A sad story from Saudi Arabia unfolds as a 100-year-old woman, Grandma Sharifa, passed away after grieving for her son for 35 long years. The centenarian kept the photograph of her son by her side every day, having cleaned it with tears since she relived the pain of losing him. Her love for him never faded, but only grew as though times were part of the love.
Sharifa’s son, who had died years ago, still played a vital role in her life. For years, she had held on to the photograph and refused to let go of the only reminder of her dear child. The family members recount how she used to talk about him as if he were still there, sharing her grief at his untimely departure.
Her grieving was even more emotionally intensive since it was a sense of longing and emptiness, with her age doing nothing to mitigate it. Grandma Sharifa never stopped keeping the memory of her son alive. Indeed, if one defines actions as deeply sorrowful, yet translated to deep love by a mother, her actions symbolize the power of memory.
As the family pours over the life of a woman who lived a century, her heart weighed heavily in the balance between love and loss, so did the passing of Grandma Sharifa mark the end of an era but her enduring devotion to her son until the end.
