Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Life (06/15/06)
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TITLE: Growing Up, Down and Even | Previous Challenge Entry
By Folakemi Emem-Akpan
06/16/06 -
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Dear diary,
I’m so angry I can hardly see. I don’t know why mom acts like she was never young. All I asked for was some money to buy that short red skirt we saw at the mall…and permission to get the kind of tattoo Jennifer has on her cleavage. You should have seen mom go up in flames. And it’s not that the tattoo is that big. I even offered to have it on my belly instead but you should have seen her. She’s such a spoilsport.
I can’t wait to grow up, move out and earn my own pay. Then I can control my life. I can party all I want. And I can smoke all I want without having to hide from dad and mom.
It’s so hard to be sixteen.
Beth.
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Dear diary,
Why is Beth being so difficult? I’m trying to be a good mother here, but she gives me no credit. None at all. Since she’s turned sixteen, it seems all we do is quarrel. And James isn’t helping me at all. He is hardly home and when he is, he prefers to sit in front of the television. Doesn’t he realize Beth needs her father, especially at a time like this?
I’m sick of fighting with Beth all day, and tiptoeing around James all night.
Is this all there is to life; being a wife and a mother?
I wish I were young again. Then, I can dream all I want and actually believe that dreams come true. Life certainly had meaning back then.
Yesterday, I discovered I’m starting to sprout gray hair. I don’t find this funny at all. Isn’t it possible to stay young forever?
Liz.
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Dear God,
It’s so good to be awake this morning. I admit it gets more and more difficult to get out of bed each day, but as I told Liz, I’m going to get out of this house each morning and put in four hours at the orphanage each day until the moment I breathe my last.
Godfrey would have liked this warm sun and the flowers blooming in the garden. I miss him so terribly but it doesn’t hurt so much when I think about the fact that he’s with You.
And I’m sure glad that we had a good life here before You took him home to be with You. I hardly can wait to join the both of you…but in the meantime, I promise to keep busy.
Now Lord, I need You to watch over Liz, James and Beth. Beth is growing up and is asking for freedom she can’t yet handle. And Liz…well, my daughter has always been too sensitive. She’s taking Beth’s tantrums too much to heart. Please teach her to handle Beth the same way you taught me when Liz was fourteen and demanding for her own car and a personal bank account.
Hey, before I forget. I’m going to need help with that Indonesian boy down at the orphanage. That’s the one who’s afraid of women because his mother sold him for drugs. Help me model Your love to him.
And yeah, thank you Lord for my birthday that’s just around the corner. Isn’t it good to be alive at seventy-eight? I never thought life could get any richer, but it does get richer. And fuller. Not to mention more adventurous.
Now on to the adventure…if only I can roll out of bed…
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