Dear Mom

Dear Mom…

Sophie wore a white ‘tee’ with a mickey-mouse picture on it and blue casual jeans as she ran out to meet her friends of the neighborhood. She saw them in the ground nearby, flying kites in the air.

The school had closed for the summer holidays and Sophie was free for two months now, until the school reopened again. She could watch the television as much as she wanted, she could eat as many ice creams and chocolates as she wanted and she could play in the mud too. No one would scold her. In the evening, her father would take her out too, to different places including movie theaters, exhibitions, zoos, circuses and any other place that she wished to go to.

Anyone would have thought that Sophie was indeed very luck. But Sophie didn’t think so…Sophie had everything that a normal 6-year-old girl would wish for. Sophie had everything…except a mother.

As Sophie crossed the street to go the park nearby, she watched different children being fondled and caressed by their respective mothers. They had a mom to play with, to share their memories of the day, to laugh with, to cry and even to fight with. Most of these children did not how lucky they were to have their mothers in their lives.

Sophie would have given up all that she had, to have a mother who would at least fight with her. Sophie wouldn’t have minded if that mother kept scolding and punishing her. For when Sophie would cry after, there would have been someone in that mother who would immediately melt and wipe away Sophie’s tears, lest tears come to her own eyes. She would hug Sophie and assure her that everything was alright and that they would Sophie’s favorite dish for dinner that night. She would be someone whom Sophie could lovingly call…mom!

Sophie had asked her father a year back, ‘where was her mom? Why her mom wasn’t with her like the rest of the kids had theirs?’

Her dad had replied gently, without allowing pain to show in his face. “Mom went to visit God once to ask him to give a beautiful princess like you, to us. God granted her wish and you were born. But on seeing your mom, God liked her so much that he made her stay back with him. Your mom was such a lovely person that anyone would like her. So now your mom is up there with God, looking down on you from the sky and asking God to grant any wishes that you make. Because your mom always wants my princess to remain happy and smiling.”

Sophie accepted his story but still wasn’t satisfied with her life. She still wanted to talk to her mom and wanted to tell her that even her mom wasn’t near her, Sophie loved her soo much. Sophie tried to satisfy herself by seeing her mom’s photographs which were stored in many albums. But this only rose her desire to talk to her mom.

She once even asked her father, what was God’s telephone number so that she could phone there and talk to her mom. Her father seemed to cry when she asked it and just left the room, without answering her question. Sophie was more puzzled by this and she eagerly sought an answer in any way that she could.

She was brought out of her thoughts, as she observed her friend Alisha fly a vibrant colored kite. Unfortunately, it’s string snapped and the kite flew into the sky. Out of curiosity, Sophie asked Alisha where the kite had gone. Alisha then replied, “It has gone very deep into the sky, where no one can reach.” Sophie then immediately asked again, “Does God live there?”

Alisha was confused and didn’t know what exactly to answer. So, she simply replied, “Yeah I guess so. Everyone says God lives in the sky.”

Sophie kept that in her mind and surprised her father that night, by saying that she wanted to buy a kite. Though he was first taken aback by his daughter’s sudden attraction, he immediately agreed to get her one the very next day, as at least this will sway her mind away from continuously thinking about her mom.

So as promised he got her a kite colored in the shades of a rainbow. He asked her when she wanted to fly it for which she answered, “Tomorrow evening when it is not so hot and Alisha will help me do it.”

That night for the very first time, she wrote a letter; a letter to her mom whom she had never met. She took out a piece of paper from her school notebook, fetched a pencil and wrote,

“Dear mom,

How are you over there? Is God treating you well? How is it up in the sky? Don’t you feel bored? I want to meet you ma. Come if you can. Ask permission from God, saying that you want to meet your daughter. If you feel ashamed, I will help you. Ask God to speak to me, I will tell him ma. I love you ma. Please come soon…

Love you so much,

Your little princess,

Sophie.”

Sophie folded that paper and took it along with her kite, when she went to play with Alisha the next evening. Alisha enquired what was in that paper and Sophie replied confidently, “I am writing a letter to my mom. I will attach it to my kite and send it to the sky where God stays. He can give it to my mom.”

Innocent little Sophie then tied the letter to the kite with a string and set it in the air. When a heavy breeze came after a while, Sophie let the kite free and watched it float up in the sky, losing itself among the clouds. Sophie then waited right where she stood, hoping for a reply from her mom. She waited in the park for an hour, even as all her friends returned to their homes. But still she didn’t get a reply. She got sad thinking that her mom didn’t love her and was almost on the verge of tears, when it started raining suddenly.

The other children and people who stood around the place that she was in, got shocked as it wasn’t supposed to rain in summer. This was a miracle or perhaps even a warning for the occurrence of a natural calamity in the near future. So, all of them ran back to their homes, leaving Sophie standing there alone. But Sophie didn’t move as she was happy.

The rain was her mom’s reply. ‘Asking God to make it rain during summer was her mom’s way of telling Sophie that she still loved her.’ Sophie closed her eyes and felt the rain, thanking God first. Then she opened and just two words in a whisper, before returning back home. “Love you, ma.”

Yasir Sulaiman

A son who could never tell his dad or mom how much he loved them…