HURTING (FOR NORA WEST-ALLEN)

RAISING HOPE PART 1

       Through A Mother's Eyes
Iris West-Allen has been through a lot in all  forty-six years of her life on earth.
She had lost her parents: her mom at age four and her dad at age nineteen. She had met her soul mate,fallen in love and got married. She had also raised a daughter for thirteen years before she lost her to the cold hands of death.She had mourned her and finally God had smiled on her again and given her another child.
She was determined to be the best mother she could be. Her previous loss has made her over protective. As much as she was determined to give her daughter the best things in life,she was also determined not to over indulge her but Hope was like her Dad in more ways than she could count. She knew how to get her to yield to her every request.
People might think she was spoiling her daughter rotten but they had no idea what she had gone through before Hope was born. Her miracle baby. She has brought so much light and love into their lives. Her laughter was infectious and rang throughout the entire house. Her eyes which were a warm dark-brown shone whenever she smiled.
Hope was a perceptive child and she knew when her mom was sad. She would sing and dance around the room to get her mom to smile.
As she got older, she would save her allowance and buy something nice for her mom every month end. She would buy scarves or a bracelet.
When Hope turned eleven, she gave her mom a portrait of their family for their anniversary.
Iris was speechless because the hand drawn portrait were of Barry, Iris, Nora and Hope.
The fact that Hope was a genius was not a surprise to her parents.
She was smart and read widely as a child. It became a source of concern to Iris when she was asked to skip grades. Iris wanted her daughter to be normal but life has better plans for her.
Every day with Hope was a gift, a blessing even. She always had a way to make everything better.
Everyone who met her felt it. She was special. She had a way of leaving people much better than when she met them.
Iris liked to call it "the hope effect".
She had the ability to light up a room with her laughter. She was always a joy to be around.
After Nora died, Iris thought she'd never be as happy as she used to be but now she can't imagine her life without her little bit of heaven.
She still missed Nora but like her mother in-law always tells her, every child is different, every birth is different. She will always miss Nora but she owed it to herself,to Barry and Hope to move on...to embrace life.
She got another chance to be a mother and she was going to do it to the best of her ability.
She also felt that growing up in the shadow of Nora must not be easy for Hope especially since whatever she did had almost already been done by Nora but Hope never complained. She was never found without a smile but as her mother,Iris knew she wasn't really happy.
So she made it a point to always tell Hope how much she loves her,to encourage her to pursue her dreams and to live life on her own terms.
She did that everyday,at every given opportunity.........
She told her to do what makes her happy because as her mother, her daughter's happiness is all that matters.
She slowly noticed the difference in Hope's countenance, her steps.
It was barely noticeable at first but she could tell something was different about her baby...she laughed more,a genuine laughter. She started singing again in the shower. She stopped going straight to her room after school. She seemed to be filled with life and boundless energy and the changes made Iris very happy....... Her little girl was back........and she intended to keep it that way forever............