Blue Eyes

Pearls and Dreams

There once was a little girl with big blue eyes who bounced. Every where she went ...she bounced. She couldn't sit still, she couldn't walk normally ... she didn't do anything, without bouncing. You can even see it in all of her pictures, she was a bouncy little girl.

This little girl was the youngest child, and had an older sister, and older step siblings. A younger half brother would come along, but lived with her father and his mother and isn't part of this story ... isn't really a part of this story either.

2 of the step siblings lived with this little girl and her sister. A brother, and a sister. They were 10 and 11 years older than the girl. The brother was the oldest. The little girl never understood what 'step' meant until long after the brother and sister moved out and went back to live with their mother. Their father, married her mother when the little girl was 13 months old, as far as she was concerned, they were her brother and sister. She never saw them as anything else. Their father, was Daddy, as well.

There was a day when the brother and all 3 sisters were skating in the neighborhood. The little girl kept falling down, and the older sister was determined to teach the youngest girl how to skate without falling. The brother and the sister worked tirelessly to help her. They had friends that came by and would say "let's go to ..." and they said "No, we're teaching her how to skate" The little sister knew that they would be allowed by the parents to go with the friends, watching the little kids wasn't a requirements. Tag alongs ... wasn't encouraged.
She knew they were CHOOSING to play with her. She felt so loved. Cherished.

The next weekend, she was watching cartoons and her brother came in. "Come on! I got something for you!"
All the neighborhood kids were playing ... he could have been playing with anyone, but he came to play with the little blue eyed bouncy girl. He grabbed her and put her on his shoulders and they went out the door. She still had no idea what was up.

When they got outside, he put her down on the hood of the car "Shhhh, don't tell Dad!"
He went behind the bush and brought out a great big ...almost as big as the blue eyed girl ... box kite! Red on one side, yellow on the other.
"this is for us!"

They started to run down the street with it. It lifted into the air ... and the kite flew. It was a perfect day ...and the brother was watching the blue eyed girl, not the kite. Everytime she'd look at him to laugh, he was watching her ...

The kite came down when the wind died. But, he said that was ok. We'd get it back up again. He gave her the string ...and told her to run. She took off and the kite lifted a little ... the kite was heavier than she'd expected it to be. It only went up a little ways off the ground. As she was running down the street, one of the boys who liked to pick on her was out there mowing the lawn ... he picked up his lawn mower and held it out ... it chopped up the kite before her brother could stop him.

The little girl was crushed. The kite ...was in pieces. Her heart was broken in as many pieces. How could he do this to her? Her brother walked up to the bully and asked him why he did that. The boy with the mower said "To see her cry"

Her brother calmly looked at the bully, and then ...
PUNCHED HIM IN THE FACE ... picked up the blue eyed girl and calmly walked back to the house.

The little girl knew the brother treasured her ... she knew she was worth protecting.

The brother and sister only lived with them for a little while after that ... and when they left, a piece of her heart left with them. But, she's never forgotten that they loved her ... and she's never forgotten they protected her.

Mike ... I love you. Thank you big brother.