The Best “Thank You”…

…Is Always Expressed by a Child.

For the Eyes of a Child

The winter day dawned gray and cold. The wind only added a chill to the cheerless landscape.

I needed to feed the birds in the patio birdcages and give them fresh water, a task I hoped to accomplish as quickly as possible, so that I could retreat into the comfort of the warm house.

My son Aiden had other thoughts. He followed me, babbling away about the birds, the garden—which I thought looked rather forlorn sleeping under its cloak of winter grey.

“Swing, Mommy?” My two-year-old looked at me with anticipation.

“It’s cold, Aiden. Mommy wants to go inside.”

Either he didn’t hear me or he didn’t take that as a “no”. He meandered toward the swing seat situated against the backyard fence. I followed him, pulling my sweater more tightly around me.

As I sat down, he clambered on top of my lap and sat in silence. At least his presence served as a natural heater. He was so quite that I thought for a moment that he was going to fall asleep.

“Mommy,” he suddenly broke the silence, “the trees giving loves.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant. I looked at the trees from the porch swing where we were sitting. I didn’t notice anything spectacular. Most of them stood starkly, lacking leaves and color.

I followed his gaze to two palm trees, growing beyond our house, reaching high toward the sky. Their green fronds contrasted the drab sky. They flittered, almost like fingers waving cheerfully down to us.

“Who are they giving love to?” I asked him.

“Everybodies,” was the instant response.

Where I had seen nothing but a cold and lifeless day, my son had looked up and found life … and love.

Oh, for the eyes of a child.