The crisp golden sand cools my feet as I walk along the beach, my eyes absorbing the beauty of nature. The water is gushing gently under my feet, sparkling in the sun’s golden light. It’s a little after 6pm; I stand there, the wind blowing through my hair, thinking about what article I should write for the newspaper next week.

I have a little column that I write every Sunday. I don’t write about the ordinary stuff. I don’t write about corruption or about fashion or food. I write on “the miracles of life.”

You see, according to me there are no coincidences, only miracles.

My grandmother used to show me a new miracle everyday when I was small. Once, she gifted me a caterpillar in a box full of leaves and told me to watch it everyday. And I did, the caterpillar kept growing fatter and fatter each day. Then, one fine day I looked into the box to find a beautiful velvety black butterfly with red spots on it, the caterpillar all gone! My grandmother came to me and said, “See this my child? This is a miracle.”

Since then, I learned how to observe everyday miracles. Tiny dew drops on the flowers, early in the morning, making them look like roses studded with pearl; sitting in the garden and watching the fireflies glowing in the dark are all wonderful miracles to me, and I love to write about them.

I love to make my readers aware about the fact that in this busy, cruel life, there are everyday miracles that make life beautiful. So, here I am, at the beach, looking one such miracle to write about.

My attention goes to a young, quarreling couple. The lady, I figured from their conversation, was pregnant and it seemed as if the husband was not happy about it.

“Look, Stella, we cannot have this child. It’s a cruel world, and we are not equipped to protect this child from all the horrible dangers,” the husband explained.

“But darling, please! Give it a chance; we will take the best possible care of our child,” Stella cried.

And so they went on, as I was lost again in my chain of thoughts.

We are all so caught up with our lives, so busy with work. Are we ever going to understand what we are missing? When was the last time anyone of us let our hair down and danced in the rain? When was the last time we had hot fudge Sunday without worrying about how fat we were gonna get? When was the last time we did something that we really loved? Its impossible to remember, isn’t it?

I suddenly drifted back to the present as I felt someone tugging at my hand. I looked down to find a small girl about the age of 5 or 6. She had light brown locks gently touching her shoulders, with huge deep brown eyes looking at me innocently.

“Hi, I’m Cecelia,” she said.

“Well, hello darling, I’m Amanda.”

I bent down, took her hand in mine and asked her what the matter was. My attention went to a small heart shaped box that she was clutching in her hand. She extended her hand, presented me the box and said, “This is for you.” “

Well… I am touched,” I replied, hugging the little angel.

“Go, on. Open it,” she said. I started unwrapping the box curiously, careful not to tear the golden paper. On opening it, I was mildly surprised to find nothing in the box. On seeing my surprised look, she smiled at me and replied, “I was walking down the beach when I saw you all alone. I came and stood beside you but you didn’t seem to notice, you had such sad eyes. So I thought I would give you this little present. This box is not empty at all! I’ve blown in thousands of hugs and kisses for you so that you won’t ever feel lonely.”

I was overwhelmed with emotion as I bent down and hugged her tightly, giving her a kiss.

I soon heard a voice calling out Cecelia’s name. “Ceci, Cecelia!”

I turned around to find a young couple that I assumed to be Cecelia’s parents.

“Ceci! Don’t you go running away from us like that, you scared us,” said her parents, sighing with relief to find her safe.

Her dad, then, came up to me while her mother took her to build sand castles.

He explained, “Hi, I’m Sam, Cecelia’s dad and that is my wife Jane. Last year my wife was very ill. She had a heart problem. We had little hope that she would make it through, as we were under severe financial stress. One day, when Jane was sleeping, Cecelia came up to me and asked me what had happened to her mommy. As she is small, I explained as best as I could that her mother had a very weak heart and that she would be soon going to Heaven where God would take good care of her. She then innocently asked me when was mommy going to come back. I was overtaken by grief and unable to say anything so I hugged her and told her that mommy was never going to come back. Later Cecilia went to her room and didn’t come out the whole day. I couldn’t be by her side because my wife’s health had worsened. We soon shifted her to an ICU. One day Cecelia came running to me with a heart shaped box wrapped in golden paper. She told me it was a present for her mommy and she wanted a ribbon to tie it. As she had not yet finished wrapping it, I opened the box to find absolutely nothing in it. My anger knew no bounds as the paper and box she had purchased seemed expensive and here we were having no money to pay for the surgery that could save my wife’s life. I told Ceci that this was no time for jokes and she should sit quietly in the waiting room. But Cecelia soon got herself busy running around the hospital crying for a ribbon. She ran into someone’s leg and fell. Seeing the child crying, the man lifted her in his arms and asked her what the matter was. Through her tears Cecelia explained to him why she wanted a ribbon so badly. After hearing her story the man asked her to take him to where her mother was. He turned out to be the famous cardiologist, Dr. Matthew. He then operated on my wife for free and saved her life. Later that day, Cecelia came in holding the doctor’s hand, carrying with her the same golden box which she’d shown me earlier. I noticed that now it had a beautiful red ribbon wrapped around it. She went to her mother’s side and gave her the present, telling her that this was a gift just for her. As my wife untied the ribbon and unwrapped the gift, she was mildly surprised to find nothing in there. Before she could  say anything Cecelia told her that when she found  that mommy was going to heaven because of a weak heart, she blew all her love and kisses into the box so that they her heart would become strong and she would not have to go to heaven. The doctor reminded us how lucky we were to have such a wonderful daughter. Jane soon recovered and now once again everything is fine, and we are leading our lives with utmost gratitude and satisfaction.”

The story bought a smile to my lips and a tear to my eye.

Cecilia’s dad continued, “Today is Cecelia’s birthday and when we asked her what she wanted to do, she said that she wanted to come here and gift golden boxes filled with love and kisses to people who are sad and lonely.”

As Sam and I walked back to where Cecelia and Jane were sitting, we saw her rush past us. Cecelia went to the young couple… the same couple that I had seen arguing about whether or not to bring their child into this world. I noticed that they had finished fighting and now were sulking, unhappy with the situation they were in.

Cecelia went up to them and gave them a tiny, little, golden box. There was a look of surprise on their faces on finding nothing inside, while Sam approached them to tell them the story of the golden boxes. After hearing the whole story, the couple were in tears as they embraced Cecelia.

The lady looked at her husband with pleading eyes and her hand on her stomach. The husband lovingly touched her stomach and nodded, smiling down at her. After sometime both of them got up, thanked Cecelia and her parents, bid them goodbye and walked home, hand in hand with huge smiles on their faces.

I spent some more time with Cecelia’s family, helping them to build sand castles, spraying one another with sand, and splashing sea water all over. We all watched the sun go down, and it was time to leave. I gifted Cecelia a flower shaped brooch which my mother had given me. She loved it and instantly pinned it on her pretty white frock. It looked just perfect. I hugged all of them, gave Cecelia a peek on her cheek, and promised to meet her every Sunday at the same spot.

As I walked along, still trying to understand what had happened, Cecelia rushed by me with a golden box in her hand. That little angel had no idea of how many lives she was changing. I was lucky enough to meet little Ceci, the angel of love. She proved to me that love still exists and it keeps growing each day. I smiled as I had witnessed a perfect miracle which would be in my column the next week.

(Image courtesy: cmpt from sxc.hu)