Wishful Thinking (a journey that will change lives forever) Read Free

suffered two near-fatal heart attacks in his last year, it became clear that a simple change in lifestyle or the tablets he was taking weren’t going to save him.  But it was lovely that he had died doing what he loved, tending the roses out in the back garden – the evening sun just beginning to fade when Rosie found him. 
    So, eighteen long months ago, Rosie had buried the one great love of her life, having made him a promise that she would keep going, keep laughing and smiling and enjoying life in the same way she always did, so that it wouldn’t seem all that long until she saw him again.  At times it was very hard, but she was doing her very best to keep that promise.
    Anyway, she was very lucky.  Her two children were happily married and with good jobs, David to a lovely Liverpool girl named Kelly (although there were no sign of kids yet, and Rosie wouldn’t dream of asking) and working as a builder over there.  Sophie and Robert had little two-year-old Claudia and had good jobs, but were still searching for a house.  Rosie shook her head.  That was another real hardship for the younger people these days.  The house prices in Dublin were legendary and it would only get worse!  
    Anyway, today Sophie was taking her to see a house she had her eye on out in Malahide.  “Mum, it’s perfect!” she’d enthused on the phone the day before.  “You have simply got to see it!” 
    Rosie was delighted with her daughter’s enthusiasm but couldn’t help feeling a little bit disappointed that Sophie would want to live all the way out there, and so far away from her.  It was far enough as it was with her living in Santry, and having to take the train and then a bus just to visit her.  
    Still, it would be nice to see the three of them settled in something other than the rented apartment they were in now.  There wasn’t much space, and what with Claudia hitting the terrible twos it couldn’t be good for them all living in what was basically one big room.  And the height of the place!  Imagine if the child somehow opened or even fell through that big front window?  Rosie didn’t even like to think about it.  No, it would be better for all concerned if this place Sophie wanted her to see today was a nice little tidy semi like Rosie’s own house, with a safe back garden for Claudia to run around in.
    The train emptied a lot of its passengers at Pearse Street Station, and Rosie sank gratefully onto a recently vacated seat.  She laughed softly to herself, as she could almost hear Martin’s lilting Wicklow tones jeering her.  ‘Jaysus, missus, you’d swear you were an ‘oul wan!”  But her back had been giving her a fair bit of trouble lately, and as much as she tried to tell herself otherwise, there was no denying that she was feeling the effects of it.  And in all honesty, no matter how energetic and cheerful she might feel, she wasn’t getting any younger, was she? She smiled. She was definitely not one of those glamorous granny types she often saw walking confidently around the town. With their coloured hair, perfect make-up and lovely up-to-the-minute fashions, these women looked for all the world like they were still in the first flush of youth.
    And apparently, these days a person could get injections to get rid of wrinkles – from your buttocks, no less!  Good luck to them, but that wasn’t Rosie’s way.  No, she was going to let her auburn hair go as grey as it liked, and her skin get as wrinkly as it wanted – weren’t these things just marks of a life lived at the end of the day?  Getting older was nothing to be ashamed of, and as much as you might like to, you simply couldn’t outrun time. 
    But today, she wasn’t running anywhere, she mused, getting off the train at Connolly Station and going to wait at the bus stop.  It was a pity that Sophie’s car was in having a service today, otherwise she could have come and collected her at the station, and she wouldn’t have to