France In the Eyes of a Child

Everyone’s been really sad since Mama went on vacation. I miss her, but Daddy always tell me we’ll see her again later. I wonder how far she went, if she’s taking pictures of wherever she is. Mama loves taking pictures. We have some hanging in our hallway, but Daddy took them down when Mama left.

Every year on the day Mama went on vacation, Daddy and I go to a big field with a lot of big rocks; Daddy always goes to the rock next to the one with the big lowercase t. Daddy said it was a cross and it’s for people who go to church. Lily from the desk next to me says she goes to church every Sunday, but she stopped talking to me when I asked what church was.

While Daddy looks at the rocks, I look for butterflies. Sometimes Daddy looks with me, but he always looks at the sky which is too high for butterflies. I tell him and he laughs at me, which makes me confused. Daddy tells me he’s looking for something else and I get even more confused.

At school I ask my teacher if she knows what Daddy was looking for, my teacher is really smart. She says Daddy was probably looking for Heaven ‘cuz that’s where Mama went. Daddy said Mama went on vacation, maybe Heaven is a city in Europe. Maybe it’s in France, Mama always wanted to go to France. Daddy said she liked the pretty lights and smell of perfume and bread, and that he and Mama met in Paris, and called it the City of Love and Lights.

Maybe I can visit Mama in France sometime.