...
I'm five years old
It's getting cold I've got
My big coat on.
I hear your laugh and look up smilin' at you
I run and run-
Past the pumpkin patch, and the tractor rides,
Look now,
The sky is gold.
I hug your legs and fall asleep
on the way home.
I don't know why, all the trees change in the fall
I know you're not scared of anything at all
Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away,
But I know I had the best day, with you, today.
...
Just-barely-five-year-old Tempe Brennan ran round and round the entrance to the pumpkin patch, chasing her older brother in her big, fluffy, purple coat.
"Russ! Give'm back!" she yells to her brother.
"Nope! You're gonna haveta get'm yourself Temper!" He replies, running off with the small stuffed pig above his head.
"Fine!" Tempe yells back, climbing onto a row of haystacks next to the path her brother took.
"Ha!" She tells him as she plucks her precious pig from his grasp, jumping off the stacks of hay, hugging the toy to her chest.
"You cheated!" Russ yells at his younger sister.
"Nu-uh! I gots it fair 'n square! You're just jealous 'cause I-" She was cut off by her parents' laughter.
The argument with her brother temporarily forgotten, she runs over and hugs her mothers legs.
"What's so funny Mommy?" She asks.
"Nothing Baby, you're just too cute." Christine replies.
The little girl scrunches her nose in confusion before shrugging her shoulders and scurrying off to finish the argument with her big brother.
..
Hours later, after pumpkins were picked and every activity available was completed, the family of four headed for the tractor rides for a lift back to the entrance.
"Oooooh! Mommy, look!" Tempe says, pulling on her mother's slacks, pointing up at the sky.
"It's pretty, Isn't it Baby?" Christine asks, picking up her daughter and setting her on her hip.
"Mmhmm, just like your ring Mommy." The child replies, laying her head on her mother's shoulder.
The little girl looks over at the tress and notices they aren't the same color they were when they went to the park for her brother's birthday a few weeks previous, their leaves aren't all the same color even on one tree! She opens her mouth to ask about this strange happening, when the tractor is brought to life, bringing forth a scary roar. She wraps her arms around her mother's neck, then, noticing she isn't scared, rests her head on her mommy's shoulder once again, and falls asleep happy, thinking, 'Wow! if mommy's not scared of that scary noise, she's not scared of anything.'
...
Im thirteen now and don't know how my friends
can be so mean
I come home cryin' and you hold me tight
and grab the keys
And we drive and drive until we found a town
far enough away
and we talk and window shop 'till I forgot
all their names
I don't know who i'm gonna talk to know at school
But I know I'm laughin'
on the car ride home with you
Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay
But I know I had the Best Day, with you, today.
...
Nine years later, fourteen year old Tempe storms into the house, headed straight for her room, and runs right into her mother. Seeing her daughters tear-stained face and puffy eyes, Christine says nothing. Just gives her baby girl a bone-crushing hug, and grabs her keys.
They drive away from their suburban neighborhood and straight into the heart of downtown.
Mother & daughter get chocolatey-chocolate sundaes, and walk to the best popcorn place in the city, talking, laughing, and window-shopping the whole way.
They finish off their Chicago Mix popcorn half-way into their trip around the Field Museum, but decide to finish their journey before leaving.
On the way back to their car, the duo spot an upscale boutique with gorgeous dresses on the mannequins and along the racks.
Tempe picks out a sparkly, midnight blue dress that skims the knees for her mother, and a similar one in shiny, deep purple for herself.
After a lovely dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in the city, one which they were asked to leave for throwing their dessert at each other and accidentally hit another patron, they were on their way back home.
The ride back to their house was filled with singing and laughter. It didn't even cross Tempe's mind who she was now going to talk to at school, or if she was ever going to feel okay about they betrayal of her so-called friends. All that registered in her head was that today was the best day she'd ever had.
Sitting in the driveway, Tempe looks over at her mother and reaches across the center council to hug her.
"Thanks for the best day ever mom." She whispers. "I love you."
"I love you too Baby, always." Christine replies.
...
I have an excellent father,
His strength is makin' me stronger.
God smiles on my little brother,
inside and out, he's better than I am
I grew up in a pretty house
Where I had space to run and I,
Had,
The Best Days, with you...
...
Tempe Brennan loved her father. She'd always admired his strength; mentally, physically, and emotionally. And whenever she'd voice these admirations, he'd always reply with, "You're much stronger than I am, Tempe."
Remembering this was helping her get through her family's absence- she wanted to live up to her father's words, whether he was here to see it or not.
Her brother, however, was a different matter. He'd willingly given her to strangers, and she hated him for it. 'But,' she thought, 'He must've done something right, he doesn't have to go through this hell... what makes him so much more deserving of that than I?' She whispered to no one.
They'd grown up in a beautiful home with a large backyard, a swing-set, a tree house, and a loving family. 'I had the best days there,' she thought. 'I suppose I should be thankful that I had those days, some people don't even get that many...' But she couldn't get over the fact that her brother had abandoned her, and took the hope for any more o those best days with him.
...
There is a video I found from back,
When I was three.
You set up a paint set in the kitchen and,
You're talikin' to me.
It's the age of princesses and pirate ships,
And the seven dwarfs.
And Daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady, in,
The whole wide world.
...
It was her mother's birthday today, and she'd been in the system for just over a year. She had gone through eight homes already, and she still missed her family like crazy.
So, here she was, sitting on the couch of another new room, in another new house, with another new family, holding a video she'd found in a pile of her stuff a few homes ago, after one of the worst nights of her life. She was yet to open it, concerned at what might be on it, concerned that reliving best days, would just make future ones worse. But, she decided, today she wanted to remember her mother, and the video seemed like a good of a place to start as any.
She finally looked up from the tape to the blank television screen and popped in the video.
"D'ja get it, Honey?" She hears her father say.
"Ughhh... gimme a seco- Oh! yes! got it!" Her mother replies.
The camera is turned around and set on the kitchen table to face a young girl, about three, in front of a child's easel, wearing an apron and paint-covered hands.
"Hey Tempe, what are you drawing baby?" Asks the girl's mother, kneeling down to her daughter's height.
"Hi Mommy, I's not drawing, I's painting, See?" the little girl moves out of the way of the easel and points a messy finger at her painting, before moving back over, and continuing her work.
"I see that Baby, and you're doing a great job! Can you tell me what you're painting?" Tempe's mother responds.
"Uh-huh! Dat's a piwrate ship right thewr! and that piwrate right thewr is Daddy! I's gave him a biggewr head 'cause he is sooo- s'mart." Tempe answers, pointing at a stick figure on a brown half-moon shape with an abnormally large head, which earns a chuckle from both of her parents.
"And over thewr is you mommy! You's a beaut-ful pwrincess in a castle, and ev'rbody wuvs you 'cause you're the pwrettiest lady in the whole wide wuwrld!" The girl finishes, pointing at a stick figure with long, dark hair and a light blue dress, atop a grey, wobbly rectangle, connected to a larger grey square at it's base.
"And see! I even mix-ed the colors mommy! see-see! It's your favorite mommy! it's your favorite! Do you like it?" the little girl asks excitedly, bouncing up and down with excitement, pointing at the light blue dress on the princess.
"It's wonderful Baby, I Love it." Her mother replies with a smile to match her husband and daughter's.
The little girl's father kisses the forehead of both his daughter and his wife, then gets up off the floor and turns off the camera.
Tempe took the video out of the player, and hugged it to her chest, tried and failied at getting the tears to stop cascading down her cheeks.
She slowly walked up the stair to her room and fell asleep with the tape still clutched against her chest, and dreamt of memories with her family, and decided that tonight, she would let them come.
...
Now I know why, all the trees change in the fall.
I know you were on my side
Even when I was wrong
And I love you for giving me your eyes,
Staying back and watching me shine
And I didn't know if you knew,
So Im takin' this chance to say
That I had the Best Day, with you, today...
...
"Well, now I know why the trees change color in the fall, and I know that you and Dad and Russ all had my best interests at heart, even when I was terrible or annoying or doubtful or hateful..."
"And I've always loved that I received your eyes, I know it's just chance, but It's always been a reminder of who I am and where I'm from when I'd forget or become doubtful..."
"And I don't know if you know, but I my favorite days are always when I've been with you."
"Well, I have to get back now..." Brennan said, picking up the picnic basket full of strawberries, marshmallow fluff, crackers, wine, and pictures.
"I really miss you, Mom. Thanks for another Best Day, I Love you." Brennan finished.
The woman in the graveyard kissed the front of a headstone, stood up, and walked away. Leaving a 1/2 full wine bottle, a strawberry fluff cracker, and a picture of a smiling woman, hugging a smiling teenager, next to her mother.