THE HOPE BOX.
He said, “Open the box.” I did, he asked, “What do you see?” I said, “It’s empty.” He said, “No, it’s full.” I asked, “Of what?” he said, “Hope, whenever you feel lost despaired and hopeless just remember that box, there is enough hope in that box to get you home if you are lost, enough hope to fill the space of loneliness, enough hope to replace despair. I don't want you to ever feel lost again, nor do I want you to lose hope in this world because in that box is enough hope to give to everyone that is hopeless, doesn’t matter how many times you open it….”
That box was given to me in 2006 by Jimmy, I lost the top of it in 2009 when I went into surgery for a failing liver, I wanted to be with me but I didn’t have time to find it, I didn’t want Jimmy to know that I had lost it. But one day last year I found it, caught in between the canvas of a painting called “Pig in a box” and the frame it was stretched on, I wanted to take the painting off the frame and use it on another painting when I found it there, I put the top back on the box and I put it in another box. one that I couldn’t lose.
I found the box top caught in the frame after Jimmy came home from a triple bypass 2018 and soon I came home, he was giving up on life, hope, he was feelings loneliness, we had a fight on our hands and I was alone to fight it.
It was in October of 2018 I found the little silver box lid as I had said, later that week Jimmy was non responsive, he had aspirated liquid into his lungs and was going sepic, at the hospital he was in the back yelling for me but they wouldn’t let me go back, nurses were holding me as hard as they could and security took over, I could still hear Jimmy yelling out my name while security held me to the floor with a knee in my back…. one of the guards said “Man look you don’t want to go back there, they have to vent him and it’s a fucked up thing to see done, let them get him breathing and under in a coma so he can get better” I relaxed and cried and cried as that last call for me went silent.
Two hours later I was allowed to see him, he was hooked up to many machines, I stood there in silence and the nurse said “You can talk to him, he knows your in the room.” I asked her “How does he know I’m here.” She said “because when you cleared your throat his heart rate increased, he knows what you sound like so talk to him.” I touched his hands and his heart rate climbed, I asked him if he remembered that little silver box full of hope for the whole world? well Jimmy you are my whole world and here is that box and I’m going to open it it give you all the hope you need to get better and to come home”
By the time I left the whole room was crying.
Jimmy came of the vent and came home three days later, five days early.
The box is still full of hope, enough for the world to have.
The Hope Box
Amadeus.
