May children only paint happy pictures of us all

The sheet of paper was torn, frosty and lying on the grass verge.

Perhaps it had been drawn in the nearby primary school and fallen from a bag.

But the crayoned words and drawing were still clearly visible.

A man with what looked like red flames STEVEN and Ellie have been together for almost a quarter of a century and have exchanged many gifts in that time.

But there was one from way back that Steven only just became aware of.

Looking through some old photos together he commented on how happy and beautiful his wife looked in one of them. “You must have taken that photo,” Ellie told him. Having no recollection of it he asked how she could be so sure. “Because I never smiled so confidently before I met you. You gave me that smile.”

A smile. It may well be the gift that lasts the longest and brings Ellie the most pleasure in her life – and Steven didn’t even know he was giving it! for hair was driving a hastily scribbled vehicle and the words read: “Daddy’s always angry in the car.”

No doubt Daddy is a fine man who would be embarrassed that his child thought this of him. But, let’s face it, young children have no agenda and very little guile with such matters.

We should interest ourselves in how they see us. And we could do worse than to adjust our lives so that any child of our acquaintance draws nothing but happy pictures when they think of us. EDDIE’S time recently has been taken up helping support his daughter through the last few weeks of a difficult pregnancy.

When, despite serious complications, his granddaughter Katie finally arrived safely in this world he drove home on a wave of love of and relief. Walking to his front door he saw the rose bush he had trimmed back a month before.

Actually, he had worried he might have cut it back too far. But there – despite the winter weather – on the top of the little bush was a single red rose.

Sometimes we read too much into coincidences but Eddie and I are both prepared to accept the universe was acknowledging one beautiful and resilient new “flower” with another.

There’s nothing like a good read,

For enjoyment at all times, Fact, fiction, an endless choice, Romance, mystery or crime;

Kids too just love a story, Curl up with a book and find,

Not only a world of fun, But also calming of mind.