Read Part 1 of The Flower Story.

We were walking around the wet market when another flower store caught Chantry’s attention. It’s been a while since the day she told me she wanted to buy me flowers. Erwin confessed to me how every time they passed by a flower store at the mall, Chantry would plead about getting one for me.

Our move to Singapore made us all busy to pay lesser attention to Chantry’s request. However, due to the little child’s unabated desire to give me flowers, she never stopped asking, reminding and pointing at flowers being displayed in flower shops. This, then, prompted me to make an arrangement with her. I told her, “If you really want to buy Momma flowers, then I will give you a dollar every now and then. Keep this and save it. Don’t lose each dollar I give you so that you will have enough money to buy me flowers in the future.”

So I gave her a dollar one day, another dollar from her Poppa after a couple of days, and so on, and so forth. She received each coin eagerly and flew into her room where her tiny, pink Hello Kitty backpack was kept. She opened its purse, dropped the coin and zipped her bag. She knew her savings were safe.

One day, she came to me with her Poppa. She was skipping cheerfully while holding three red roses wrapped beautifully in red sheets. With an upbeat tone she said, “Momma, these flowers are for you. Thank you and happy birthday.”

I never expected she would buy me flowers on my birthday. I got the flowers, hugged her tightly, kissed her and carried her in my arms. What a beautiful way to end this flower story on such a special day!