My grandfather Andrés and the flowers of good

3/4 para Betty, Pegy, Mary, Julie_Horacio Di Yorio

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Don't you believe in the Power of a Flower? And in the Elegance of Love?

You will see how a flower can totally change a story. It's more than magic, it's real and it's beautiful. And if at any time a love is torn between a yes and a no, with a flower, in the end, love always wins.

Something I love about telling stories is that they can start from so many different points and it always makes me want to go on and on, until reaching the end is something inevitable that will always happen.

This story begins like this.

My parents met in their adolescence without imagining that life would be meeting them again and waiting for more than 20 years to finally get married and get married in just 5 months.

I wish I had once been able to record my mother recounting that chain of events in detail. She, Nélida, was very serious, almost severe, but when someone asked her how she had met my father, Hugo, she recounted everything in detail and as her story progressed, her emotion grew and she began to smile more and more. And I, like everyone else, listened to her with total attention. It was a movie story.

.. my mom... was very serious almost severe but when she was asked how she met my father she recounted everything in detail ... y ans started to smile more and more ...

The first time they met was at a free English course at the neighbourhood library. My dad was actually accompanied by his mother because he was so young. My mother, who was a couple of years older, volunteered at the library since she was studying teaching. The English course didn't last long but it was enough for some time later for my dad and my grandmother to appear in the library and talk again. They told my mom that my dad was trying to get into medical school but was stuck on a maths exam. Bingo! My mother was already about to graduate as a teacher and she was viscerally vocational and very wilful, so she could not help but immediately offer to give my father free maths classes. She told him: "I'll prepare you. Study with me and you'll see how you get into the university." Guess what! That's how it was, dad passed the exam and entered medical school, which was his great vocation.

..."I'll prepare you. Study with me and you'll see how you get into the university."...

Some time later my dad went to her house to give her a gift of gratitude and to tell her the good news. However, by then my mother had already graduated as a teacher and she had gone to teach in the countryside in a rural school in the north of the country. So my dad left her the gift with a thank you note, which my mom found out shortly after but she couldn't answer him because at that time there were no telephones in the houses and she was very far away.

... at that time there were no telephones in the houses...

Shortly after, my father found out that my grandmother Manuela, my mother's mother, had died, so he also went to her house to give his condolences, but my mother, who had come to the city for the funeral, had already returned to the field to work in the school. Likewise later she received the kind greetings from him.

Years passed and they lost contact.

Meanwhile my dad had been about to marry his first girlfriend but they broke up. My mother, on her side, had continued studying and pursuing a career and she was already teaching in the capital but my father did not know about it until much later.

...Years passed and they lost contact....

Let's go back a little. Before entering medical school, my dad already had his title as a piano and music theory teacher, but not to teach but because he passionately loved music and especially the piano. Therefore, while he was studying medicine, he played in typical tango and milonga orchestras of the time. He played at dances and even on a television program “Cuatro Pianos para el Tango” on Saeta TV Channel 10 at that time. In addition to this, over time with Alfredo, one of his best friends from high school who liked to write plays, dad had begun to compose music and lyrics for children's and adult plays. So finally my dad was a doctor and a musician. Of course my mom knew that my dad played the piano but in the years when they didn't see each other she didn't know the rest.

... dad had begun to compose music and lyrics for theatre plays. ...

Years later, a day came when my mother, already working in the capital, took her school students to see a children's play. At the end of the performance the characters and musicians came out to greet the children and what do you think happened??? Yeah!!! They met again!!! Already in his thirties. My dad had a moustache and my mom had a teacher's tunic... but also shortly after, my dad had another girlfriend!

...Yeah!!! They met again!!! ...

But look what a detail: at the beginning of the performance my mother had read the play's brochure and had seen the name of the composer and pianist but on that paper my father was listed with his middle name and not the one my mother knew him by. So when they found themselves face to face in the theatre hall, it was such a surprise for both of them. From that day on they stayed in touch and a true friendship emerged. They knew each other when they were so young, they already had a base and they watched each other grow, sharing and so on, other years passed.

... and a true friendship emerged ...

My mother continued studying, very serious and without a boyfriend, she aspired to win the teaching competition to have the position of school director. My dad practiced medicine, composed and played the piano as much as he could and was about to marry his second girlfriend, they had even already received wedding gifts! But the relationship suddenly didn't work out, it was a disappointment, it wasn't true love and they broke up permanently.

... my dad ... was about to marry his second girlfriend, ... but ... didn't work out, it was a disappointment...

My dad was very, very sad and of course he shared all his sorrows with his best friend: my mom. He even cried once with my mother by his side. And my mother only thought: "Poor man, how sad he is."

Finally one night my dad, who was already more cheerful, went to talk to my mom and cha cha cha chaaannn! he declared his love to her!!! He told her: "I think I'm in love with you." Ohh nooo! He said "I think"!! So my mom didn't believe him. She told him: "You must be confused because you are still sad about leaving your ex-girlfriend and you come to cry with me and that confuses you. That's why you said "I think" instead of "I'm in love with you." My father tried to convince her without any success, so much so that my mother told him: "Go rest and we'll talk another day."

Can you believe?

... he declared to her!!! he said: "I think I'm in love with you" ... my mom didn't believe him...

That night my dad went to his parents' house where they were waiting for him to find out how his statement had gone and dad told them everything. They couldn't believe it... but they could understand it because they knew my mother and they knew how serious she was, she didn't let go of her feelings and the statement was still a surprise.

So my grandfather Andrés, in agreement with my grandmother Pina, had a great idea: convince my mother that my father's love was real. How did he do it? He sent him a bouquet of red roses with a card that subtly dispelled her doubts immediately! In the note my grandparents told him how happy they were for the good news. No more! They supported my dad's feelings and assumed they were going to be together!

... my grandfather Andrés ... had a great idea: convince my mother that my father's love was real...

...He sent him a bouquet of red roses with a card ... how happy they were for the good news....

My mother always said that when she saw that note with the flowers she realized that everything was true. That she had been very surprised and that she didn't believe that my dad would look at her like that. She always repeated that she would never have imagined that my dad would notice her and that one day they would end up together.

5 months later they got married for ever.

...my mom ... realized that everything was true. ... they got married for ever...

In her last days, my mother, already with advanced Alzheimer's, and until she could speak, she asked me smiling: "So, do you have any news?" (she wanted to know if I had a new love) and when I answered that I hadn't, she always said: "Don't worry, he'll show up one day you least expect it." Look, your dad and I, never in so many years would I have imagined it!¨and she kept smiling from her soul. It is worth saying that nothing is perfect, but only death separated them.

... my mother already with advanced Alzheimer's ... always said: "Look, your dad and I, never in so many years would I have imagined it!¨and she kept smiling strong from her soul....

Perhaps I would not have come into this world, nor would my brother or my parents have gotten married or been engaged, if my grandfather had not had that formidable act of love. He helped them, united them for life with flowers and a note. Isn't it amazing? That is the power of a flower and the elegance of love.

Postscript 1: When my mother was pregnant with me, everyone told her that I was going to be a boy. (Ultrasounds were not common.) So my parents strongly agreed and were very happy to name me Andrés. There is no need to explain why.

Postscript 2: Just in case I was a girl, they thought of several girl names and it took them a while to agree. No one could forget one name: Olivia. That's another great story that one day I will tell you, don't miss it.