“The Blue Sunglasses,” Friend, April 2017
The Blue Sunglasses
The glasses were blue and zebra striped … and broken.
“Help me, dear Father, to truly repent, making things right” (Children’s Songbook, 99).
Sara loved it when her older sister, Melissa, came home from college. Melissa was home all day and could play with her and their little brother, Thomas.
But today Melissa wasn’t playing. Sara sighed. She was so bored!
Sara poked her head into Melissa’s room and saw Melissa lying on her bed, reading a book. She tiptoed in and peeked over the cover of Melissa’s book. “Can we play hide-and-seek?”
“I’m reading,” Melissa said.
“Pleeeeease?”
Melissa smiled. “OK. Just let me finish this page.”
Thomas came in too. “Whoa, those are cool!” He ran to Melissa’s desk and picked up a pair of sunglasses. They were sky blue with zebra stripes.
“Ooh, they’re pretty!” Sara said. “Can we try them on?”
Melissa said, “Sure, but please be careful. They’re new.”
“We will!” Sara promised.
Thomas tried on the sunglasses. Sara giggled. “You look like a blue-eyed bug!”
Melissa looked up and laughed. She put down her book and grabbed her phone. “Say cheese!” Thomas grinned while Melissa snapped a picture.
“Let me try them on!” Sara said. Pretty soon she and Thomas were taking turns posing and making funny faces while Melissa took pictures.
“This is even better than hide-and-seek!” Sara said.
Just then Melissa’s phone rang. “I’ll be right back,” she told them. She went in the hall to answer the phone.
Sara plopped onto the bed with a huff to wait.
“Hey, it’s my turn,” Thomas said. He reached for the sunglasses in Sara’s hand, but Sara put them on the bed next to her. “Melissa said to be careful with them. We should wait for her to get back.”
“Oh yeah?” Thomas grinned and tickled her. Sara giggled and jumped back.
Crack.
“What was that?” Thomas asked.
Sara looked down and gasped. Her heart sank as she saw what was underneath her—the sunglasses, with the ear pieces broken off.
Sara started to panic. “Oh no! What should we do?”
“Melissa’s going to be so mad!” Thomas said.
Just then Melissa walked back into the room. “Wanna see the pictures I took?” she asked.
Sara didn’t answer. She looked down at the floor.
“What’s wrong?” Melissa asked.
All Sara wanted to do was hide under the bed covers. Slowly she held up the broken sunglasses. “I’m so sorry!”
“We didn’t mean to,” Thomas added.
“I know.” Melissa took the pieces of her sunglasses and let out a heavy sigh.
Sara hung her head and left. Thomas followed.
Sara felt terrible! She wished she could fix Melissa’s sunglasses. If someone had broken her favorite stuff, she’d feel awful. She said a little prayer. Heavenly Father, I’m so sorry I broke Melissa’s sunglasses. Please help me know what to do to make it up to her. Then a thought came to her. She spun around. “Thomas! I have an idea.”
A little while later, Sara poked her head into Melissa’s room. “Melissa, we have something to show you.”
Sara led Melissa down to the kitchen table. Thomas stepped aside to reveal the surprise—a pair of sunglasses, sky blue and zebra striped.
Melissa smiled. “You made these for me?”
Sara grinned. She and Thomas—with a little help from Mom—had carefully painted a pair of Dad’s old sunglasses to look like Melissa’s broken pair.
Melissa gave Sara and Thomas a big hug. “You guys are the best!”
Sara felt warm and happy. She was glad she could try to make things better.