Three Days of Rain

She asked, 'Sir, what does 'sad' really feel like?'

Quite surprised by her question, he looked upon the child's innocent face and felt compelled to ask, 'Have you been sad before?'

'Yes, I think so and I know it's okay to feel sad sometimes.  Mommy said it was,' she nodded.

'Your mother is right, little one. Sadness can feel so different to each of us, just like different things can make each of us happy.'  he began.

'You mean, like watching TV with Mom makes me happy but for my brother it's getting to eat pizza?' she interrupted.

He had to laugh at the comparison because she was right. He smiled and said, 'Yes, just like that.'

'Sir, what makes you sad?' she turned serious blue eyes toward him and he knew she wanted the truth from him.

'Well, not having those I have loved here with me makes me sad but I know that makes you sad, too,' he said.

'Mommy, too' she nodded with more maturity than a ten-year-old should possess.

'Yes, your mother, too.  You all miss him as do I, but there are other things, small things really, that make me sad, like a sky without a rainbow after a storm or three days of rain, or maybe even a night sky without stars," he went on to say.

'That's because then you can't see those you love winking at you, huh?' she said in a quiet voice and again he marveled that she still clung to what her father had told her seven years ago when her grandfather had been called home. She was not quite three then but she remembered that he was a star that winked at her to say 'hello' and to let her know he was fine and so was she.

'That's right, little one, and also because so many wishes cannot be made on a night like that,' he hugged her close and waited for the next question.

'Do you stay sad long, Sir?' he had expected this.

'No, I don't, except for being sad about my loved ones  not being here because that does still make me sad,' he said honestly.

'Me too, but the other stuff doesn't make you stay sad?' she queried again.

'No, little one.  I have much too much that makes me happy to keep 'sad' sitting beside me for too long,' he answered.

'Like me?' she giggled.

He laughed and said, 'Yes, like you!' A cheeky little thing she could be at times but he would have her no other way, because even three days of rain could never dull the joy this little imp brought him and as he stole a glance at her smiling face, he realized that she knew it too.