There once was a small boy called Edward, he lived in a grand house in the English country with his dad and younger sister who was 8. Last Christmas he had lost his beautiful mother to cancer, so this Christmas just seemed grayer than ever. His father was a farmer until Abigail died, he used to smile and laugh and would lift Edwards mother up and swirl her around in the excitement of life. Edward would pick Alice up in similar motion and she would scream out in laughter. It was all very different this year, there was no Abigail, no warmth, no laughter and certainly no excitement.
Edward felt an ache in his stomach when he opened his eyes, he stirred, stretched and looked on to his left, Alice refused to sleep in her own room since mum had ‘disappeared and gone to heaven’ she trusted less and wanted to be close to Edward. She was awake playing with Daisy her teddy bear. He smiled a weak smile and closed his eyes, tears formed and weeped from the side. All he wanted was mummy, and she wasn’t there. Feeling this sad was something Edward got used to over the year.
‘Mummy visited me in my dream Eddie, wake up’ she reached over to her big brother slowly. She had felt his sadness from the minute her eyes opened that morning ‘What did she say Liccy?’ ‘Have fun with daddy and make him smile like he used to’. Edward sighed, there was some essence in that message. He thought deeply. All he had worried about for the last year was the loss of his beautiful mother, daddy had become so withdrawn from his mind that Edward had almost stopped caring about anything else.
Edward reached for Alice who reached for Daisy. He pulled them closer ‘ We have to listen to mummy Liccy, we have to stop thinking about what was, we need to start thinking about what can be’. ‘What do you mean Eddy?’ Alice said, confused, looking up at her big brother ‘does this mean we forget about mummy now and just think about daddy?’ ‘No Alice, we will never forget mummy, she will always live in our memories. We have to enjoy every second with daddy and each other, we can be happy again’ he said with conviction.
Uplifted, she jumped of the bed with Daisy, with her other hand she reached for Eddie, he reached back and stood tall next to her. Looking up at him longingly she said ‘can we start being happy now?’ ‘Yes sis, we can start now, and all we need to do is allow ourself to be’.