Eudaimonia
(n.) lit. "human flourishing"; a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous
🤍
Piper Harris , the sweet shy little girl next door
She was loved by her parents till they died in a car-accident.
She is loved by her grandparen...
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"Aren't you going out with your friends?" I ask standing in the doorway of our guest room.
"No, I'm going to stay with granny," she answers without looking up from the book she is pretending to be reading. I know she isn't reading.
"Piper," I sigh deeply and this time she does looks at me. "I know you want to spend as much time as possible with Granny Alice but don't forget to live. She would be upset that you don't spend New Year's with your friends."
Her eyes become glossy, and she looks away, "I know, but I can't Poppy."
I step further into her room and sit down on the bed and tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "Piper, we are worried about you. Since you came home you have been with you granny all the time. You look so sad and it's breaking my heart. Talk to me."
She sniffs and looks up at me "I lost her Poppy, she is the last one of my family and she is gone too. She' still here but she isn't really here. I hate it that she doesn't know me anymore. It hurts so much." I take her in my arms and pull her closer. "I know honey," I mumble in her hair. I love Piper like she is one of my own, like Bianca and I promised to each other once. We had seen a movie where a child loses his mother and her best friends steps in to help the father. We were only 14 years old at the time, but we promised each other that we would take care of each other's children if something would ever happen with us. Little did we know. It seemed so silly at the time. Till I got the call. I still remember what I was doing when Henk called me almost 16 years ago. I was standing in the bathroom, holding a positive pregnancy test in my hand. I went from happiness to sadness in 2 seconds, when Henk told me what happened.
I try to keep my promise to Bianca. Piper stayed as long as she could with her family. I love Piper. Our whole family does. But I do understand that she feels like she has no family left. Maybe I need to look for Jack's mother, if she is still alive.
"I'll come with you," I tell her.
"No Poppy, you and Liam have plans too."
I snort and whip her tears away, "make dinner, crash on the couch and fall asleep before midnight?"
"Yeah those," she smiles.
"I have said it before and I'm going to repeat it again. You are our family too Piper."
I let Liam know of the change of our plans and he rushed to the grocery shop and bought us some snacks to take with us to the nursing home. In the meantime, I had convinced Piper to enjoy an early family dinner with us first. While the kids left to meet up with their group of friends Liam drove us to the nursing home. The head nurse let us in and closed the door behind us again. "We already brought her to her room. Let me know when you want to leave."
