It was a sunny, frosty day. Snow glimmered on the branches of trees. Silence… Only in the distance could barely be heard the voices of birds. Upon waking, Vera understood that a new day had begun. Vera was the name of a small fair-haired girl, thin, extraordinarily lively and cheerful, with a ringing laugh. And Vera also loved to draw very much. She dreamed of touching a miracle.
Every night the girl asked the heavens to help her. The thing was that Vera had been blind from birth. She had never seen the world around her; she knew it only through smells, tastes, sensations, and sounds. But she so wanted to wake up one day, open her eyes, and see the endless blue sky above her, the bright sun, beautiful flowers, blindingly white snow. And most importantly, of course, her mother. The girl had never seen or known her mother; she lived in an orphanage.
Vera continued to draw as before. Yes, she could not see, but her soul was so pure and open that drawings appeared on paper by themselves and were amazingly vivid and bright. God did not give her sight, but gave her something more important—the ability to love and feel, the capacity to rejoice in life, no matter what.
One day something happened that turned Vera's entire world upside down. Late in the evening, the girl, as usual, was going to bed. As soon as she closed her eyes, various visions appeared before her: lights of big cities, streams of cars passing in an endless procession past her windows, bright green grass, blooming apple trees, fluttering colorful butterflies, a boundless blue sea. These visions so captivated Vera that she did not want to open her eyes.
