Heartstrings

Blue skies and rainbows

The day was warm; a small child and her mother sat on a rocking chair just beside a window to enjoy the day before nightfall claimed the sun.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Why is the sky blue?"

The young mother chuckled softly.

"Well, because it wants to see you smile, every morning it becomes your favourite colour"

"Really? That's awesome! But how does it know?"

"Maybe it sees you when you play in your blue room, or when you sleep in your blue cot. Or maybe it saw you smile when you got your new blue dress", the mother replied, rocking them gently to and fro.

"The sky sees so much, mommy!"

She bent down and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Yes it does, baby"

"Do you think it sees me play the sky game with my friends?"

"It sure does!"

She remembered her daughter telling her how she and her friends in play group named as many things in the sky as possible, continuing it for days, because they always forget what was already told. It amused her to no end.

"Mommy, do you think..?" Her daughter's voice pulled her out of her strayed train of thought.

"Hm?"

"Do you think daddy can see me like that?"

Her breath hitched in her throat as she looked down at the child on her lap, big blue eyes staring up at her in question. She was so small; so innocent.

Too innocent to be tainted by death's cruel, lingering touch.

She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. To forget that the little one on her lap would not experience the love her father had for her. To forget that she would find out one day just why her daddy lay quietly in a bed one day, and never came back.

But she would always have her mom; she empowered herself through the fact.

She would not let her feel lonely even for a moment.
And she would not let the child forget that she will always have two parents, even though one of them couldn't be seen.

"Honey, do you remember the story grandma told you about rain?"

Her little head nodded excitedly as she chanted; "Where there's bad rain, there's a rainbow!"

"Yes, and do you remember where they come from?"

"From heaven!"

"Yes, and you know what, that's where daddy went"

The little one's eyes widened.

"Woah! So daddy sends rainbows?"

"Yes. He sees you all the time; he watches with the sky when you play your game, and when you laugh and even when you're sad. And the rainbows you see, baby, are just for you. From daddy."

Beautiful laughter filled the mother's ears, and she smiled gratefully as her daughter looked towards the sky.

She wasn't sure whether she understood all of it; but she knew the girl wouldn't doubt her daddy's presence; now there were rainbows to prove it.