Heart Map
“One, two, three, four and five,” Sheila counted her steps. Then she sat down and meticulously jotted it down in a piece of paper.
“One, two, three, … fifteen!” She exhaled with apparent exhaustion from counting and jotting down her steps.
“One, two, three, … twenty-three and one-half up the stairs till the door,” she froze to immediately recorded her carefully counted steps.
“Honey?” Her mother called out from the kitchen.
“Yes, mommy!” She answered.
“What are you counting?” The sound of random metal clutter echoed from the kitchen.
“My steps, mommy,” she said.
“When you’re done and if you want, maybe you can give me a hand in preparing daddy’s favorite dessert!”
“Yeees, mommy. I want to help prepare his dessert!”
“Thanks sweety!”
“Is it okay if I finish the first part of my map, mommy?”
“Sure! Finish what you need to do and come right down so you can wash the strawberries and prepare the whip cream.”
“Coooming!” Sheila runs down zipping into the kitchen.
“So, why were you counting your steps?” She hands her daughter the bowl of strawberries.
“I’m making a pirate’s treasure map, mommy.”
“A treasure map? That’s very interesting.”
“In history class I chose a pirate character and the map goes with the pirate,” Sheila started washing the strawberries in the sink.
“Since when did you want to become a pirate?” Her mother chuckled.
“Ever since I watch the Pirates of the Caribbean, mommy!”
“And how many islands and galleons will you own?”
“Hundreds!!!”
* * * * * *
A few weeks later, Sheila’s mom receives a phone call from her daughter’s tutor. It wasn’t yet the usual scheduled session and she wondered what important matter would be brought up.
“Mrs. Daniel, there is no need to be upset. I simply wanted to show you Sheila’s history project and perhaps, how you would prefer to interpret what she came up with.”
“Oh, you mean her pirate map?” She asked.
“So, she told you about it?”
“In fact, she was very excited about it. Is there anything that she may have done wrong?”
Sheila’s tutor only smiled and handed her the map.
Mrs. Daniel recognized the parchment paper that she and Sheila had bought at the paper shop. Together she helped her carefully burn its edges to give it a fragile and antique appearance. Afterwards, she left Sheila alone to finalized her map on the parchment.
She unfolded the map. On the uppermost part was written: My Secret Treasure Map. The dotted lines, indicating the path to follow, started at their doghouse. The starting point had a number summing up the steps one had to take to the next marker.
It was ten steps from the doghouse to the front door. From the entrance was four steps to the landing and three more to the staircase. Then from the bottom to the top were twenty-three and one-half steps to the door of the master’s bedroom.
From the door were dotted lines that led to their bed and finally the ‘X’ marking the spot! At the bottom of the ‘X’ was a small heart and the word TREASURE!
At first, she wondered if Sheila could have hidden something under their bed. But then that would have been easily noticed. She pondered a little more and traced the little heart with her index finger. Then she realized what the treasure was.
Teary-eyed, she hands the map back to Sheila’s tutor.
“I believe we both understand what her treasure is now,” she said.
When Mrs. Daniel arrived home, she took out her smartphone and jotted down the following considerations:
- Come out with my own spiritual heart map for my husband and each of my children
- Remember the steps it takes to each one’s heart concretized in one good deed every day
- Daily consider my heart map to ask myself if my heart is truly in the treasure that is my family
No Comments