A Poppy Full of Laughter

A few days ago I was having a hard day. In all honesty, I have a lot of hard days....This day though, I was driving my kids to various schools and I started to cry. I grabbed my phone and started dialing the one person I knew would provide what I needed...laughter. Laughter is a cure. Deep, genuine laughter penetrates every part of you. It liberates you from that which binds (so does deep tears)...On this day, I wanted to laugh. I dialed my sister. It is no longer her number. She died a few years ago. No matter what was going on between us or in our lives..we made each other laugh. All she had to do was talk in her witch voice about poppies (Wizard of Oz)..and I would laugh no matter how angry I was that she had just given me a swirly. She was the only one I could laugh and cry with about the same things. We hated eachother as much as we loved eachother. On this day though...I only missed her. Love. Hate. It didn't matter. I just wanted Kym. I came home and started sharing with Adam how I felt. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a right orange flower. It was a poppy. We bought this house a year before she died. The next year I saw a single poppy. Last week, looking out my window...missing my sister, needing a laugh..I saw 4 poppies and 3 waiting to bloom. I told my man..I needed a moment. I sat down beside the poppies. 4 poppies blooming. 4 years since she died. I looked at them. I started to talk to them. I laughed. I cried. I remembered.