ALMOST HOME | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: ALMOST HOME | Previous Challenge Entry
By alan polacek
01/10/06
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Almost Home

I’m so close now. At one glance it seems like only a blink of an eye. Another look and it took ages to arrive.

I started this journey like most everyone else. Excited and filled with energy. Rounding each bend without a thought or care. Whatever was around that next bend only peaked my curiosity.

Then I hit adolescence, still curious and energetic, only now with uncertainty .Stopping at each bend and peeking around the corner. The want-to is there but each new adventure leads me further away from my comfort zone. Everything will be alright though because I know that I will always have those that love me to give me food and shelter.

The thoughts of my youth now become distant. I stepped out into the world and started my own life and family. I’ve become an adult. Now it’s not quite so exciting. It has its moments, of course, with the birth of children, a new house we’ve dreamed of, a well-paying job and family gatherings. And then, Boom! The kids become teenagers. The new house is now called a mortgage and the family gatherings have family members missing. The comfort zone of my youth is no longer available to me. It’s all up to me.

Look out now though! I made it to retirement. Senior citizen! The kids are grown and on their own. No more mortgage. Once again only the wife and I. Things go pretty good for a few years then our health puts a halt to pretty much everything. The money we used to dish out for the mortgage now goes for medical expenses. Trying to find a time when everyone can get together is frustrating.
What I thought it would be like now, so many years ago. Turns out to be not so exciting.
But thankfully I have the love’s of my life to fall back on. My comfort zone. The love of my wife and the love of Jesus. Both have always been there throughout my life but until now I never really knew how much comfort I would receive from them.

It’s just me now. Widower, an elderly gentleman. I no longer have a home. I’m in a home.
The kids are good to me. They come by and check on me often. Even come and take me to their houses for a holiday or birthday gathering. Not the same, though, without Mother along.
Most days I sit by the window and think back to the days when nothing fazed me. There’s been times when I get it in my head that I’m still able to do what I want, only to have my body sarcastically scream, “What do you think you’re doing!”

So I sit here looking out the window. Remembering how it used to be. Longing for the gentle pat from my wife as she walks past. Fondly thinking of the days when my children were small and the house roared with laughter. The turmoil of the adolescent years forgotten. Lovingly thinking of my parents and grandparents. I long so for those times.

I may sound depressing but don’t mean to. Because my life has been full and rich. God has truly blessed me. Life would have been intolerable without Him and His blessings.
So I will sit here patiently waiting for Him to decide when I shall receive my reward and be called home. He has been my comfort throughout my life. And as I bow my head to offer up another prayer of thanks. I may drift off to sleep before I close with an Amen. But I rest knowing that He is my comfort zone and with the knowledge that I am almost home.

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