Odyssey... ~{}~27- Grandpa's Nature

The slim man with bony cheeks and big nose had the warmest and kindest eyes that Hana had ever seen, His very short hair was all white like a soft layer of snow on the dead winter grass. As a matter of fact his hair had always been white, or at least that was how Hana remembered. He loved his garden, trees, and flowers, His love for nature always amused Hana. He hated family disputes and as big as his family was, there was always one going on insides the walls; therefore, he chose the outside, under the roof of sky, in any season or weather, to be close to a nature that its argument was snow or rain, sunshine or cloud. He watched closely how the trees came to life, began budding, leaves appeared, and gradually became bigger and greener, and how they slowly changed colors and fell on the earth, and how the weather changed from pleasant to warm, cold, or icy. It was his connection with nature that made him a spiritual man not his belief in religion. In fact, he was not religious at all which was strange for his time. He was illiterate, yet so much in love with literature. His knowledge of poetry was so great that he knew books of poetry by heart. As he walked in his garden and cherished nature's exhibition, he murmured verses of those books he knew by heart. He chanted poems of his own which no one ever wrote them down.

For his time, he was financially well off. At younger age, before marrying his wife, he had bought a piece of land with his share of family inheritance. He had immediately begun planting trees, flowers, and vegetables and built a house to bring his young bride home. He had farmed in the most part of that land; and the crop was produced from his land had had the best quality. Soon, not only he was able to support his family but to buy more lands. His long hours of working was not for accumulating more lands or money but it was for his pure love for earth; nonetheless, when his first two children were still very young, he had become a very rich man. Money never changed him; in fact, he was as humble as when he did not have any. The community respected him so much that everyone consulted him for any kind of problems or joyous events like weddings. He replaced Molas (Muslim priests) for many and became their confidant.

His third child, a boy, was born thirteen years after the second child, another boy. It just happened that way, as in his time, no one knew the use of any methods to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Two years after the birth of his last child, his first one, Gol, got married. He was very much against that since his sixteen years old daughter was still a child in his mind but not in the mind of the society in that era. But for those days any age later than that for a girl to marry, was an absolute disgrace for her parents. Gol's marriage was like a warning to him. He hated to see her go, after all, gol was the one always read him from all those books especially SHAHNAMEH, ( THE BOOK OF KINGS) by Ferdousie. Her leaving home caused his withdrawal; and as he walked in his lands and talked to nature, he made his ultimate decision in his life. By the time, Hana, his first grand child was born, he very much knew his future plan. He decided to give everything he had to his three children. He bought a piece of land close to where he lived and built a house in it for Gol and her family which was growing fast. By doing that he could have his daughter close by. He was a man of walking and feeling. To him, getting in a bus and sitting there for half an hour to go to his daughter's house , who at the time was living with her in- laws, was the greatest pain. he turned the title of the house to Gol and her husband, Davoud, blissfully and helped them to move from Tehran to Shemiran ( a suburb of Tehran). In a few years, when his second child, Nabi, was old enough, he gave him his share and saved some for his youngest child, Behroz.

To Be Continued