The Recreation of Hanna Vaisova

The Journal

Today is my 16th birthday and the 13th anniversary of my mother's death.  When I woke up this morning, I saw a present on the foot of my bed. I grab it and there was a note on top of it. I open the note and it said,
               " Happy Birthday, darling. This isn't my present to you but it is from your mother. All I know that she brought this present when you turned one year's one. And she told me that on your 16th birthday, she will give it to you. But since your mother parted from us too early, I will give it to you instead. I hope you like the present, I know that she sent a lot of time on it for some odd reason. Love, Grandmother"

     I put the note down next to me and just stare at the present in silence before undoing the box. I just know that this present brings back the memories that I had with my mother before she passed away.  I took a deep breath before actually opening the box. After I took off the lid and unravel all of the tissue paper, there was a photo ablum at the bottom. I wonder why my mother wanted me to have this photo ablum. There was another note that is taped on the cover the ablum. I untape the note and open it. It read:
                    "Happy 16th birthday, Rose Darling. I am so proud of you and how far you have came. You are most likely wondering about this present and I will explain it. I brought the ablum on your first birthday and I decided to tell our story and then give it to you when you are 16. This ablum contains the memories that I had with your father before he passed away. I wished you could have met him. He would have been so proud of you. I need you to open the ablum so you can follow along with this story of the ablum and there are sections in here. The first section is mine and your father's families. After you were born, your grandparents on your father's side didn't want to get to know you because you already reminded them about your father. You were born just three days before his funeral. When we went to his funeral, I notice that on his gravestone it said, 'Son, brother, friend, husband, and father.' That just made me cried a lot. His mother and two sisters sometimes asked me about you and I always showed them pictures of you. His mother always said that you look like your father. I thought I should put your family tree in here so, you can your ancestry. Okay, let's move on to more of the happy section of this ablum so, there will be no more tears from now on. The 2nd section is my pregnancy with you and some goofy pictures of your father. Your father was always hogging the camera so he can put pictures of himself in here so you can remember he wasn't all strict on you. My pregnacy with you had it ups and downs but what pregnacy doesn't have that. Anything that I felt like could make an impact on you was actually documented in here. The next section  is the of your birth. Your grandparents tooked a lot of pictures since your father couldn't be there. You are gonna be so surpise when you see how many pictures of you are in here. You were a tiny and so beautiful baby, Rose Darling. I was so happy that you were finally here and you were in my arms. Your father actually chose your name by the way. The way he chose it was really weird. One day, we were walking around in the park by our house and w were arguing about names for you. Then, he got all quiet on me and told me the next flower we see we were going to name you that if you were a girl and if you were a boy, we were going to name you after both of your grandfathers. Then, we past a whole bunch of roses and your father said,' If we have a daugther, her name shall be Rose Pearl Mitchell.' And he said that with a smile and I just smiled at that, too. The name was perfect for you. Go on to the next section. Every section after this is a section of a noher year of your life but you are just getting older in each section. I am expecting you to fill out the rest of the ablum of memories that you are going to make like prom, high school grauduation, your acceptance to your dream college, you and your best friends adventures, you and your life partner whenever you find one, you and your college roommates, your college adventures, and any important memories that you have in your lifetime. You are an amazing person, baby girl. When you was born, I became a whole different person. I hope you can change every person's life that you are part of. You are one of a kind, Rose Darling. You are going to have a wonderful, bright life. You are going to do incredible, amazing things in ife that will make you to successful. I want you to remember all the memories and stories that I wrote about in this very long note, which wasn't supposed to be very long. Happy Birthday again, Rose Pearl. I hope you have an amazing 16th birthday now. Get out of bed and grab some breakfast birthday coffee cake, that I know your grandmother is making right now.

                                                                                                                                  Love,
                                                                                                                                      Mom"

I fold up the note the letter, or very long but sweet note. I grabbed a tissue and dab my eyes because I was already crying from the beginning of the letter. I can't believe that my mother wrote this letter and decided to give this photo ablum to give me just a couple of months before she died and when I turned three years old. I opend the photo ablum and flip through the pages. I closed the photo alums  on my bed and stand up because I remember what my mother wrote at the end and how my grandmother also got me something that isn't her delicious birthday coffee cake. She told me that after I finished the note to come downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast and my present. When I got to the kitchen, I saw the coffee cake on the island with a cup of espresso next to the plate. Plus, there was a box that is neatly wrap in wrapping paper and with a pretty golden bow on top.

                " Rose Darling, you can open your birthday present before you start eating the coffee cake that I made for you," my grandmother said.
  I set my cup down and move the plate up so I can put the present in front of me. I untied the bow and unwrap it. I open the lid and I saw a journal or a book. I looked up at my grandmother and raised my eyebrows. She just laughed for a while before stopping and sat down across from me. She took the journal from me and just had a sad look.

                " This journal was gave to me by my mother, your great-grandmother, who got it from a survivor of the Holocaust, who got told by my mother's best friend to give it to me and tell her story. My mother told me to give it to my daughter, but since I never got a chance to get to before your mother. So I decided to give to you since I don't know how much time I have left. Before my mother died, she saw you a couple of times and she said, you already reminded of her best friend that had passed away at a young age. I asked her how can you get reminded of her just looking at her for a couple of seconds and she is only a couple of months, too. She told me that you had a face even a sleeping face could remind her of Hanna, who was her best friend. This is the journal that her best friend, Hanna written in all since when she got to the day she died pretty much. I learned so much from Hanna from her journal. Hopeful you learn some important lessons also because you can learn a lot from the past and from someone's life and how they lived, their culture, even though they are not here anymore," my grandmother told me.

She put the journal down next to me and just smiled at me. I grab the journal and my plate plus my cup and head outside so I can read the journal. I head to the lake by the house and I sat down at a table and open the journal up. I made sure that I had my phone and earbuds so I can listen to some music because what is reading something without some music. I turn the page and start reading the first page.