This was one of my favorite murals to paint (because I knew that he was doing this for his daughter as a surprise) and I hope you like hearing his story too.
“Daddy, do you see this?"
Hi Jeff, Tonight was my daughter’s first night to see her new Night Sky Mural. When I picked her up this afternoon she asked me, once again, about going to the store to buy some plastic, glow-in-the-dark stars. I told her that we could possibly do it tomorrow, after school, if she really wanted to. I wanted to tell her about her new mural right then, but I held back… the excitement almost too much to handle.
While she was watching a cartoon before bedtime, I snuck into her room and charged up the paint on her ceiling really well with the black light. I hid the black light and then turned on her regular bedroom lights so that she wouldn’t be able to see her new mural. Once the lights were on, I called to her and told her it was time for bed.
Once she came into the room and crawled into bed, I asked her to pull the covers up over her head and to close her eyes. When her head was covered, I turned off her bedroom lights and sat down next to her on the bed. Then I asked her to imagine what the sky would look like if we were camping, and looking up into a beautiful starry night sky. We talked about it for a few minutes and then I told her to pull the sheets down from over her head.
She continued to tell me about the starry night sky that she was imagining, while she was pulling down the sheets… then she stopped mid-sentence. She remained very quiet for about ten seconds and then said, “Daddy, do you see this?!” It was too dark for me to see her expression, but the wonderment in her voice told the whole story.
I let her get out of bed and we laid on our backs, looking up at the night sky, for about an hour. She was so excited and kept pointed things out to me. She kept telling me over and over how much she loved her new mural and how she couldn’t wait to tell all of her friends and the rest of the family about it.
We could have stayed there admiring the incredible night sky, but I finally insisted she get back into bed and get some sleep. Then she said, “Daddy, please don’t turn my night light on. I want to look at the stars while I fall asleep”. I have a feeling she will never want to use her night light again.
Thanks again, Jeff! You made my daughter a very happy little girl. She said she will never forget tonight. And, neither will I…
Chris – Bakersfield, CA