The Williams Family

The Williams family lived in a nice neighborhood in southeastern Utah. They had three boys and three girls: Steven, Richard, Cameron, Susan, Caroline, and Mary. The parents did their best to teach them to get along. Mrs. Williams loved to grow flowers in her garden. The girls loved flowers too, particularly Mary, who was seven years old. Mary loved the color yellow. Her favorite flower was daisies. She loved to wear yellow dresses, t-shirts, shorts, and pantsuits that had daisies on them. She loved to take walks with her sisters up to the hill close to where they lived. The sisters had discovered a garden there that was full of different colors of flowers like they had at home. They were told that they could visit this garden after they had done their daily chores.

The Williams family had a very nice cupboard with very fine Chinet plates that they used for special occasions. The parents tried to teach their children to speak kindly to each other and to forgive each other when they have bad days and a hurtful word slips out. One day Mrs. Williams received a phone call from one of her sisters. Her sister and her family wanted to visit them for Thanksgiving. This was unexpected news. Mrs. Williams only had a couple of days notice that her sister's family would be visiting them. She wasn't really close with her sister and her family. She felt a little stressed. She wanted the meal to be perfect, and she wanted all of the cousins to get along. Her sister had two boys and two girls, and she had just had a new baby girl.

Mrs. Williams and her girls did their best to make sure their house was ready for their visitors, and the meal was as perfect as it could be. Mrs. Williams's sister lived in Oregon. They made a big Thanksgiving meal with turkey, potatoes and gravy, rolls, corn, green bean casserole, dressing, and all kinds of pies. The turkey had just come out of the oven when their visitors arrived. Mrs. Williams put her tablecloth that had daisies on it on her table. Then she started setting the table with her best Chinet plates, glasses, and silverware. Mary decided that she wanted to help her mom put the plates on the table. all of a sudden, the sound of broken glass was heard. Mary had dropped a couple of plates in her hurry to help her mom. Without thinking, Mrs. Williams scolded Mary and said some hurtful words. Tears started falling from Mary's eyes. She went to her bedroom to give her mom time to cool down and think about how she had treated her daughter. Before Mary went to her room, she went outside and picked some marigolds from their garden.

Mrs. Williams carefully swept up the broken glass. The family had enough plates to serve everyone Thanksgiving dinner. She collected her thoughts before she went to apologize to Mary. When she knocked on her door, Mary didn't want to answer the door. It wasn't like her mom to say those hurtful things to her. After a few minutes, Mary slowly opened the door. Her mom gave her a hug and told her how sorry she was for saying words that hurt. She said that she appreciated Mary for trying to help her. She told her how much she loved her and said that people are more important than things. Mary reached behind her back and gave her mom the marigolds she had picked. She said, "Mom, I picked these just for you." Mary decided that marigolds were her second favorite flower. Thanksgiving dinner went very well with everyone enjoying the meal. All of the visitors noticed the tablecloth with the daisies on it. Mrs. Williams also found her best vase to put the marigolds in it. Everyone noticed how pretty they were.

Mrs. Williams and Mary both learned a lesson that day, and they never forgot that day. They knew how important it was to think before you say hurtful words. There were other times that Mrs. Williams slipped out a hurtful word or two. Marigolds always made things better.