Two cents, by Leonor Henríquez

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Today I went out to buy a loaf and a rose.

The bread because I ran out and I like it for breakfast.

The rose, to fulfill a wish of someone very special, a 4-year-old girl, my granddaughter Natalia.

We recently threw a pebble into the river, and I told her to make a wish. She said that her wish was, a flower.

And I said to myself, well, a rose for Natalia.

This morning, when I was on my way to the bakery and flower shop, I already sensed that this was not an ordinary mission.

I bought the bread and a coral-colored rose.

I left the store with a feeling of fullness that is difficult to explain, as if nothing was missing, neither in my pantry, nor in my life.

I drove to my house ready to have breakfast and surprise Natalia with her flower, her wish fulfilled.

And so, ends this story.

Simple and ephemeral, like a loaf or a rose.

The rest of the day I dedicated myself to breathing life and its perfume.

To finish, I share one of those unforgettable phrases, which I discovered with my beloved husband, many years ago in a small Welsh town:

“If I only had two cents left in life, with one I would buy a piece of bread and with the other a rose. The bread to keep me alive and the rose to have a reason to live.”

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