Are you ready to meditate with Cori?
Climb up into bed and make sure that everything is just right in your room so that you can get comfortable,
You can relax your body and hopefully,
Eventually fall fast asleep.
Cherry and Vea were hanging out with Dylan,
Grayson,
Lola and Eve,
Jamie and Paige and Daphne.
All the kids had come over to play Twister.
They were having a Twister party.
Now normally,
Twister is one of Cherry's favourite games because it's so funny,
Trying to get into all the strange,
Crazy positions with your body and normally Cherry's really good at it so of course she likes it because when you're good at something,
You tend to like it,
Right?
When something's hard or it's difficult or you're just not natural at it,
Then most of the time we say,
No I don't really like that.
Vea was a little bit worried about Cherry because Heidi had gone away.
She'd gone to stay at an old friend's house for a week.
It had been three days since she left and even though Cherry and Vea were talking to her every day on the phone and they were FaceTiming each other,
It was just really,
Really hard.
Cherry was having a really hard time with it.
This was the first time since Heidi,
Cherry and Vea had all come together as sisters that they'd been separated like this.
Vea was missing Heidi a lot but she was okay.
She was coping but Cherry was so quiet and withdrawn and she was just kind of slumping around the house and they hadn't done anything since Heidi left.
That's why Vea thought it would be a really good idea to invite some of their friends over to hang out and do the twister party.
At first Cherry was really happy to see everyone but then it wasn't quite right for Cherry.
She smiled and asked how everybody's Christmas went and what they got for Christmas or what they got for the holidays and she even talked about New Year's Eve and what they did and all of that stuff and what everybody else did and after that then Cherry kind of went quiet again.
Dylan was one of the first ones that noticed that Cherry was not herself.
She went over to Cherry and asked her what was going on.
Are you okay?
Dylan had brought her stuffy pinky.
It was a stuffed pig and it was one of her favorites because Dylan loves pigs.
She said do you want to cuddle with pinky to Cherry and Cherry said nah no thanks thanks anyway Dylan but no no thanks don't really feel like cuddling anything to be honest.
Dylan said well I know you've not played the game yet and it looks like everybody's having fun.
Do you want to play a game?
Grayson,
Lola and Eve were all in really strange body positions laughing at the top of their lungs trying to stay on the twister board game.
Jamie and Paige were watching from the side with Daphne and they were telling them what to do.
Try and put your foot there said Jamie.
No no not there over there on the red dot oh no no I mean the blue dot.
Paige his older sister said just put your foot on the blue dot.
Go for it Lola.
Lola was trying to get a foot on the blue dot but she had to almost wrap her foot around Eve's head to get on the blue dot and it was just not working.
They were laughing a lot though.
In fact everyone was laughing except Cherry.
Dylan said is it because Heidi's away?
Do you want to talk about it?
Cherry said uh nah thanks thanks Dylan but no not really I don't really want to talk very much.
I'm quite happy just watching everyone play.
I don't really feel quite myself.
Don't worry about me everything's okay don't worry I just like I'll maybe play in a bit.
Cherry really didn't feel like talking about the fact that she was sad because her sister was gone.
She didn't see the point.
She didn't think it was gonna make her feel any better and it wasn't gonna make Heidi come back any sooner and she felt like if she just talked about how she really felt she was just gonna depress her friend Dylan and Pinky her pig was not gonna help.
Pinky was a very cute pig it was soft and cuddly but no it wasn't gonna help.
Daphne came over and said come on Cherry come and play.
Cherry just shook her head.
Nah no thanks no I don't really want to Maybe later.
Right now I have to go to the bathroom.
Cherry got up and excused herself and went to the bathroom.
She didn't have to go to the bathroom.
She just sat on the floor next to the bathtub.
She locked the door so no one could get in.
She just needed a minute.
She needed a minute to process the fact that she was trying to be happy but she didn't feel happy.
She missed her sister.
It's really hard when family goes away even if it's just for a short trip because you're so used to them being around.
You get so used to being around your family and then when they go you wish that you'd paid more attention to them.
You wish maybe that you'd hugged them more or played with them more or said that you loved them more but you just get so used to having people around you that you don't think that they're gonna go on a trip or go away for a while or like go off to college.
It's like when you've got really good friends and they move house and you're so sad because you don't see your neighbor friend anymore because they moved and you never thought they were gonna move.
You always thought they'd just be there and they'd be available to play with you whenever you wanted.
But things happen and life changes all the time and Cherry was having a really hard time with Heidi not being there.
Veya went to see where Cherry was and she couldn't find her at first but then she found her in the bathroom.
She knocked on the door and Cherry got up and let her in.
It was Veya after all so she was gonna tell anyone how she felt she was gonna tell her sister.
Cherry walked back to the bathtub and slumped down and sat next to it and Veya just followed her and sat down next to her.
Veya said,
Me,
Me is really missing Heidi.
I'm so sad.
I thought having the friends over to play Twister would help.
I mean it is helping because they're having such a good time and they're all really awesome and cool friends and I love it when they come and hang out but it's just not the same is it without Heidi.
Cherry's little eyes welled up a bit as if she was gonna have a cry and Veya knew that Cherry didn't really like to get uncomfortable like that and cry but sometimes it's good to cry.
Sometimes it's necessary because you can release all those emotions inside with your tears.
Sometimes crying is just a way to let go of the feelings that you have inside because sometimes they get so strong and they fill you up so much that you don't quite know what to do with yourself.
A few tears run down Cherry's little cheeks and she wiped them away really quick and Veya decided to help.
Veya had a couple of tears on her face and she didn't wipe them away.
I'm so sad even though we talked to Heidi this afternoon it still feels so weird with her not being here with us doesn't it?
Cherry said,
OMG Veya it's awful.
I mean I really love Heidi and I didn't realize how much I like her having Heidi around.
She's like my biggest sister and you're like my baby sister and Heidi is just so smart and she always knows stuff and like when I'm worried or if I have any questions I know she's just like always knows and she's just so good at that and like this week I've had so many questions already and I don't know who to ask and I mean I know I could ask you Veya but sometimes the questions that I have I know Heidi she'll just know them because she reads so many books and you don't read as many books as her and it's not that you might not know it's just that I want to be able to ask Heidi because I'm just so used to it.
Veya said,
Oh it's it's okay I understand.
I miss her.
I miss just having her in the room over there in the corner reading a book all comfortable.
I miss how she always hugs us at night when we get into bed.
I miss how she always makes sure that I brush my teeth.
I also miss how she likes all of my princess dresses and she's always so nice.
She always says nice things about them and she's really truthful and honest.
Yeah I miss her too.
Veya put one of her paws around Cherry's shoulder and Cherry put her paw around Veya's shoulder and they hugged on each other and just sat kind of staring into space.
You know what this has taught me though Veya.
It's taught me right to have appreciation for like you and Heidi and you know I think you just get so complacent that like you know your sister's gonna be there all the time and then you're like oh sometimes you actually bug me Veya and now I'm like oh Veya don't go away for a minute because if you did I'd be so lost.
This would be awful.
Can you imagine that if you both went away and left me and I was just here on my own oh that would have been so bad.
I'm so grateful that you didn't go as well.
I'm so grateful that you're here.
I'm so grateful that you're my sister.
I'm so grateful that I'm even grateful that sometimes you get on my nerves.
I'm even grateful about that.
I'm grateful that Heidi gets on my nerves.
I'm grateful that Heidi sometimes doesn't get on my nerves.
I'm grateful that Heidi just loves us.
Veya said yeah me too.
I'm so grateful for Heidi.
Me thinks that Heidi is just an all-around awesome cat.
Cherry filled up again as if she was gonna cry once again at the thought of Heidi not being there and Heidi being so awesome.
She blinked her tears and they fell off her cheeks and she stared back into space.
Veya said don't you think we ought to go play the game.
Dylan,
Pinky,
Her pig,
Grayson,
Daphne,
Jamie,
Paige and Lola were all on the board when I left.
Eve was just there spinning the wheel for them.
They were in a big tangled mess.
I bet if we go back it's super funny to watch.
Cherry said you know I really could do with watching someone fall on the head.
That'd be so funny.
Especially like if they fall on that well luckily we've got a padded carpet and it won't hurt them too much because if they fell on their head and it was downstairs on the wooden floor that wouldn't be very funny would it?
That would be not very nice of me.
But yeah no our carpet in our bedroom is so soft and comfy that if you fell on your head you wouldn't really notice.
It's like falling on a marshmallow.
I could just eat a marshmallow.
Veya could tell that Cherry was feeling a little bit better after shedding a few tears and having a chat about how she felt,
Sharing with someone her true feelings.
It made her feel a bit lighter and happier.
Not completely happy.
Not like normal Cherry happy.
But happy enough that she could get her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to play a little bit of Twister.
When they got back into the bedroom Cherry decided to change the playlist,
The music that they were playing,
Into one of her favourites.
One of her favourite dance playlists.
Music always cheered Cherry up.
Music was really important for Cherry.
If she was happy she liked to listen to certain type of music.
If she was sad she liked to listen to a certain type of music.
If she wanted to dance that was a different playlist.
The playlist that she was playing was perfect for Twister.
It was upbeat and jumpy and happy and everyone,
All the kids anyway,
Were in a really good mood.
And it was a good idea that they came over because they were so happy.
They spread that happiness to Cherry and Veya.
And they all ended up having a really good time.
When all the kids had left,
Veya and Cherry brushed their teeth,
Had a shower and jumped into their big,
Soft,
Comfortable cat bed.
There was far too much room in there and it made them both sad for a moment.
But they'd just had a really long FaceTime session with Heidi and Heidi was having a nice time with her friend and she missed them both a lot and she couldn't wait to come home.
And in a strange way that made Cherry and Veya feel a lot better.
Eventually they both fell fast asleep.
