6

He brushed his teeth and got ready for bed, it had been a long day. Being a caregiver can be hard sometimes, but it can also be rewarding. Today he took care of her, the 96-year-old lady on the second floor. You can tell she was very beautiful in her youth. Today she told him her story for the first time. She told him about a young man who was 10 years older than her. She called him the man with ocean eyes. She told him about their long walks together, they had so much in common, it was love at first sight. Then things changed and it became a tough time for some unlucky groups. Uniformed men marched through the streets in a manner that could only mean one thing: a new regime had taken power. People like her were taken to dark places for unjust reasons, it was a dark time, she explained. He had a different religion and it was a crime for them to be together, which added to the pressure on her family to find a way out and escape. She met him the night before she left, weeping, while she gave him the last embrace, but he promised to find her.

She had to take care of her mother who was fighting a valiant battle against cancer. The sight of the daily suffering made her think of the irony of life. If they had stayed, they could have been imprisoned and killed in those ruthless places, but they escaped, fought another battle, and were killed too, different enemy, same result! One day, after her mother's passing, she searched through her mother's belongings, everything needed some order. Then she found it, the old wooden box her mother had inherited from her grandmother. Her heart pounded when she opened the box. It was filled with old letters and she could make out the handwriting, it was his. He had found her as he had promised, 'I must write back to him,' she thought. 'Wait There's a telegram at the bottom: 'It is with great regret to inform you that 956350 has been officially reported killed in action, 6 October 1944. Director of Records.’

She turned her face to her caregiver and closed her eyes.