Sara washed her hands off in the sink after slicing through a tomato. She took the slice of bread off the plate and placed it on top of the ham and tomatoes to complete the sandwich. She grabbed the plate and a juice box and made her way into the living room where Mike sat, concentrated on the colorful picture he had been working on for a good fifteen minutes.
"Alright, love. Put it down for a few and eat." Sara said calmly as she set his meal in front of him. Mike obliged, putting his crayons down and peeling the sandwich off the plate. Sara looked down and studied the picture he had drawn. It was a large house that resembled a ship with blue grass in the lawn. Sara was confused at his creativity and intended to find out why he drew this.
"What's that supposed to be, Mikey?" Sara asked, motioning to the drawing.
"Oh! It's a boat themed house and the ocean is the front yard. That's why I colored the grass blue. Do you like it?" Mike exclaimed proudly. Sara's heart sank and her focus was shifted from her son's words.
'I thought it'd be nice to have the ocean as my front yard.'
'The ocean is your front yard!'
Mike noticed his mother's distant gaze at the picture, "You don't like it?" Sara was suddenly jerked back into reality and tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She took a deep breath and shifted her focus onto her son's face.
"What? Are you kidding me!" She weakly choked out. She sniffled slightly before continuing, "That's the coolest thing anyone's ever thought of."
Sara was trying to conceal her sudden feeling of grief from Mike, but he wasn't having it. He knew her too well. He knew something was wrong and that it had to do with his dad.
"Are you upset, mommy?" Mike questioned, feeling sad for his mom.
Sara sighed deeply. She knew he was too smart to not see that she was hurting. She sat down next to him on the couch and Mike moved closer to her. "When I lived in Los Angeles for a few months, your father and I lived by a port. So, obviously we were surrounded by water. But that, heh, wasn't good enough for your father and I. We wanted to live on a boat. I told him once that I always wanted to have the ocean as my front yard and he pointed out that living by that port did make the ocean my front yard." Sara laughed, but she was still plagued with the sadness she felt that he was gone.
Mike gave Sara a grin, "Just like my picture!"
Sara giggled and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer. "Your dad would always tell me things like that to make me feel better while we were constantly moving around. He always made everything feel normal."
"Can we watch the video, mommy? So you can feel normal?" Mike asked in a whisper. Sara knew she'd be in tears the second Michael's face hit the screen. Just like every time they watched it.
"Absolutely, baby."