This is a busy time in MMM Templeogue, terribly busy.

Preparing the house for sale included some repairs to make it look better and improve its value. For this we employed Andrei, a Romanian worker, who thankfully has every possible repair and maintenance skill!  Time was running out, the first day for viewing was approaching and the patio, though mended partly, was needing to be painted to hide the newly placed logs and make it more presentable.  Fortunately, these are the long, long days of summer so 7pm was still bright.  I kept thinking “will Andrei come?”  He works several jobs and comes to us at the end of another job which follows on from his day job, so we were not exactly his top propriety – even if he was mine-that day!

Andrei arrived, set to work, and asked that I take my part- I was to “deep sweep the patio” as leaves and dust had gathered.  I got the hard brush and accepted my task under orders! Somewhere along the line I went into the kitchen for chilly water for both of us and heard loud knocking at the door.  Relia burst in with food for Andrei and rushed past me to the patio like a whirlwind.  I learned she was his wife; she quickly picked up a paint brush and this woman knew how to move it along the logs in firm, fast accurate strokes. This was not her first time to do this. The three of us worked like a well-practiced team, the day was still light at 10pm and we were all working away.

We finished late and retired to the kitchen to clean the brushes and discuss the next step.  Relia left us briefly to phone home to her eldest son, who was taking his Leaving Certificate examination, and give him words of encouragement for his papers next day.  Andrei spoke of how they would like him to have a good education and get a well-paid job where he did not have to work as hard as they had had to do since coming to Ireland as immigrants fifteen years earlier.

Then Andrei said to me: “I just hope Alexandru will meet someone as great as his mother, Relia – she is a precious rose.”  She re-entered and hearing the end of the conversation it clearly made her blush and feel embarrassed.  On my prompting, he told the story of how they first met as teenagers in Romania many years earlier.  Andrei was working in a factory and one of his female colleagues told him that her younger sister was 16 years old that day and then showed him her picture.  Without knowing Relia at all Andrei, who had extraordinarily little money, bought all he could afford – one orange coloured rose – and sent it to her through her sister.

Romance blossomed, they married later, moved to Ireland and were here with me in Templeogue telling their love story!  Andrei went on to say that Relia kept this rose, preserved it and it travels with them wherever they go.  She then said in her best English:  “I keep it always because I love him so much and he bought it for me when he had nothing.”

There are so  many blessing every day; meeting Andrei and Relia was certainly a  special one for me and every time I now see a rose – especially an orange coloured one – I think of this remarkable couple and their everlasting love for one  another.