When things are really bad, there is nothing more comforting than a bite into any piece of chocolate. We also love to give boxes of chocolate as gifts to our loved ones. I particularly remember one particular time when my life was made "better" by a gift of chocolate from an unexpected person.
In 1993, my mother died and I went to Los Angeles to attend her funeral. Hers was not a sudden death from an accident or heart attack and it was not a long lingering one either. It was a short illness and she was given a few days to live which stretched to just a couple of weeks.
I remember getting a long distance call from my sister with whom my mother was living with in the middle of my teaching 7th grade CCD (religion class). I was notified to return the call as soon as possible when I returned to the CCD office where I was returning the box of teaching stuff. One catechist exclaimed, "Ugh, ugh there must be something serious going on for the call to be forwarded to this office".
Cell phones were unheard of at that time and I had to return the long distance call at my house. My sister delivered the news, "Dete, (a title given to the second female child in the family in the Philippines), Nanay (mother in Filipino) is dying. She is given just a few days to live. She is in a respirator ". Then she continued with this plea, "Please come. I do not want to make the decision to pull the plug or to give the go for code blue by myself". I did not think twice and left for Los Angeles not only to be with my dying mother but most especially for my sister who needed me.
I left the care of my two young children to my mother-in-law and my teaching duties at a community college I was teaching chemistry at during this time to a substitute teacher. As far as my CCD class was concerned the head teacher did the teaching by herself.
My mother eventually died within two weeks and I got back to my regular routine. When I returned to assisting teaching CCD, I was surprised to know that the death of my mother was not announced by the CCD director to the rest of the teachers as she normally did. The head teacher I was assisting was shocked that my mother had died and so were the students.
During class, I remember just sitting rather forlornly in my seat actually being half there since my heart was still heavy with grief. From the corner of my eyes I saw this girl in my class who I would describe a little bit unique though normal. She had that sheepish look in her eyes as she stared at me. I could not figure out what was going on in her head but it made me uncomfortable.
At the end of the class, still Zombie like from grief and exhaustion, I was approached by this weird girl and she said, "Mrs. Herold I am sorry to hear about your mother". As she said this another student passing by was nodding her head in agreement. Then this girl continued her brave attempt (after all they were 7th graders and this was not cool) to console me, "Here, Mrs. Herold", she said, as she handed me a handful of chocolate kisses. She continued, "I got them from my friend whose class was having a Christmas party."
I was so stunned from this touching unexpected gesture I did not know what to say except an almost inaudible thank you. Then I realized why she was sheepishly staring at me during class. Her mind and heart were feeling for me and planning how to comfort me.
It has been more than twenty years and I still have not forgotten this angel of a young girl who knew intuitively the power of chocolate kisses to console and comfort a person. It was, excuse me for being cheesy, a very sweet, memorable and thoughtful act.
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