Lily and Rose were sisters, and most of the time, they were the best of friends. They loved building magnificent castles out of blankets, having tea parties with their stuffed animals, and reading stories together. But sometimes… sometimes they argued. Usually, it was over something small, like who got to wear the sparkly crown or which color crayon was the best.
One evening, as the sun began to set, Lily and Rose were drawing pictures. Lily was carefully coloring a picture of a bright yellow sunflower, and Rose was drawing a swirling, purple ocean. Rose accidentally bumped the table, and Lily’s sunflower got a big purple smudge right across the middle!
“Rose!” Lily cried, her voice trembling. “You ruined my sunflower! It was perfect!” Rose’s eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!” she said. But Lily was too upset to listen. “I don’t want to play with you anymore!” she declared, and stomped off to her room.
Rose felt terrible. She tried to fix the sunflower, but the purple smudge wouldn’t come off. She wished she could take back bumping the table. She went to find her mom, who gave her a warm hug. “Sometimes sisters disagree,” Mom said gently. “But that doesn’t mean they stop loving each other. It’s important to say you’re sorry, and to try to understand how the other person feels.”
Rose took a deep breath and walked to Lily’s room. She knocked softly. “Lily?” she whispered. “I’m really, really sorry I ruined your sunflower. It was an accident, and I didn’t mean to make you sad.” Lily peeked out from under her covers. She saw the sadness in Rose’s eyes and remembered all the fun times they had together.
“I’m sorry too,” Lily mumbled. “I shouldn’t have said I didn’t want to play with you. It’s just… I really liked my sunflower.” Rose had an idea. “Let’s fix it together!” she exclaimed. They went back to the table, and Rose carefully painted little purple waves around the sunflower, turning the smudge into part of the picture. It wasn’t the same sunflower, but it was even more beautiful now.
“Wow!” Lily said, smiling. “It looks like a sunflower growing by the sea!” Rose giggled. “See? Even mistakes can turn into something wonderful.” They finished their pictures, side-by-side, and then snuggled up together to read a bedtime story. They realized that even though they sometimes argued, their love for each other was the strongest magic of all. And that, they knew, would always bloom brighter than any sunflower.
As they drifted off to sleep, Lily whispered, “I love you, Rose.” Rose whispered back, “I love you too, Lily.” And they knew, even when things got tricky, they would always have each other.