Unicorns in the Woods

This picture was sent to me for Christmas by my brother while he was on his mission in Germany. About a month before Christmas, a box arrived in the mail with a foreign return-address label on it. Since it was still November, my mother stuck the box behind the couch in the living room, where it would be stowed until Christmas Day.

Well, Christmas Day came and went, and the box sat untouched behind the couch, forgotten in all the hustle and bustle of the wrapped presents that were stacked beneath the tree.

A few weeks into January, while my mother was putting some things in the chest of drawers that sat behind the couch in the living room, she came upon the box. Feeling foolish, she immediately called the family together. Excited that we had more Christmas presents, we all gathered together in anticipation.

One by one, the pictures, each labeled with a name of one of the members of our family, were pulled out of the box. Although they were unwrapped, the excitement and thrill of the moment was not last. I gazed at the picture, floored by it's beauty. It was not a mere painting: there was some sort of metallic glow that shone from it, almost as though a mystical, magical power were contained within it. I instantly loved it, and ran up to my room to find a prominent place on my wall to hang it

This was the first time I had gotten a really nice gift from one of my siblings. Normally, the gifts were little trinkets that went along with your interests, or simple things that made you smile because you knew the giver had thought of you, even if they hadn't spent a lot of money. But this gift symbolized for me the love my brother had for me: a love he'd never shown before his mission, but was there in that painting, shining (literally) clear as day. And I had never felt so warmed by an emotion in my entire life.

Thinking back to that day, I can still feel the ebbing warmth of that day, that emotion, and that reality. The "Unicorns in the Woods" represents my relationship with my brother, and that he loves me.