The Hourglass

The Hourglass

Annie sat in her room soaking in the afternoon sun. This was her favorite time of day. All chores done, waiting for her granddaughter Sarah to get home from work. She turned over the hourglass, Sarah would be home in an hour, when it finished.

Watching the sand fall through the hourglass she thought again about the first time she’d seen it, in a shop with her own grandmother, she was ten. It was so beautiful with its swirly pearl colored top and bottom. She had loved it, and her grandmother bought it for her. At home, she and Grammie had timed the sand to see if it really was an “hour” glass. It was. Grammie told her the grains of sand were like the days in your life, each grain falling through as you lived it. “See how many days you get Honey!” Grammie had said, “Make them all count!” Annie had laughed, the days seemed like they would go on forever then.

Now, living with Sarah, watching her grown grandsons, a great granddaughter almost three, she didn’t want ‘forever’ days anymore. Annie was tired. She loved her family fiercely, but her life now was watching more than living. She been thinking of Harold a lot lately, gone now over ten years. How had she managed to exist without him she wondered? He’d been such a part of her for so long. Watching the grains of sand fall, she wondered how many days she had to wait until she could see Harold again.

Sarah had heard the story of the grains of sand and the days of your life many times. As she held Annie’s hand tenderly, she thought how ironic it was that one grain of sand had stuck in the top, though Annie’s days had run out.