A_New_Year_Surprise_for_Grandpa

"A NEW YEAR SURPRISE FOR GRANDPA" Grandpa lived on Sabalan Mountain north-western Iran all alone. It was a beautiful mountain, with tall oak trees all over the mountain. In the middle of the mountain was a crystal clear lake. The water in the lake was the prettiest blue you've ever seen. When the water was calm, you could see the fish swimming around in the lake. I loved sitting by the lake when I was a little girl. I remember the day that grandma drowned in the lake. My parents had tried to talk grandpa in to moving into town, but he wouldn't hear of it. My parents knew not to argue with him, because they knew that grandpa was set in his ways. I knew my parents worried about his being alone. Today I was going to visit grandpa, and the excitement grew inside me at the thought of spending time on the mountain once more. After all, it had been one year since I had seen grandpa. As I drew towards the top of the mountain, I could see grandpa staring out of the window of his beautiful wooden house. Grandpa welcomed me at the door with a big hug. "I am so happy that you could come to visit me, said grandpa. “This Noruz 1 is going to be so wonderful! I have a special surprise for you dear”. I think grandpa knew that I had a very special surprise for him as well. "Well, we can't stand around here all day," said grandpa. There's a lot of work to get done. I have invited all the family to come to my New Year party on Friday. After I lay down for a bit, we spent the day baking all sorts of Baklava and Turkish delight. Grandpa was one of the best known confectioners in our city. He told me about how he used to make baklava for grandma. "She loved baklava," said grandpa. Grandpa's eyes would sparkle and twinkle whenever he relived his memories of grandma. Listening to him talk about her was a real experience. You could see the love he had for her on his face as he spoke. Whenever he would talk about grandma, you could feel how much he still loved her in every word. I remember my childhood memories of my grandparents. They had always been such a fun loving and happy couple. Shortly after grandpa was retired, he built the wooden house for his love Mina who always wanted to have a wooden house in the mountains. Just before Noruz, almost two years ago, while grandma was gathering firewood, suddenly grandpa heard a horrible scream and a terrible noise. He ran outside and find that, an area of the ice on the lake had fallen through. He yelled for grandma over and over but no reply ever came. They searched the lake for over a week, but no sign of grandma could be found. Finally, they stopped the search. One of the men who had helped in the search said they'd probably never find grandma now. Morning came early at grandpa's house. As I entered the kitchen I could smell the homemade bread with fresh cheese. "What's on our list of things to do today'" I asked. " we have lots of presents to wrap for the children," he said. "Let's wrap those presents now Sara," said grandpa. After the last present was wrapped, we realized that we'd been wrapping presents all day! It was now getting dark outside. We stepped out of the house and we could smell the scent of the Spring which was a sign of the Noruz and telling us new year was just around the corner . Friday at noon the relatives started arriving. Grandpa always had a party on first day of the New Year .All the guests gathered around in the front yard and began to sing New Year songs and to dance. Oh, how grandpa loved that! Me and my cousin were chosen to hand out the presents. The children shouted with excitement, as they unwrapped their gifts. Grandpa said, "Sara, come here dear, I have a surprise for you." As he handed me the present, I could see the love and pride in his eyes. "I love it grandpa", I said, as I craned to kiss his cheek, "I will treasure it forever. Grandpa had given me charm bracelets which I believe was a timeless gift. “Grandpa, if you could have just one special gift for Noruz, what would it be'” I asked him. Without even stopping to think, he replied, "I would like to see your grandmother just one more time, so I could feed her the baklava." Just then grandpa's face lit up like the lights! Everyone turned to see what grandpa was looking at. Walking slowly toward his, with the tray of baklava in her hand, was grandma! All the guests were speechless, as they thought they were seeing a ghost. Tears of joy were flowing down grandpa's cheeks as he threw his arms around grandma. Mina! We thought you had drowned! “I'll explain everything to you” grandma said, but first let's thank God that we are together again. Everyone hugged and kissed her and grandma thanked God for bringing her home to her love. Grandma told everyone to sit and she would tell them what had happened to her. For almost two years I couldn't remember anything," said grandma, “Not even my name.” Then about two months ago, Sara came to work at the care home where I have been living.”I didn't recognize Sara at first,” said grandma. Especially, since she is all grown up now, but she did know who I was right away! She was so shocked to see me, that it took her a while to believe it was really me. She started to sing me the songs that Nadir used to sing to me. At first it didn't make any difference to me, but slowly my memory started to return. I remember now going out to gather firewood. There was a nice piece of wood on the lake. I thought the lake was frozen over so I stepped out on the lake to get the piece of wood. I remember hearing the ice crack and that's the last I remember about the accident. “Sara,” how can I ever thank you for bringing grandma home to me' ”asked grandpa. Sara replied, “Seeing the happiness and the love you have for each other is all the thanks I need.” As Sara went to bed that night, she thought about the surprise that she had given to grandpa for Noruz. She knew in his heart that it was the best surprise present that grandpa would ever get. What a warm and wonderful feeling came over Sara as she fell asleep, thinking of her grandparents.