Nana's Gift - part 2

"What I lack is a dream," she woke up one day with that thought. "If I don't have a dream, how will I achieve a goal?"

"Dreams are good, sometimes," her friend Lena agreed, her tired eyes watching her son running around the dilapidated neighborhood square. "But it’s not always that we manage to fulfill them either. Look at me," Lena pointed to her own aged face. Although she was the same age as Bella, she looked much older. "I love my son, but I don’t pretend to anyone that being a mother so early was the dream of my life. No, don’t pity me," she prevented Bella from opening her mouth to say anything. "I had to act with what fate presented me. And I hope I’m doing the best I can with it."

"You’re a great mom, Lena," Bella smiled at her friend as she returned from another rescue of the child who had gotten tangled in the swing chains.

"Trying to keep a human being alive isn’t easy, I admit," she laughed, wiping her son's face while he drank water. Then Lena, as if shocked by a new idea, looked at Bella with wide eyes, full of a fresh thought. "You know what I just remembered?!"

"What?"

"Oh, how did I not think of this before, of course! It's so you!"

"What is it, woman?!" Bella started getting nervous.

"At Ryan's school!" Lena pointed to her son —  Bella always confused the name and ended up calling Bryan — who was running again on the dirty ground. "An NGO is going to use the school space to give some vocational courses at night. For free! From what I saw, there’s a beauty course or something like that; why don’t you go check it out? It could be a good chance!"

And since we never know when or where opportunities in life will come, Bella ended up enrolling in that course she wasn’t quite sure where it might lead, but a chance is a chance, so why not take a risk?

Nana Grace was the first to jump with joy at the new direction Bella was trying to follow, encouraging her every day she came home tired from the job she had gotten to help with expenses. The gym reception wasn’t the worst job — and with it, she had the benefit of attending it, thus beginning to enjoy taking care of her own body, which strengthened her interest in the course she was taking.

And against all odds, the course was coming to an end. Bella, exhausted, looked at the notes on the school's bulletin board. Throughout the journey, the project had several risks of closing because the NGO wasn’t getting the necessary investment. And now, once again, the tension among the students had returned. If the NGO didn’t get financial support, the course could end before Bella's class even graduated.

Without enough money to finish the course elsewhere, Bella felt her heart tighten. She couldn’t let that dream — recently discovered — die there. Inspired by the resilience she always admired in her grandmother, she went to her classmates and the administration to find a solution together. She then proposed they organize events, community campaigns to promote the project, giving more visibility and more opportunities to those who needed a way to enter the job market.

At a beauty event promoted by the students, where they offered free aesthetic, massage, and makeup services, they managed to showcase their work and the importance of the course. At the massage tent, Bella worked non-stop at the event that lasted the entire weekend, involving the whole community and even the local merchants with whom they partnered to raffle off some products.

It was an elderly client who reminded her of Nana Grace who, after receiving a massage from Bella, smiled and held her hands.

"You're very good at this, dear," her small eyes smiled at her. "And I'm not just talking about your hands. You bring a lot of peace, even if in there," she placed a hand over Bella's heart, "there may be turmoil. Don’t give up on your dreams, young lady. If you need more help, just let me know."

Emotional, Bella felt a lump in her throat and thanked the lady with a hug, holding back tears so she wouldn’t cry right there in front of everyone.

When she got home that night, dead tired but satisfied with the event's outcome, she found her grandmother Grace sitting in the living room, knitting and watching the news on the TV with the volume turned down low. Bella sat down beside her, sighing deeply.

"How did it go?" The older woman remained focused on the stitches forming between her fingers.

"It was a success, Nana. We managed to raise a lot of money." Nana Grace smiled slightly, nodding as if she already knew that. "Nana..." Bella called, and the elderly woman lowered her needles to look at her granddaughter. "Today, I felt something... I think I found something within myself... Something that..."

Grace smiled, squeezing Bella's hand. She didn't need to finish; her grandmother already knew.

"You just needed a chance, my love. And I'm very proud to see that you don't give up in the face of difficulties."

Bella looked at her grandmother, feeling gratitude warm her chest.

"I learned that from you, Nana. You are my greatest inspiration. Without your support, I..."

"Shhh, nonsense," Grace pulled her granddaughter into another wonderful hug.

*****

It was during the last week of the course, with all the students already exhausted but very satisfied to be finishing that stage, that an unparalleled opportunity arose ー one that seemed almost too good to be true. It was one of her classmates who appeared, waving the flyer of a gigantic and very famous SPA in South Lake, the Blue Horizons, which was recruiting newly graduated estheticians to join their team.

Working at Blue Horizons would be a dream for her and for any of her classmates there, but would she be good enough to be selected? They would certainly receive hundreds of applications... And there was also the matter that, despite being a relatively nearby city, working in South Lake would require her to move there. Still, without much conviction, Bella sent in her application. After all, she had nothing to lose, right?

A few days later, during a break at her job at the gym reception, her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she, distracted, answered without checking who it was.

"Hello, this is Evelyn Patterson from Blue Horizons Spa. We're calling to inform you that you've been selected for the esthetician position. We'd like to schedule an in-person interview with you in South Lake."

Bella froze. Her heart raced as she processed what she had just heard.

“Wait... I was selected? Really?"

“Yes, we really liked your profile and would like to discuss the position in more detail during the interview."

Bella, still in shock, responded enthusiastically.

“Of course! Thank you! I... I can go, I just need to organize a few things. When would it be?"

After arranging the interview details, Bella hung up the phone and stood there, staring at it as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Back at home, Nana Grace was in the kitchen preparing dinner, the aroma making Bella’s stomach growl. Pulling out a chair to sit down, still processing everything, Bella didn’t even need to say anything for the elderly woman to notice the astonished expression on her granddaughter's face.

“What happened, my love?” she asked, drying her hands on a dish towel.

“I was selected, Grandma. For the SPA in South Lake. They want me to go for an interview. I can hardly believe it..."

“South Lake is a bit far from here, Bella.” Sitting down on another chair, her grandmother’s face grew more serious. “Are you sure this is what you want? Is this job certain, does this SPA really exist?" she asked suspiciously, and Bella laughed nervously, shrugging.

“Well, it seems so, Nana…”

Taking her hand, the elderly woman’s face softened.

“If it’s really certain, it’s truly a wonderful opportunity, Bella.”

Bella looked at her grandmother, feeling the weight of responsibility.

“I... I don’t know, Nana. It’s an incredible opportunity, but I’m scared. Scared of failing, of moving away from everything I know. And, most of all, of leaving you here.”

Grace gently squeezed Bella’s hand.

“My dear, opportunities like this don’t come every day. I understand your fears, but you are strong, as I have always known. If you decide to follow this path, I will be here, cheering for you, even if it means we’ll be far from each other.”

“I have a gift for you,” she stood up and went to her room, returning a few minutes later with a small box in her hands. “It’s not much, I know,” she said, opening the lid of the wooden box. “I’ve been saving this for a long time. Thinking about your future, so you could have something to start with. If you decide to go, I want you to take this with you. It will be useful to start your new life.”

“But Nana…” Bella, speechless, couldn’t hold back the tears as she pulled her into another tight hug, almost knocking over the box filled with neatly organized bills that her beloved grandmother had been saving for her for so long. “I won’t let you down, Nana. I promise.”

“I know you won’t, my dear,” Grace’s soft voice assured her. “I know you won’t.”