“Crash!” Dan rushes to the kitchen to see what happened—frightened to see if his nephew is hurt under his care. Staring at the broken glass on the ground, little Kevin says quietly, “Sorry, Uncle Dan.”

“It’s alright,” Dan grunts as he picks Kevin up and moves him away from the shattered glass.

“I was just playing. You should really clean out your cabinet though—it’s dusty.” Kevin smirks and Dan chuckles. 

“I’ll clean up this mess, you go ahead and watch some TV.”

Dan follows Kevin to the living room and turns on the TV for him. He then walks to the closet and grabs a broom that he can sweep up the glass with.  

After sweeping up the glass in the kitchen, Dan walks up to the left of his blue cabinet and sets down the broken glass which stood there before. He takes a step back and begins to realize something; why does the glass look like it is not broken from far away? Why does it look tall? The chipped blue and white paint gives Dan the illusion that the glass is full of bubbling champagne—as if it never broke. 

An inch away from the broken glass is a little flag toy that Kevin must have created with a blue napkin and old thumbtack. The flag points to the right, at yet another glass. But the glass on the right is complete. Shorter than the “champagne” glass, but complete. 

He sees four groups of small pieces of string glued onto the cabinets base—sticking upwards in between the two glasses, 

“Now what in the world did he do that for?” he mumbles. 

“They’re markers!” peeps Kevin from the doorway. Dan was startled.

“Sorry” says Kevin as he walks towards the cabinet, and Dan. “The string pieces are like stepping stones,” Kevin explains. 

“What do you mean?” questions Dan. 

“It’s like a journey. I don’t really know how to explain it, but the glass is growing up. Look” he points to the two glasses, “It’s tiny and then it gets bigger!”

“Ah okay I see, and what are the pictures for?” 

“The bird picture is flying freely into the sky, through the hoop—the hard part. And the right picture are memories.”

“Like a timeline” whispers Dan as he is staring blankly at the cabinet. 

“Yeah, I guess so. I’m hungry.”

Dan laughs, “Alright, we’ll get some pizza. Wait for me in the car, okay?”

“Okay!”

Dan was about to clean up his nephew's new creation, but couldn’t stop staring at it. He began to see his own life journey—starting as a little boy who was filled with so many unrealistic wishes, hopes, and dreams who grew up and realized that everything he needed was right in front of him—the memories he made and the people he knows, like Kevin—who reminded Dan that his life is fulfilled, complete.