Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Black Sheep of the Family (10/03/13)
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TITLE: Seasons in the Sun | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tina Fisher
10/10/13 -
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Learned of love and A B C's, skinned our hearts and skinned our knees.”
I can’t think of anything better than being nine or ten and riding bicycles all over town with my best friend. We spent hours and hours at Olsen Park searching the woods and performing on the band shell stage while the sun beamed down on our smiling faces.
When we came across a trickling creek, we dug in the mud, hoping to find some sort of trinket or buried treasure.
What we did find, was a can of Skoal, and out of curiosity, we sampled. It was black, burned our lips, and we wondered out loud why people would ever put that in their mouth.
Summer days were spent at the lake, spread out on a blanket, enjoying picnic food my mom had prepared, and daring each other to go out deeper and deeper into the water.
Time passed, we grew apart. She went with the ‘wrong’ crowd, while I went with the ‘right’ one. Our lives became as different as night and day, black and white.
Slowly, over time and tragedies, we both lost our way, on our own separate journeys.
She loved and had her heart broken.
I loved and had my heart broken.
I found myself in dark places.
She found herself in dark places.
Only warm memories of the happy little girls we started out to be remained.
Life had taken its’ toll.
Some our own doing, others, just imposed on us.
One of her sisters was killed in an accident, but I won the dare and went off the deep end.
Then deeper, and deeper.
We lost touch with each other along the way, though our moms remained best friends across states, and I sometimes heard reports of what was happening in her life.
Eventually, we both got tired of being in the woods. After years of searching and seeking and trying and weeping, we both found the love we had always hoped for.
And when we caught up with each other again after a decade, the giggling girls had returned back home.
We swung on the swings at Olsen Park and shared our stories.
I found Jesus.
She found Jesus.
The restorer of our lives.
The one who gave us back what was lost.
The treasure we were always searching for in our youth, the piece that always seemed to be missing, was never something we could have dug up at the park.
The adventure wasn’t in seeing how much candy we could buy at the corner store, with the money we found under the couch cushions.
The thing we most needed, that thing we were always searching for, was a connection with God.
A love like no other.
One that was real and unconditional.
A father's love.
“Goodbye papa, please pray for me. I was the black sheep of the family. You tried to teach me right from wrong. Too much wine and too much song. Wonder how I got along?
We had joy, we had fun. We had seasons in the sun….” - Terry Jacks
So many memories of those happy seasons of our youth spent in the sun.
I can honestly say, my seasons not in the Son, have absolutely been the coldest of all.
Love you Monkey.
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I loved how your so brilliantly wrapped up your story, with <>"seasons not in the Son was the coldest of them all..."
Excllent job...Thank you!
God bless~
I loved how you so brilliantly wrapped up your story, with "seasons not in the Son was the coldest of them all..."
Excllent job...Thank you!
God bless~
Be careful about using song lyrics. The copyright laws can be quite daunting and you are only allowed to use a small portion without permission unless it is in the Public Domain. Also always make sure if you do use it, that you cite the title, composer, artist etc.
I really liked the twist of the parts about Papa and Sonshine. Sometimes that too can become cliche' but again, you did a wonderful job of handling it. You left me with a warm happy feeling (plus the lyrics to that wonderful song in my head:)) You nailed the topic and delivered an important message in the process. Great job.
The story rings true that reaching the bottom can be a good pathway to the "top".
Nicely written.
Awesome!!1
Wing His Words