Mother Nature sat lofty in a pastel whipped cloud and brushed through her silvery hair that softy reflected every corner of the earth and heavens. She wore the mountains as a crown, the oceans as a dress, the deserts shined like jewels upon her wrists, the forests rested on her neck as a necklace, and the frozen tundras wrapped themselves around her feet in shimmering glass crystals.

All four of her daughters knelt around her on similar clouds, beaming with their hands hidden behind their backs.

It was Mother Nature's birthday.

First to stand from her seat was Spring. She presented her mother with her gift: a strand of flawless pearls.

As she handed them to her mother, three small children walked sheepishly from behind Spring's skirts. March handed her an amber butterfly, April a lotus flower, and May a pink rose. Mother Nature smiled at them and kissed their heads as they bashfully retreated behind Spring.

Next was Summer. From behind her back she pulled a carved wooded box that shimmered with precious stone and black ash. Dragonflies and suns danced in the wood, and fireflies gleamed with stone.

Third was Autumn, who presented her mother with a platter of ripe harvest: grapes, lemons, squash, corn, nuts, and berries. All preserved through the winter with love and care, cool like they had been picked that morning.

Last was Winter, who pulled out an intricate bowl of clear diamonds that sparkled like the stars on the snow. She anointed her mother with the diamonds over her head, and each diamond falls to a new home upon the top of her mountainous crown, snow capped from then on.

Mother Nature smiled at all the gifts she had received, but was unsatisfied. She opened up her arms and gathered her daughters and the three months into her arms and held them against her until the clouds had faded and the stars shone in all their eyes.

A single tear leaked out of her starry gaze as Spring and her months returned back to earth, and as the other seasons retired to their quarters.

Only when the wayfaring stranger appeared for a brief moment did Mother Nature look up from her reveries. Then, as quickly as she had appeared, the wayfaring stranger disappeared, leaving only a crystal looking glass in her wake.

Mother Nature picked up the crystal, and smiled when she looked through it to see Spring and the months stargazing in a tree.

Mother Nature sighed and was content.