Authors note. This is our Valentine story for 2026, inspired by my visit with a friend to his mother Martha, 88 years old, in a home for the elderly in Storrs, Connecticut, USA, circa Valentine day, 1990.
eastwindjournals
February 9, 2026 – Archives tr778
By Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
Share the link to this article = https://eastwindjournals.com/2026/02/09/the-woman-who-cheated-death/
MARTHA – Son, bring me home to Vigan (Ilocos Sur, Philippines) so I can die there. Either that or ask someone to teach me how to commit suicide.
David knew Martha would probably not survive the 17-hour flight. So, he asked his wife Lisa to help boost her morale. Lisa showed Martha her painting of a chrysanthemum flower. Martha stared at it for 15 minutes until tears flowed down her cheeks.
MARTHA – How did you do this? There seems be no lines.
LISA – No lines, mom, just a million dots or points. It’s called pointillism. It took me three weeks to do it. It’s my gift to you. Chrysanthemum is the mystique flower of China, which spread to Japan. A bestseller was written after World War II by anthropologist Ruth Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, about the Japanese warriors of World War II, whose fanaticism and suicidal tendencies instead of surrender, intrigued Americans.
MARTHA – Wow, I am impressed. Lisa, you have suddenly made my day. Do me a favor. Go to the town and buy me art materials. I want to be a pointillist like you. Here is some money.
LISA – (Excitedly refusing her money.) Mom, this is on me. Wait til David hears about this.
So, Lisa brought Martha from total darkness to blinding light, from death wish to electric euphoria, from absurdity to meaning in life. Martha embraced Lisa tightly. After a week, they were back – David, Lisa, and Josh, the grandson. They saw two giant paintings on the wall, as she was working on a third.
DAVID – Mom, I see the sunshine in your eyes.
LISA – It’s impossible. Three paintings in a week. And without a teacher. It can’t be done.
JOSH – (Embracing Martha) Hi grandma. Of course it’s possible. You haven’t been sleeping. I see eyebags below her sunshine eyes, Dad.
DAVID – Okay, Josh, you be the judge. Tell us if the paintings are good.
JOSH – (inspecting the two paintings and the incomplete one for a good twenty minutes.) Ready, grandma? That one is me. You got a photo from mom, right?
MARTHA – I had it in my wallet all the while.
JOSH – Awesome, grandma. That’s because your model is so handsome even in dots. The second one of the fishing boat with a fisherman in the sunset is even more awesome. How many dots, grandma?
MARTHA – (Computing mentally.) Hmmm. About 350,000 dots.
JOSH – Wow, a third of a million. That’s why you have eyebags.
DAVID – Your grandma is homesick, Josh. That’s from a beach in Vigan, which is in ….
JOSH – Ilocos Sur. I know where it is, Dad. I know my roots.
DAVID – It’s a big transformation, mom. I am so happy for you.
JOSH – Spiritual transformation, Dad. The third unfinished painting is of Jesus in the Shroud of Turin, right? (Martha nods.) Magnificent. You must have been the mother of Michelangelo in another life. I’m so proud of you, grandma.
MARTHA – The two paintings is my gift to you, Josh.
DAVID – How about me and Lisa?
MARTHA – The next ones.
JOSH – Forever grateful, grandma. Oh, one last thing. Get some sleep, Grandma. There is no hurry. The Lord won’t take you until you make a hundred more paintings, may be even a thousand. He needs you to touch people.
Martha had a painting exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, which was extended for a week, with a record number of visitors. This is because Josh posted digital versions of her paintings in the Internet, which went viral. She gave away her paintings for free on the condition of donation to homes for the elderlies. She became a celebrity even in Rome and Berlin. Reactions – redgate77@gmail.com
More Inspirational Articles – eastwindjournals.com.
FOR THOSE WHO NEED HEALING, spiritual or physical (depression, anxiety, loneliness, terminal cancer, covid, diabetes, etc.) – say an online healing prayer with one or both healers below. Terminal patients have been healed in cyberspace. All you need is to have faith and to ask the Lord –
1) Father Fernando Suarez – www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UP3LHBgtIc.
2) Sr. Raquel Reodica, RVM – www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAZcwNimBSg
Download free e-book ‘Healing Stories of Sr. Raquel’ at eastwindjournals.com/2021/08/13/healing-stories-of-sr-raquel-e-book-free-download/).
Author’s book. At age 26, the author (eastwind) drifted through Europe, hitchhiking 25,000 kilometers for three straight years. He wrote a book on his adventures, Wings and Wanderlust. He learned deep insights that radically changed his view of life, which he wants to share with readers looking for themselves or wanting to catch the wind. More about the book (get a copy) = https://eastwindjournals.com/2023/02/25/more-about-the-book-wings-and-wanderlust/
Author’s Credentials. Blogger – Columnist – Daily Tribune – ex-Columnist (Inquirer / Manila Chronicle / Manila Times) – ex-online manager for Healing Ministries of Sr. Raquel Reodica (RVM) and Fr. Fernando Suarez– ex-Professor (Ateneo University) – Documentary Producer-Director (freelance, ex-ABS-CBN, ex-TVS Tokyo) – ex-Broadcaster (Radio Veritas) – Facebook “Bernie V. Lopez Eastwind” / Pages “Eastwind Journeys and Journals” and “Mary Queen of Peace”.
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