It was 3 am and Ryan was still working in the room where Lily was in deep sleep. Ryan was almost done with his work when Lily started to mumble, “Poppy…. Mum is… us”. Ryan started to get worried and left his work. He went to Lily’s bed and hummed a song only they both shared. After gently tucking her in her bed he whispered to her saying, “Poppy is here… don’t worry my firefly”.

The next morning Ryan was in the kitchen making pancakes for Lily when he heard the doorbell ring. It was Anne, Lily’s counselor at the door. Lily was only 5 when she lost her mother and 7 years old when she was diagnosed with a health condition where she can’t understand the real world as clearly as any other child. “The least you can do is sleep”, siad Anne. Anne was a charismatic woman with an ambitious personality but hated the idea of being called a workaholic counselor so she visited Lily every 2nd day saying she was on a vacation on those days.

“And you need to not work on all days. Workaholic woman”, said Ryan. Anne said, ” Of Course my bestie! If you weren’t my best friend, I swear I would have punched you in the face without any second thought”. ”Now tell me where’s Lily, my little bear”.

Anne walked to Lily’s room and found her awake. Lily’s favorite person after her parents will definitely be Anne because they both love pancakes with biscoff spread. “Looks like my little bear is ready to gulp all the pancakes all alone today. Not fair!”. This makes Lily smile and give Anne a hug. Lily is only 8 years old and understands only a few emotions and one such is love.

Lily wishes Ryan a very good morning by giving him a hug in the kitchen. She said some gibberish which only Anne understood. Anne said, ” she’s saying she wants to say something to us”.

There was silence in the room for a few minutes. As soon as Lily said “maa..um, …mum”. Ryan’s eyes got teary. Ryan was an emotionally rich person and he cried only when he was either too sad or extremely happy. Today he was extremely happy. Anne hugged Lily tightly and brushed the tears in her tears before Lily could see them.

It’s been 20 years now since that morning happened. The morning Ryan and Anne decided to never worry about Lily because she was different. Lily died 2 years ago. It was a natural death. She was an artist just like her mother. That. Morning Anne translated Lily’s gibberish. It was, ” Poppy, Mum is happy in my dream. She said “we are us “. That night Lily dreamt of her mother and woke up feeling happy. Lily said,” I want… you both and mum, we are a family.”

For Ryan and Anne, love’s definition was born from Lily. While growing up Lily never stopped showing affection and love. They were forever proud to know Lily.