Sarah woke up to the soft warmth of sunlight brushing across her face as the world outside was quietly humming its morning song. The scent of coffee lingered in the air, mingled with the laughter of her children echoing through the hallways from the living room. In that very moment, it all felt infinite, but deep down, she knew better.

Sarah had learned long ago—not in a book, or from a movie, but in the hushed, heavy silence of the operating room where she worked as a nurse —that tomorrow is never a promise. As a hospital nurse, she had stood beside too many bedsides and held too many hands that would never feel the morning sun again. She had seen lives change in a breath, in a heartbeat, and in a whisper of a moment. Giving her every reason to rise with purpose.

Before pouring that morning cup of coffee, she pulled her kids close to her and held them just a second longer than usual, feeling their little hearts beating against her own.

“You are everything to me and you gave my life its meaning,” she whispered into their ears. Sami and Braden were too young to fully understand the weight of her words, but someday they would.

Next, she called her parents. Her voice began cracking through her gratitude. “Thank you,” she said softly, “for the sleepless nights, the sacrifices I never saw, and the unconditional love. I wouldn’t be who I am without you.”

There was a pause on the other end. Then, a gentle, tear-filled voice that said, "we love you too.”

After Sarah spoke to her elderly parents, she reached out to her siblings, her cousins, and also the friends who had become family over the years. She told them what so many forget to say:

How much they mattered to her--so much more than they'd ever know.

And in the quiet that followed, Sarah didn’t regret a single word, because she knew—if today was her last day and this was the final time her heart would beat beneath her chest—then she had lived it with love.

She had spoken the words that so often go unsaid. She hugged more tightly, smiled more freely, and reminded the people in her world that they were loved and cherished deeply.

We never know which sunrise might be our last. So, let’s love loudly, forgive freely, and never leave a kind word unspoken, because if tomorrow never comes… let today be a masterpiece of love.

#gratitude #flashfiction #inspiration

In quiet woods where whispers play,

The stress of life just fades away.

A gentle breeze, a sky so wide,

Where peace and calm and dreams abide.

No rush, no race, no harsh decree,

Just soft, unfolding harmony.

A brook that hums a lullaby,

While clouds drift slowly through the sky.

The weight I bore, it slips from me,

Replaced by still serenity.

So, when the storms of life pursue,

I’ll take the path I always knew.

Where silence sings and hearts are free,

A place I call serenity.

#poems #poetry #inspiration #serenity #healing #recovery