It was the summer of 1947 and George and Mary Bailey were sitting out in the backyard watching their children play. Sunglasses covering their eyes, Mary's bathing suit barely covering her body and a cold glass of lemonade in hand, life was good.
Pete was chasing Janie around with the garden hose. They always loved torturing one another. They were siblings, what do you expect? George always found it funny how they were named after one another's in-laws. Peter of course was his deceased father so his oldest son was named Peter John in his honor. Jane was Mary's mother who famously never accepted the fact George was her son-in-law. At least this Jane Marie loved and adored him. Though she did have her moments where she could be a little witchy.
Little Tommy was swinging on the big oaktree branch. He was their real wild child. Anytime he could climb on anything, he would jump on it, and then flip off on it like a trapeze artist. George always thought they should buy stock in band-aids because of that kid of theirs. Yet nothing could stop Thomas George, no matter how many bruises and cuts he got.
Then there was Zuzu. She was born Susan Grace, but her older siblings could never pronounce it, she was always "Zuzu" to them. By the time she was one, that was what everybody called her. She was an angel on the inside and out. She had golden hair and she had a golden heart. Her eyes were as blue as the Lord's blue sky and her freckles were as if she was kissed by the angels themselves. She was sitting idly just picking the dandelions and making little bouquets out of them.
"This is the life," Mary says, gesturing her glass to his.
"Sure is," George says, clinking their glasses together.
"Remember last Christmas?"
"Dont' ruin this moment," George says chuckling.
"No, seriously," Mary says giggling. "Remember when your brother made that toast to you about being the richest man in town."
"Yeah," George says, the memory flooding back to him.
"It's true."
"We are pretty blessed," he had to agree. He looked away from Mary and back to his children. All of them playing and laughing. The sun beating down on everyone, making everything look so much brighter. He looked at his big, now beautiful house and then back to his beautiful wife. Call him rich, call him blessed, you could even call him lucky. One thing is for sure though, he was a happy man.
