*laughs* good, im glad i figured it out. how have you been since we last talked?

Pink Roses

It was the same every year. Eric would take his sail boat and go out to sea, not stopping until he felt he needed too. Most of the time it was in the same spot even though he tried hard for it not to be. It usually was around the same place that the ship had sank and taken his parents with it, but he was at peace with that.

Looking at the roses that he had in the sail boat floor, he smiled up at the sky before looking at the water. “Hi mom… its been a really long time… a year… its always a year.” Sighing he grabbed one of the hundred pink roses. “I brought you your favorite. The pink roses that dad planted for you. The ones I take care of,” he reached it down and laid it across the water, watching it ripple under its touch before grabbing another. “You should see them now mom. I feel as if you do. I feel you around me all the time, around Ariel and Melody.”

Laying several more roses along the water he stared at them until they disappeared beneath the surface. “You know… I thank you all the time when I come out here… for raising me right and for making me into a proper man. Or so I like to think… I wish I could see you mom, and I know you don’t want me to be sad, I’m not, I just miss you.”

With each rose he grabbed this time he kissed it before gently tossing it into the water, smiling as he did. “People talk about their moms and how they love them dearly. How they cherish them and miss them when they can’t see them even though they’re right down the street, or a short cars ride away. But they don’t know what it means to truly miss their mom, and I hope they never do.” His smile grew, almost becoming a grin as he placed the remaining roses in the water, watching them float and bobb, holding onto just one.

“Words could never come close to how beautiful you are mom, in both body and spirit. You did everything for me without hesitation and you put yourself out on a limb for me on many occassions. You taught me right from wrong, and wrong from right. I didn’t even know there was a difference between the two. But you taught me mom. You taught me how to be a man and how to respect a woman. How to love and cherish, to be honest and noble. I can’t thank you enough. I wish I could give you much more than roses… and if you were still with me I would,” he stopped to calm himself, feeling that he was on the verge of losing it, “I love you and know that one day I’ll get to see you again… before I know it ill be smiling at you and dad and we’ll all be one big family again.”

Holdng the final rose to his face, he craddled it in his hand and. Allowed a tear or two to slip free, clenching his jaw to resist the urge to let loose. Pressing his lips to the soft petals he breathed in the family fragrance that once clung to the castle air. Holding his breath he soaked in it, not wanting to let it go for it was the last one that he would smell for a while before the rose bush bloomed again.

Gently setting it in the water, he let his finger tips brush across the petals ridges, before whispering, his voice lost to the wind, “I love you mom, goodbye.”

Scratching the back of his neck he tried to think as relief washed through him. “Ok, so you’re not Ursula… I don’t think you’re Lottie… Aquata is currently on two legs… Rapunzel?”

“Oh… I see.” First things furst he wanted to get Ursulas name off that list. “You’re not Ursula are you?” He was hoping the grey wasn’t.