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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Childhood (09/03/09)
Darcy Lynn was a daddy's girl, and had been since the day she was born. She had grown up in a family where she was the youngest of three, and because there were so many years between her and her older siblings it was almost like being an only child. Because of this she got lots of attention from her daddy, whom she adored. All this attention was wonderful for little Darcy and she put the sparkle in her daddy's eye.

Darcy's mother had little use for her. She thought her child bearing days were long since over and was less than thrilled to find out she was pregnant again. It had been her belief she could not have any more children. The surprise of pregnancy now that her other two children were in school, was not a pleasant one. “Here we go again...” she thought, as she brought newborn Darcy home from the hospital. She viewed motherhood as a chore, “a woman's lot in life,” something to be endured, not enjoyed.

Little Darcy tried to be a good girl, but like any little child, she made mistakes, and these were unacceptable to her rigid and critical mother. Her mom demanded perfection and anything less was completely unacceptable. Thus, little Darcy learned daily that she was completely unacceptable. She would inevitably spill or break something or knock something over, and would always be yelled at for her clumsiness, her stupidity, and her carelessness. Being screamed at and told repeatedly she was stupid was a common occurrence for little Darcy, no matter how seemingly insignificant the infraction. She began to learn that making mistakes was not okay, and she did her best to avoid them.

Fortunately she had her beloved daddy, whom she could always run to and find acceptance and unconditional love. When her mother was through with all her yelling and criticizing, Darcy would climb up in her daddy's lap and he would talk to her, and more importantly, he would listen to her. Darcy never spoke of anything her mother did...her father had been right there, so he knew how she was treated. Yet he gave her a place of comfort to run to where she could feel safe.

As Darcy grew, her mother took her to church and Sunday School, and she learned all about Jesus and His love for little children. The people at church were very kind and Darcy loved going there. She would sit in the sanctuary with her mother and see how pleasant she was to the other people, and then as soon as they got in the car her mother would start in criticizing and gossiping about the very people she was just so “friendly” to. Darcy learned that church is a nice place and you should be nice to the people there, but when their back is turned it is okay to point out all their faults. This was confusing to little Darcy, but children tend to believe their parents, so she accepted it.

One Sunday, little Darcy asked Jesus into her heart. From then on she tried her best to please the Lord, wanting to do all she could to make Him happy. She had figured out over time she could never make her mother happy, so she just did her best to make her daddy and God happy. She learned that having a Heavenly Father was wonderful, much like her earthly father was wonderful, loving, and kind. She was discouraged to find that her mother did not change, even after Darcy had become a Christian. She tried everything she could think of to make her mother happy, but her mother seemed determined to be very UNhappy indeed.

When Darcy married and had a daughter of her own, she came to the unpleasant realization that her own mother had not been a good one. Darcy was sure her mom had done one thing right; she had taken Darcy to church, where she met Jesus. All the wrong things her mom had done seemed insignificant
in light of this huge thing she had done right. She thought of the verse that had gotten her through those difficult years of childhood. “A Father of the fatherless...is God in His holy habitation.” Psalm 68:5

She knew from experience He was also a Father to the motherless, and she was determined that her little girl would have the childhood and the mother that SHE had always wanted.
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This article has been read 680 times
Member Comments
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Date
Sara Harricharan
09/16/09
An interesting take on topic. I did feel kinda sad for little Darcy, but there wasn't very much "personal story" to her, I had a hard time identifying, because I couldn't really connect to the character the way I wanted. There is so much potential here-a good job-next time, if you have the space (word count wise, lol) try to go more indepth into Darcy or the character. Make me, as the reader want to understand/know her better. This has some good stuff in here, in spite of the sad thought of her mother. Thanks for sharing this! ^_^