?”
Bubbles showed his appreciation by making a little woof.

When he came around again, he stopped and said, “I may be wrong, but aren’t you the young teacher who had an accident some years ago?”
“Ah, yeah,” she answered, surprised. “How did you know that?”
“I was an intern at the hospital that day when they brought you in.”
“Oh,” she sounded even more surprised, “and you remembered me from so long ago?”
“I know it sounds strange,” he laughed a little, “but it kinda impacted my mind that day when you were crying out for your son, not knowing he was gone.”
That stunned her a little, and she smiled with tears in her eyes. “Those words just touched my heart.”
He smiled and said in a sincere tone, “Good to see you.”

That night, sitting on the sofa with Bubbles snuggled next to her and Penny at her feet, she said to her son, “So many things have happened over the years, my son, and I held on to yesterday, but now I see yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may have something good and refreshing. But your memories will continue to live in my heart forever.”