Hal was in a bad mood when he got home, tired and frustrated after a long day of fighting with a plane that wouldn’t cooperate and far too much paperwork to fill out. So when Maura came running out of Kyle’s studio to greet him, covered head to toe in glitter, his first impulse was to scold her for leaving a trail of the silvery stuff on the carpet, and then go ask Kyle why he let her get covered in it in the first place. But before he could say anything, she excitedly thrust a piece of paper up at him. “Dad! I made this for you!”
He took the paper from her. Silver glitter filled in a simple drawing of a jet.
“It’s a F-16,” his daughter said proudly. “I looked at the airplane book and Daddy said you flyed in a F-16 and I made you one. Do you like it?”
Hal smiled, amazed at how his bad day could so suddenly be made better by a four-year-old’s glittery artwork. He scooped Maura up in his arms and kissed her cheek. “It’s beautiful, sweetheart,” he said, hugging her tight. He’d take the picture to work and hang it in his office and proudly point out to everyone that his little girl drew him F-16s.