Welcome to GoodStoryADay # 1 for Kids

GoodStoryADay Quote:
Today, you have all you need to express, enjoy, and
enlighten the world around you with your creative
mind. - Joycebelle

Creating Sunshine
By Joycebelle

The girls knew today was a holiday, but they had nothing to celebrate. Their dad was at war, and he could not keep his promise, “I’ll always be there for you.”

January 1—marked with a big red X on the calendar—was their last day here, before they had to return to their aunt’s house where they were living until their dad came home from the war. They would have to leave without seeing him. Today was the worst day ever.

I was new in their lives. Their daddy and I were to be married on December 23rd, but his orders were changed at the last minute after the girls had already arrived. Their aunt was out of the country for the holidays, and there were no other relatives. So I had the children, and we all were having a miserable time of it.

There was no time left. I had to do some quick creative thinking to turn this situation around, so I said in desperation. “Let’s pretend your dad is going to walk though that door any moment.” They just looked at me from their sad, disbelieving eyes.

I tried again, “We know he is not coming home today, but let’s
pretend . . . let’s practice his homecoming.”

That made them both sit up and smile. They loved to pretend, and their dad’s favorite motto was, “Practice makes perfect!”

Kyla, the older one, said, “I want to look pretty for him.” And Deeanna, the younger one, ran across the room to the two big boxes the girls had opened on Christmas but showed no interest in and left them under the tree. Now, the excited little girl eagerly pulled out their new bright yellow pinafore dresses that I had given them. They scampered off to their bedroom to get dressed, as if “Daddy were really coming home, today.”

I hoped my on-the-spot creative idea was not going to backfire. Well, at least for the moment the children were happy . . . .

I had shopped long and hard for their dresses, which I had thought neither girl liked. They cost much more than I could afford. But I felt if I had to eat nothing but peanut butter sandwiches without jelly for a week or even a month, they were worth it, and now I knew they were.

I glanced out the window. This was “January-gloom” at its worst! “How can we pretend the bad weather away?” I said under my breath. “No amount of creative thinking can change that!” I muttered as I entered their bedroom.

"Oh, you look like sunshine,” I exclaimed. And they did. I placed a yellow bow in Deeanna’s hair and watched her long golden curls coil around it. I pulled Kyla’s hair up into a ponytail and tied it with a long yellow ribbon. I curled the ends and the two strands of hair that framed her face.

With a dab of pink lipstick and a touch of Beautiful, my favorite perfume, behind each ear, they were more than beautiful. They were picture perfect.

They begged me to dress up, too. Their eager little hands searched my closet and found a frilly, bright yellow summer dress and my mother’s hat, which she had worn when I was a child. I had kept it all these years because it reminded me of her in a very special way.

It was a straw sunhat with an oversized floppy brim and three long ribbons that hung down in back. It matched the dress perfectly, but not the mid-winter weather outside. The children, nonetheless, were delighted.

With arms entwined, we three stood in front of the mirror and gazed at our reflection. Like sunshine, we were beaming with happiness. We certainly had created a special vision. All dressed up and . . .

“No daddy to take us someplace special,” Deeanna cried softly.

“No, Sissy, we’re creating Daddy’s perfect homecoming,” Kyla said lovingly as she kissed her little sister on the forehead. “We’ll go someplace special for Daddy.” She looked at me for reassurance.

Another creative thought popped into my head, so I whispered, “How about going out for ice cream before breakfast?”

The “YES’s” reverberated all around the room so loudly that we hardly heard the knock on our door.

The children stopped dead still. “It’s daddy,” they screamed as they raced toward the door.

My heart was in my throat. What had I done? I wanted to believe that it was their daddy at the door, but I knew it could not be.

Oh, how heartbreaking for the children.

I unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door as the children rushed out expectantly.

Standing there was Jeb, the little boy from upstairs. He looked so bewildered at the children’s obvious disappointment that he instantly turned to retreat up the stairs. (He didn’t have a father, and his mother had to work double shifts. He had spent the holiday time all alone.) His little face was so sad . . . .

“Can he go with us?” the girls asked.

“Yes, and . . . I have a gift for him.” I reached under the Christmas tree and pulled out a little present intended for my future husband. It was a bright yellow baseball cap. I plunked it on Jeb’s head. It was much too big, but an ear-to-ear smile beamed under its broad brim.

joining arms, four-abreast, we descended the antique winding staircase to the street below. A cloudburst created a downpour of rain, sleet, and hail unlike anything we had ever seen in Southern California, but it did not dampen our spirits. We stood under the canopy of our old Victorian dwelling and viewed it in awe.

Suddenly, the storm stopped. And just as suddenly, as we stepped onto the sidewalk, the sun burst, full-faced, through a hole in a huge dark cloud and shown directly upon us.

An older gentleman on the street tipped his hat, smiled, and bowed to us. “Why, look at that!” he exclaimed. “You created sunshine! The sun couldn’t stand the competition.” We all laughed. Then he looked at us and said, “You look the way a mother and her little ones should look. If I had a camera, I would take your picture.”

A couple passing by said, “You look just like sunshine.”

The lady turned to the man and said, “They make me feel warm and happy.”

“Me, too!” he nodded. They smiled at us and took one another’s hands. We felt like sunshine.

We finished our ice cream and rounded the corner. There before us was a movie theater with a large marquee that had bright shiny letters on it. Kyla spelled out the letters to the younger children who were just learning to read. “C-H-I-T-T-Y C-H-I-T-T-Y B-A-N-G B . . . . They all shouted, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!”

Curls bounding up and down, hands clapping, eyes dancing, and a bright yellow baseball cap thrown high in the air . . . “PLEASE? Can we please, please, please, see it?”

Needless to say, even though it was only 11 AM, we saw the movie, and oh, what a creative movie it was!

As we left the theater, the sun framed the little seaside village with shades of mystical, magical gold. The children hugged me and said, “You are just like Truly Scrumptious in the movie. You will make a perfect wife for our daddy and mother for us. You make us pretty, you make us happy, and you make us creative too, like you.”

Just then we encountered a TV camera crew filming New Year’s Day in our small town. The older gentleman who had spoken to us earlier was there. A creative thought struck him. “Why not film this beautiful family that created sunshine, today,” he suggested to the news reporter.

They turned the cameras on us and musingly asked, “How did you create sunshine?” We told them our story and felt a little like celebrities.

At home we were excited to see our bright yellow dresses on local TV. Just then the doorbell rang. To our surprise a limo driver was at the door. We were rushed in the l[mo with a police escort all the way to the TV studio for an urgent filming. We were told that the news director had just thought of a highly creative way to end the story.

When we arrived, all the cameras were on us. We were moved into a screening room, and there on the huge studio screen was Kyla’s and Deeanna’s father, my husband-to-be! He was live with us, and we were live with him via satellite TV.

He was looking at us in our yellow dresses and was saying, “You look so beautiful and happy, which creates happiness in me. I am here for you. I love you, and I always will!” The girls and I were thrilled to see him and receive his message of love and praise. He was with us just as he had promised.

The newscaster ended the interview with a question to the girls, “Is there anything you want to say to your daddy halfway round the world?”

“ Yes,” Kyla said, without hesitation. “Our daddy is creating a safe New Year for us. Thank you, Daddy!”

“Thank you, Daddy, from me, too,” Deeanna said with a grin that could melt your heart.

“Woooooh!” We were filled up full. We learned the importance of truly scrumptious creative thinking that day.
_____________________

It was not the yellow dresses, nor the bows, nor the light pink lipstick, nor the curls, nor the baseball cap, nor any of that; it was the spirit of creativity, which yielded happiness and love to its fullest extent. That’s real creativity.

Have a GoodStoryADay with me each day all year long, and for the rest of your life, and use your creativity to bring sunshine into the lives of others.

EEEnJoy, with Love and Goodness,
Joycebelle, Founder ~ GoodStoryADay

This story is a fictional adaptation of a real life story.

What’s next?

Click here for
Good Question A Day
Form for:Answering Today’s Good Question
About the Good Image ADay
Good Laugh A Day

About the Good Question and Answer and Prize for the Day

Each day, the first person who sends in the correct answer will receive a prize. The entire family can answer the question. Some questions will be very simple and some very difficult. Like the Millionaire Game on TV, the difficulty of the question will be tied to the value of the prize. The harder the question -- the greater the value of the prize. The questions can be about anything in the world from art to business, from outer space to basket weaving, from toys to famous people. Most will have some relationship with the good word for the day.

You will be noticed if you are the winner. You will not be notified if you are not.

Many people will undoubtedly answer the question correctly each day, but the one from whom we receive the CORRECT ANSWER FIRST will be the prize winner for the day. So send in your answer as early as you can each day and you might become the recipient of a great prize.
All questions are multiple-choice with answers: a, b, c, d, as the only possible answers. You and your family can only submit one answer per day.

Click here for
Good Question A Day
Form for:Answering Today’s Good Question
About the Good Image ADay
Good Laugh A Day

Use the form to answer the question for today.

Click here to receive the Kid's Journal Page for today. Print the cover and journal pages. Duplicate as many journal pages as you wish. Write your journal entry each day and then place it in your Kid's GoodStoryADay Journal. Place in a notebook or laminate the cover and bind it as a keepsake Journal.

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Have a Good Day!

Enriching the World: one child, one story, one day at a time.