Blue. Blue is the color of the swimsuit that she was wearing while playing in the sand. Blue is the color of the band-aid her mom put over her scratched up knee. Blue is the color of the butterfly painting taped to the fridge. Blue is the color her teeth turned after she drank a slushie. Blue is the color she painted on a bird house while sitting in a hospital bed.  Blue is the name of her stuffed animal that she clung to while she was rolling in to the operating room. Blue was the color of her gown she wore while lying in recovery. Blue was the color of the IV running through her arm. Blue was the feeling her parents held at the bottom of their throats, trying to hold it together for this innocent little girl smiling at them.

It seems like the whole world around had sunken to the bottom of what she thought was a bottomless hole. But with every giggle this little girl had left, was another ladder guiding her life back to the top. With all the dark tunnels her family was led down, she was always that light at the end of it.

 If you were ever to see her through your eyes, you wouldn’t be able to tell the pain she experienced, or the screams that echoed through silenced hallways. This little girl, with hot tears burned to her skin, yelling out to her mom only for her to break down in tears and look away. She begged them to stop, but in return she could only hear the nurse saying, “It’s okay, you’re alright; pain is always temporary.” Little did she know, those words would be the building blocks for her future. Nobody could’ve known how quickly her beautiful smile could shatter through screams and pleas.

But then there was silence, no echo, no pleas, only a small whimper from the girl who once smiled. But soon another smile walked through the doorway, a smile that turned her whimpers to laughs. Someone who was able to plaster a smile across this little girl’s face, a familiar smile, a smile filled with love and reassurance.

Blue. Blue was the color of the hallways in the hospital. Blue was the color of the nurse’s scrubs that the little girl hugged so tightly. Blue was the color of the sky that was more beautiful than the last time she had seen it. Blue was the color of her dad’s shoes that stepped on the gas pedal headed towards home. Blue was the color of her grandma’s eyes that spilt tears at her sight. Blue was the color of home. Blue.