Ribbons dance in the breeze.
Fluttering and rippling
Attached to kites that
Dance and twirl
All on the same wind
A sky full of every color
The world has ever seen
And some they haven’t.
And underneath children
Twirl and flutter around
Faces full of smiles
As squeals and giggles join the
Kites in the sky.
You had been too quiet for too long when I went to look for you. I found you standing at your parents’ window that overlooked the backyard. I walked over and kneeled next to you. You were so focused on what was going on in the yard that you barely noticed me.
“What are you looking at?” I asked you. I had looked outside and didn’t see anything.
“Kardhu (the family’s golden retriever).” You replied your eyes never leaving the scene you were seeing.
“What is Kardhu doing?” I asked watching you.
“Soccer.” You replied with such conviction that I almost believed it was what you were seeing.
“He’s playing soccer?” I asked. You nod, and then you laugh.
“What’s funny?” I asked him.
“T-rex.” You said as you glance at me with your laughing blue eyes.
My eyes grew wide, and I whispered, “Kardhu is playing with a T-rex?”
You laugh and look at me, your gaze piercing my soul with a curious look as if you were gauging if I was really seeing what you were seeing or not.
“Who’s winning?” I asked you. You think about this for a second before saying, ‘Kardhu is.”
“He is?” I ask. You look at me, and I can tell you want to tell me something, but your words aren’t quite there yet. You shorten your arms like a T-rex and start growling at me.
“Oh because Kardhu has four good legs and T-rex has two?” You nod with such a grin on your face, and you come at me with your T-rex legs, and we dissolve into a fit of giggles on the floor. As I look at you, I can’t believe an almost three-year-old has such an imagination, and I hope it is something you never lose.
One day my sister and her jeweler husband came over and wanted to see me. I think I was around 10-years-old at the time. When I walked into the kitchen, I noticed that my brother-in-law had a small brown envelope in his hands. He told me to put my hand out like a cup, I did so and he proceeded to pour the contents of the envelope into my palm. Diamonds. I gasped. My hand was half full of glittering diamonds. I heard him laugh as my eyes went wide looking at the treasure that was cradled in my fingers. I started walking towards the window and vaguely heard him warning me to be careful that I had tens of thousands of dollars in my hand. When I went to the sun-filled window I got lost in the beauty and wonder of them. I remember thinking how could anyone capture rainbows and trap them in stones. They sparkled and dazzled in the light and I passed a fingertip over them to make them twinkle like stars that had fallen to Earth. Tipping my hand slightly back and forth I watched the jewels roll back and forth; they felt hard like stone and as heavy as frozen raindrops. Before I knew it, he asked me to give them back to him and reluctantly I did. As I watched them disappear back into the envelope I wondered if I would ever see anything as beautiful again in my life. I’m still waiting.