It Was A Very Good Day

There once was a man. When he was young and was a student, he lived with his mother, who was alone, as her husband had passed away. He loved her dearly and felt it his duty to care for her. Thus as he moved, he took her wherever he went. When he went to college, she went along with him His friends and other students made fun of him, but he paid them no attention.

He lived separate from others so he could care for his mother. He was a vegetarian, but his mother was not. Every day that he went to the store, he bought her meat or fish for her meals. His friends made fun of this too. He did not mind, but she saw this and eventually said, "I can forgo the meat. I will eat as you do." From then on, she became a vegetarian.

The young man was a gifted musician, a flute player. His mother was an accomplished violinist. People passing by their home would marvel at the wondrous sounds coming from the home. One day, when leaving the young man was approached by an attractive lady who remarked by the beautiful music she heard. She asked him to come visit her at her home. After doing so, his friends again laughed at the young man, for the lady for a woman of the streets.

Years passed and the man and his mother continued to live together, with him always caring for her, wherever they found themselves. One day he returned to their home at the end of the day to find his mother had died and his friends all waiting for him. His mother had already been laid in a coffin. He walked up the the coffin and knocked on it. "Mother, are you comfortable." "Yes, I am," he answered for his mother. "I am very glad." Turning to his friends he told them they could proceed with the ceremony.

Eventually, years later, he gathered his friends together and announced, "I am near my end. Please prepare for my passing. I will not see the end of tomorrow." The next morning he walked out into the meadow and he watched the sun rise into the sky, the birds fly across the field, and he sat down. It was a very good day.