Believe

Strawberry hears her streetwise best friend tell her truths but her heart wants to let her accept childhood wonders. This was the first holiday that she began to question.

"The Easter Bunny, Santa and the Tooth Fairy don't really exist. It's just our parents?" her tone wavers into a question.

I ask her if that's what she truly thinks. I try to gracefully answer her question with a question. "How could I possibly be all those things? I'm just a mom."


This morning they woke only a couple hours after I had fallen asleep. Buttercup had struggled all night with bad dreams. Her whimpers and subconscious cries kept me awake. Still she bounced out of bed with four year old eager excitement to see what the bunny had brought. A sleepy older sister followed her.

Trails of shiny, foil covered chocolate eggs led to baskets of candy, new dresses, a movie, a CD.


They settled into peeling off the paper, unwrapping their sweets when Strawberry found her truth.

“Mom, I know there is an Easter Bunny! You couldn't possibly have got us all this stuff last night.”

"You're right. The stores were closed when the Easter Bunny came to our house.”

The little sister wisely piped in, “But you could have just got all this stuff earlier.”

I kissed the top of her head and told her she's way too smart. They were happy and content. Then we danced...