The Most Important Thing in the World

by Erin Fitzgibbons


Once upon a time, actually it wasn’t so very long ago, there was a 7
year old girl named Sarah. Sarah was a princess, at least as close as
one can be to being a princess without being of royal birth.
Her parents worked very hard and were extremely successful so they
were able to give Sarah whatever she wanted. In fact her father told
her that if she ever wanted anything all she had to do was ask and he
would get it for her.
As a little girl Sarah had more toys that all the other children in
the town put together. She had a life size doll house in the backyard
where she and her friends could play and the dolls were as big as they
were. Next to the dollhouse was a giant crystal clear swimming pool
with a huge spiral slide. Sarah had everything she had ever asked for
but she still wasn’t happy.
Sarah got older and continued asking her parents for lots of things,
she had 3 rooms full of clothes and another one for her shoes. For her
16th birthday she got three cars and her favorite movie star was at her
party but Sarah was more unhappy then ever.
A few weeks after her birthday party, Sarah was up in the attic just
looking at all of the things she and her parents had before they were
rich when she was still a very little girl and in the corner, covered
in dust, she found a beautiful music box. It was silver with an
exquisite hand painted glass top. She didn’t remember this and wondered
why it wasn’t out on display with the rest of her music boxes.
She gently picked it up and began to turn the tiny silver key in the
back. She lifted the lid and the entire room was filled with the most
beautiful, soothing music she had ever heard. All of a sudden there was
a shimmery cloud in front of her and as it cleared Sarah saw a series
of pictures of her family when she was really little before her parents
worked all the time. There was one of her and her dad feeding the ducks
at the park and one of her and her mom playing on the swings.
All of a sudden Sarah realized what she wanted more than anything in
the world and she couldn’t wait to tell her father. She ran down to her
room and put the music box on her dresser and called her dad’s
secretary to leave a message to schedule a meeting with him.
The next morning at 10 o’clock sharp her father knocked on the door to
her room she told him to come in and said that she had found something
that she wanted more than anything in the whole world. She told him
that she wanted him and her mother to quit their jobs so they could
move back into their old house and just be a family again. He was quiet
for a minute and then asked her where in the world she had come up with
that idea.
She got up and walked over to her dresser and brought him the music
box. He looked at it silently for a few minutes and then asked her if
she knew where that had come from and she said she found it in the
attic. He told her that her fairy godmother had given it to her on her
first birthday when they were still a young poor family. It had magic
powers and had three wishes at the time. Since she was such a little
baby he and her mother had used one wish each. He had wished for the
ability to provide anything his family desired and he became a rich and
successful businessman. Her mother had wished that she could be a
successful woman so she could be a good role model for her daughter and
she became CEO of one of the biggest companies in the country.
Sarah thought for a minute and then she said well that means there
should be one wish left. Her father nodded and so she closed her eyes
and wished that her family could be together and that her parents would
never have to work again.
All of a sudden her mother appeared in the room with a very shocked
look on her face. She was confused until she looked at Sarah and saw
the music box in her hands, immediately she asked what she had wished
for. Sarah told her and she was quiet for a minute, then she looked at
her husband and just started laughing. He laughed too and Sarah asked
what was so funny.
They explained that they had made their wishes because they wanted her
to have everything she wanted but they never realized that maybe just
being there for her was the most important thing. They all hugged and
laughed and lived happily ever after as a close and caring family.