A Season Of Miracles
Reader's Digest India|December 2018

This Christmas, we’d like to share these stories—these gifts—of wonder, faith and eternal life

Margo Pfeiff
A Season Of Miracles
A Message from a Mermaid

Rhonda Gill froze as she heard her four-year-old daughter, Desiree, sobbing quietly in the family room that morning in October 1993. Rhonda tiptoed through the doorway. The tiny child was hugging a photograph of her father, who had died nine months earlier. Rhonda, 24, watched as Desiree gently ran her fingers around her father’s face. “Daddy,” she said softly, “why won’t you come back?”

The petite brunette college student felt a surge of despair. It had been hard enough coping with the death of her husband, Ken Gill, but her daughter’s grief was more than she could bear.

Ken and Rhonda, of Yuba City, California, had met when Rhonda was 18, and they married after a whirlwind courtship. Their daughter, Desiree, was born on 9 January 1989. Ken was a gentle man whom everyone loved. His big passion was his daughter. “She’s a real daddy’s girl,” Rhonda would often say as Ken’s eyes twinkled with pride. Father and daughter went everywhere together: hiking, dune buggy riding and fishing for bass and salmon on the Feather River.

Instead of gradually adjusting to her father’s death, Desiree refused to accept it. “Daddy will be home soon,” she’d tell her mother. “He’s at work.” When she played with her toy telephone, she pretended she was chatting with him. “I miss you, Daddy,” she’d say. “When will you come back?”

Immediately after Ken’s death, Rhonda moved from her apartment in Yuba City to her mother’s home in nearby Live Oak. Seven weeks after the funeral, Desiree was still inconsolable. “I just don’t know what to do,” Rhonda told her mother, Trish Moore, a 47-year old medical assistant.

Bu hikaye Reader's Digest India dergisinin December 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Reader's Digest India dergisinin December 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

READER'S DIGEST INDIA DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi
Reader's Digest India

From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi

Pushpesh Pant, one of India’s pre-eminent food writers, is back with a comprehensive food history of the capital.

time-read
1 min  |
October 2024
Who Wants Coffee?
Reader's Digest India

Who Wants Coffee?

It’s bitter—but beloved around the world

time-read
2 dak  |
October 2024
Prevent The Pain Of Shingles
Reader's Digest India

Prevent The Pain Of Shingles

You don't have to suffer, as long as you take two important steps

time-read
3 dak  |
October 2024
The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart
Reader's Digest India

The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart

Dozens of diets are touted as ‘best’, but it’s easy to lose track of the fact that healthy eating needs to be about overall wellness, not just weight loss.

time-read
1 min  |
October 2024
ME & MY SHELF
Reader's Digest India

ME & MY SHELF

Journalist Sopan Joshi has worked in a science and environment framework for nearly three decades. His book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango (Aleph Book Company) synthesizes the sensory appeal of India's favourite fruit with its elaborate cultural roots and natural history. He writes in English and Hindi.

time-read
3 dak  |
October 2024
SWITCHED
Reader's Digest India

SWITCHED

In 1962, nurses at a small Canadian hospital sent home two women with the wrong babies. Then, 50 years later, their children discovered the shocking mistake.

time-read
10+ dak  |
October 2024
ECHOES OF THE PAST
Reader's Digest India

ECHOES OF THE PAST

A VISIT TO THE ANCIENT BARABAR CAVES IN BIHAR REVEALS A SURPRISING CONNECTION TO A LITERARY CLASSIC

time-read
6 dak  |
October 2024
Fathers of the Bride
Reader's Digest India

Fathers of the Bride

A young woman finds a unique way to honour the many men who helped her survive her childhood

time-read
8 dak  |
October 2024
Fiction's Foresight
Reader's Digest India

Fiction's Foresight

British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam's works reveal startling parallels to recent political upheavals in Bangladesh, begging the question: Besides helping us make sense of our world, can stories also offer a glimpse into the future?

time-read
7 dak  |
October 2024
It Happens ONLY IN INDIA
Reader's Digest India

It Happens ONLY IN INDIA

The Divine Defence Picture this: A tractor in Rajasthan‘s Banswara district,a group of loan agents closing in to seize it and the defaulting farmer and his family standing by.

time-read
2 dak  |
October 2024