In a neighborhood that was quiet there was a tendency to notice something peculiar about a woman living on her own. Every night, with no fail she set her dinner table with three plates: one for her as well as one for her deceased husband, and the third for her son who hadn’t seen her for more than 10 years.
The neighbors recalled the way she would eat in silence, eat slowly with her eyes occasionally straying towards the empty chairs. “It was as if she was waiting,” one neighbor said. “Not just for her meal to end, but for someone to walk through the door.”
The custom, they later discovered, began following the death of her husband. The third dish was for her son who had gone to college a few years before and had not returned. In spite of unanswered calls and letters she did not give up hopes that one day she would be surprised by knocking on the door.
The simple act of eating transformed into a portrait of loss, love and longing. For her, the table at dinner was more than just food. It was about preserving the memories of her family, to the warmth that once surrounded her home.
Experts believe that such rituals can be a way to cope and a means for those who are mourning and lonely to keep the connection to those they’ve lost. “It’s a form of hope,” one psychologist said. “By setting the table, she kept alive the belief that her loved ones were still with her in spirit–or might return in life.”
The story of her life has become viral on social media platforms, where people were able to see reflections of their own grandparents and parents. One user wrote: “It hurts to imagine her waiting in that way. I’m calling my mom this evening .”
Although her husband did not return and her son did not return The woman’s act love is an eerie reminder: often the most painful pain isn’t loss of people, but waiting for them even after they’re gone.
