It was a cold afternoon in winter. My oldest son, Stephen, was at school, and Reed, my husband, at work. My little ones were sitting around the kitchen table. Tom was perfecting a paper plane, while Sam was on an oil painting.
But Laura, our only daughter, sat quietly and was in her project. Every once in a while she would ask how to the name of someone in our family, then carefully form the letters one by one. Next, she would add flowers with small items. She finished off each with a sun in the upper right hand corner. Holding them at eye level, she let out a long sigh (叹息) of .
“What are you doing, Honey?” I asked. She looked quickly at her brother before looking back at me. “It’s a .” she said, covering up her work with her hands.
Next, she put her work into a box. When she had finished, she disappeared up the stairs.
It wasn’t until later that evening that I a “mailbox” taped onto the doors to each of our bedrooms. There were little notes saying that she loved all of us. She hadn’t Sam or baby Paul. They are pages of colored scenes including flowers with happy faces. “He can’t read yet,” she whispered (低声说), “ he can look at the pictures.” Each time I received one of my little girl’s gifts, it my heart. I was touched at how carefully she paid attention to what wrong happened to us. When Stephen lost a baseball game, there was a letter telling him she thought he was the best ballplayer in the whole world. After I had a day, there was a message thanking me for my efforts.
This same little girl is grown now, driving off every day to the state college, but some things about her have changed. Yesterday I found a love note next to my bedside. “Thanks for always being there for me, Mom,” it read, “I’m glad that we’re the best friends.”
There are angels among us. I know I live with one.