Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Retreat (as in quiet time away) (08/01/05)
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TITLE: Time Away Can Be Right At Home | Previous Challenge Entry
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08/07/05 -
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A sudden voice interrupted her reverie. "Ellen, oh, there you are. I've been looking all over for you."
"I'm here, Mom," she quickly answered while glancing at the silver haired woman. "I've been admiring your beautiful flowers. You always had a way with plants. Something I just don't have the patience with."
"You work too hard, dear, too many hours. All the time up in the air flying from one place to another. I worry about you, Ellen. Will you ever be able to settle down and have some rest?" she questioned.
"I don't know, Mom, I'm happy, I guess. At least I'm living in the big city. Remember when I was a kid and saw my first roof garden?" She found her mind centered on the memories again.
"Tell me, I've forgotten."
"I was only about seven or eight. We were driving on the Westside Highway in Manhattan on our way up to the George Washington bridge. Dad and you sat up front in the Oldsmobile while I was in the back. I was peering out at the scenery when I spotted trees and flowers growing on the roofs of skyscrapers. I was so excited and I remember asking you how they got there."
"What did I tell you? I can't remember."
"Oh, Mom, you were so precious. You told me that the people who lived there were very wealthy and so they had a way of getting dirt up to the top of those buildings."
"Did I actually say that?"
"You did. But what you told me next stayed with me the rest of my life."
Oh my, what in the world did I say?"
"I asked you how I could become wealthy so that I could live in one of those buildings one day and have a roof garden."
"Now you really have me wondering, Ellen. How did I ever answer you?"
"You told me to do my very best in school, even more than my best, and then attend college after graduation. You explained how you and Dad put away a little money each week, from his paycheck, to save for my education."
"You did accomplish that, didn't you Ellen? You even got your apartment in one of those buildings on the upper west side."
"Yes, I did."
"What went wrong, dear?"
"I thought everything was just rigt Mom, until the day Erik told me he wanted the divorce. At first I blamed it on the loss of our baby. And then I thought it was my job and all my traveling, being away from home so much. But he said it wasn't either. He was just tired, tired of me and tired of the way we lived, like two strangers passing in the night."
"Oh, my dear, I hurt so much for you."
"That's why I didn't want to tell you, Mom. I didn't want to put this burden on you."
"Ellen, I'm your mother and you could never be a burden to me. I only wish that you could take some time off from your job and find a quiet, serene place to go to and rest."
Ellen put her arms around her mother and kissed her gently on her cheek. She still loved the smell and the feel of this precious woman. As they separated, her mother went into the kitchen and Ellen stepped out the doorway onto the deck. She dropped her exhausted body onto a cushioned lounge chair letting the warm summer air blanket her tired being. In the background she heard the familiar sounds of her mother puttering in the kitchen and eventually the aroma of pot roast awakened her appetite. She breathed a deep sigh and silently thought, "Oh, Momma, I have found my retreat and it's right here with you."
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She was like a Mother to me so this story has a lot of meaning to my heart.
Thanks for sharing your God given writing talent.
In Christ Jesus,
Your Sister Dee:)
"Numbers 6:24,25,26"