Liebestraum

A giggle, childlike and sweet, escaped a young girl's lips as she danced through the sunflowers—a pirouette here and a twirl there, under the sun a touch too bright yet still gentle to the skin. Even the golden blooms seemed to sway along, though she knew they were just following that venerable old star and its light.

Sunflowers are silly like that, she thought. Not that she's any different.

"Are you going to stay in the sun all day?" A voice called out to her. Her mother. She wasn't exasperated; if anything, she was amused.

And her mother would be the one staying in the sun all day if she could. She would always relish every chance to go outside.

Her mother liked the field, and the girl liked seeing how the golden rays that fell on her mother's snow-white hair and ashen skin were as vibrant as sunflowers. Her mother had always given the impression of icy coldness, but when the sun shone upon her, she was warmer than Summer, and she loved her even more for it.

The girl loved how her mother would always wear the dress she adored very much whenever she felt like stepping out into the sun. How the dress was unembellished, the fabric silken and flowing, the hem easily fluttering like the wind, and how it would always leave her arms bare and unconfined.

It was a far cry from the uniform her mother once wore, which she only knew from the photograph that her father always had with him. He had only ever shown it to her once. 

She knew of her parent's past service but not the extent of it.

But she knew the dress suited her mother better than the uniform. The latter and all its symbols looked so heavy and burdensome, and so did the machines attached to it. The former made her seem as light as a feather.

She knew the shine she was basking in would suit her mother better than the dull glow of the Nordic midnight sun she was standing against in the photo, that her gentle gaze eclipsed the eerie, hopeless focus she once had.

And she knew her mother would no longer be alone because she would always be with her.

"I'm not staying in the sun all day! Just a few more minutes!" She cried back, still spinning.

"Too bad...because I was just about to join you," she said.

"Really?" The girl was overjoyed at the idea.

"Really," she laughed. It was always brief but genuine.

The girl didn't wait and rushed towards her open arms to be enveloped in her embrace.

She had always enjoyed being hugged by her mother. It was warm and comforting like the sun itself.

"This warmth...I love this," her mother whispered, "it's not only from the sun..I would like to think that it's from you, too. And if your father is here instead of work, then from him as well. This is everything I've ever wanted."

"Your dream, mama?"

"Yes, my dream. And sometimes this indeed feels like a dream."

"What happens if I do this?" The girl reached up to gently prod her mother's cheeks, as she had seen her father do, and her mother laughed again.

"I would wake up," she said as she hugged the girl closer. "But I could always dream the same thing again...and love it all the same."

"And you won't forget it, right?"

"No...I won't."

"I love you, mama. So much."

"I love you, too."

The sun had begun to set, and she didn't realize it.

"It's time to go home," her mother whispered, looking at the sky.

The girl had wanted to stay there longer, but her mother had thought otherwise, and she nodded. She allowed her mother to lead her away. In the end, it was still warm. And she knew she wouldn't lose it so easily.

There's always tomorrow.

A tomorrow.

Dream or not.