“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and
an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.
Beautiful people do not just happen.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Maria was the third widow we visited that day.
She walked through the grief of losing a husband; her provider, her friend, her love.
She battled a cancer that viciously deformed her face. It ate away her upper lip and nose. A while ago she had the privilege of having a skin graft placed over the area that was once a nose.
She spends most days by herself unless her children stop by.
She was chosen for this program because she is destitute.
The poorest of poor.
When we showed up with her monthly bag of food she quickly greeted us at her gate with a giant smile and a welcoming wave.
Clearly craving companionship, we stood in Maria’s yard talking with her. It was very hard to understand Maria (plug your nose and talk but add in no teeth and speak in Romanian and that’s what it was like trying to decipher what she was saying) but a lot of smiles and hugs bridged the gap to let her know we cared. She lovingly told us about her children and grandbabies and relayed how she was doing. There was no bitterness. No anger. No pity for herself.
We came to bless her. To drop off food and to offer a few minutes of human contact.
She turned our day upside down when she rushed off to her garden before we left.
Maria does not have much but she has beautiful flowers.
She made bouquets for each of us comprised of her precious flowers.
This gesture reminded me of the widow in the Bible that gave her only two coins as an offering. Maria gave out of what little she did have.
By the world’s standards Maria is not an aesthetically beautiful woman.
As I walked away from her house that day I contemplated if I had ever met someone as beautiful as Maria.
When I asked to take her picture I expected her to shy away and say “I’m not beautiful” like the other widows.
Not Maria.
She smiled and promptly fixed her sweater and scarf and then posed.
That day I was reminded that beauty really does come from the inside. As we left I looked deep into Maria’s eyes and told her she is beautiful and my role model.
I probably will never see Maria again but her legacy will be carried in my heart.
