The Big Picture

Sitting in my uncomfortable plastic red chair I flipped the hair that had fallen from my piggy tails out of my face. I reached into the middle of the table and grabbed the blue crayon from the basket. I have been working extra hard on this picture for mommy. Sunday is Mother’s Day and I want to surprise her with a pretty picture of our whole entire family. I even added a drawing of our dog Lucky and my uncle Bill. Mommy is going to be so proud of me. I’m working extra hard to make this picture extra pretty for her. I only have a few more touches before I’m completely finished with it.

“Let me see that picture!” Molly came up to me and said.

“I almost done and then you can look at it” I replied.

“But I want to see it now” she yelled and jerked it out of my hands. While doing so my beautiful picture ripped right down the middle.

“My picture!” I screamed. “How could you!”

“You should have just let me have seen it in the first place. This is your fault” Molly yelled back.

“No, it’s yours! You shouldn’t have grabbed it.”

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. My picture. My beautiful picture that I was going to give to mommy. How could she? Then she even blamed it on me!

“Girls! Girls! What’s all of this yelling about?”  Mrs. Jean asked frantically.

“She ripped my picture for mommy” I cried.

“She ripped her own picture. She wasn’t sharing!”  Molly whined.

“Girls, what is done is done and we don’t need to blame each other. I’m sure whatever happened here was a complete accident” Mrs. Jean said in a calm but authoritative voice.

“But, my picture!” I cried out.

“I’m sorry your picture is ruined Abby but you can draw another” Mrs. Jean said in a voice that was final.

Draw another?!? That won’t be the same! I can’t just draw another! That was a special picture. It was of all of our family members. I worked so hard and now I have nothing to give mommy on Mother’s Day.

“I’m sorry YOU ripped your picture” Molly snarled out me and stuck out her tongue. She then begin skipping over to a group of girls playing jump rope.

“I can’t believe this! She is so stupid!” I fuss to myself

“Hey baby, how was school?” Mom asked as soon as she picked me up from school. She grabbed my hand as we started walking across the parking lot to our car.

“Fine!” I grumbled.

“That doesn’t sound very convincing my darling. What happened?”  Mommy asked with curiosity.

“Well, mommy I drew you this pretty picture of our family for Mother’s Day and Molly grabbed it out of my hands and ripped it!” I fussed.

“I’m sorry, I bet it was pretty my baby.”  Mom smiled down on me.

“Yeah, it was!  Mommy, she then blamed it on me! How could she do that! I hate her! I will never be able to forgive her! EVER!” I huffed and crossed my arms as mommy buckled me in the car.

“Baby, don’t say that. You don’t mean it.” Mom frowned down at me.

“Yes, I do!” she ruined it!” I plainly said back.

“Baby, let’s go take a walk in the park” mom said calmly.

 Mom helped me out of my seat as we started down the path that connected with the park.

“Listen baby, I think you should forgive Molly.” Mommy announced.

“But, mommy she ruined my picture!”  I complained.

 “I know baby, but in the bible it tells us that we are supposed to forgive those who have done

us wrong.  It also says the we are supposed to love everyone. Even our enemies.

“I guess I don’t hater her, but forgiving her is going to be hard mommy”  I looked up past the sunlight glare to see mommy’s face.

“I know honey. It’s a process, a process that will benefit everyone in the future.” Mommy smiled down at me.

“Okay, I guess I will try to forgive her. I guess I can make another one for you or even something else.” I sighed.

”That’s my girl! You also need to ask for her forgiveness for losing your temper” mom spoke wisely.

“I guess you are write mommy, but this is going to be hard.” I shivered at just the thought.

“It’s never easy, baby.” She said with a hint of experience.

 “I’m sorry Abby for ripping your picture” Molly walked up to me Monday morning with her head down.  I sighed and thought about the conversation with mommy.

“It’s okay Molly, I forgive you” Half of the weight was lifted from my shoulders.

“Want me to help you draw another?” She asked. I thought about it for a second before I remembered what I needed to know before I continued with anything else.

“I’m sorry too by the way for losing my temper.”  This time I was the looking at the floor while her head snapped up to my apology.

“I forgive you too. Would you like to go make another picture or maybe even more than one for our mommies she asked?

“Sure! I would love that.” I grinned. We then made quite a few pictures for our mommies and they were better than the first.