The Green Light Bulb

Naomi and Stephanie King were 13-year-old sisters. They were each other's best friend. They were identical twins and they had an amazing relationship with her parents. Both girls stood about 5'6" tall and had long hair like their mother. Naomi was book smart and had a compassionate heart. Most people said that one day she would be a doctor. Stephanie took after her father's interests. He was an artist that liked to paint landscapes onto canvas. Both sisters were going through a really hard time.

Their father had died due to lung cancer. Their mother was trying really hard to keep it together for the girls. But how does someone just hide pain like this inside? The girls could hear their mother cry late at night. And it was getting harder and harder for the family to come back together in the face of what had happened. Between the stresses of the grief that they were feeling, and the stresses of school and everyday life we are beginning to be too much for these two girls. They miss their father so much and would have given anything to have one more moment with him. Everything had come on so quickly. They hardly had a chance to say goodbye. Both girls used to sit down and think to themselves if we only had a sign maybe things could've been different.

The girl’s mother, Melissa had asked them to come to the table for dinner. The girls slowly got up and made their way to the kitchen. Their mother looked at them and said, "I made your favorite girls. It's lasagna with garlic bread." And Naomi replied, "Mom, that was dad's favorite. " their mother replied, "Well I thought we all liked it. If you want something different I can make something different." Stephanie quickly replied, "no that's fine Mom. Lasagna sounds great." As she said this Stephanie nudged Naomi's shoulder and Gabriel look as if to say don't you be like that. Everyone sat down around the table and started to eat. Their mother tried to spark conversation from time to time but it didn't go anywhere. Everyone was in their own mental prison trying to figure out what they were feeling. And more to the point how to express what they were feeling. Stephanie had eaten very little of her meal. She sat there with her for it on her plate tossing the meat and pasta back and forth. After about 15 minutes Stephanie looked over to her mother. I'm not feeling hungry can I please be excused. Her mother nodded her head yes.

Stephanie made her way back down to her bedroom. She started going through her old photos and found one of her favorites. It was a photo of the whole family together out on a picnic. Her dad was wearing his green flannel shirt. Green was one of his favorite colors. He said that green was a very relaxing and calming color to him. He used to joke that he would die his hair green. But he never did. As she stared at the photo she had a wonderful idea.

Samantha made her way to her father's art study. She started sifting through his belongings trying to find his pants. She had been delicate not to damage any of these items. And she definitely didn't want to damage the canvases. After about five minutes of digging she found what she was looking for. She pulled out his paint box. When she opened it all of his paints were sealed. She went through the paints until she found the green color that he favored so much. She grabbed a brush, the paint, and had it back to her room.

Her mother and her sister came into the room as she was sitting at her desk. They asked her what she was doing. She told them to. As I approach the task they had a look over Stephanie shoulder. Stephanie was holding the light bulb for the bedroom and she was painting it green. Her mother looks confused and Naomi asked, "what are you doing?" Stephanie only replied with, " he always had green was a calming and soothing color." They both stood there as Stephanie finished painting.

Once Stephanie was done painting she blew on the light bulb until the paint had dried. Neither her mother nor her sister knew what she was up to. Once the pain her dried Stephanie stepped up on top of her chair and screwed the light bulb back in. She asked her mother to turn on the light switch. Her mother politely did as she was asked and turned on the light switch. The green of the light bulb had shined a green light throughout the whole room. It was almost the same shade of green as her father's flannel shirt. Stephanie looked at her mother and sister and said, " the green light makes it feel like he's here hugging us in his favorite shirt."

Naomi smiled and looked at her mother. They both looked at Stephanie and agreed. They all sat down under this green light and started exchanging some of the fondest of memories that they had with her father and husband. They spent the rest of the night sitting around laughing smiling and exchanging all the great stories they had. And under the green light their father didn't feel so far away.