Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: TRAVELER (01/28/16)
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TITLE: Going Home | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lisa Enqvist
01/29/16 -
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Tomorrow we would be taken to the Colombo harbor to board the P.& O. Liner, S.S. Maloja.
I couldn’t sleep. The neighbor’s cocks didn’t know that they should wake the world at break of dawn. Instead, they kept crowing all night, “Going hoo-oome! Going hoo-oome!”
...
Mami had talked about the home far away in Finland. I had no memories to fall back on. I was a baby when we had left home more than seven years earlier. Whenever she saw something that was similar to “home” she pointed it out to me. One year before, on a trip up to the hill country there was much to remind her of home.
The cold air flowed through the open windows of dad’s van, bringing with it new sensations.
Mami said, “The weather in Finland feels like this.” I breathed in the fresh air, which was quite different to the heat and humidity we were used to.
“Pansies like these grow in Grandma’s garden,” she said. My heart missed a beat.
“When can we go to Grandma?”
“Soon, I hope,” she answered. “The pine trees at home smell like this.” She broke a sprig from a fir tree and gave it to me. A new fresh scent brought with it a strange deep longing for home.
...
On board the ship we were Tourist class passengers. The ship was making its final journey. That meant we were allowed to move freely on all decks, even the First Class deck. There was a library full of books. There was a play room for small children. I was considered too old to be with the tiny tots, so I spent my time mostly in the library.
Early each morning a steward brought a pot of hot tea to our cabin, along with the day’s Bulletin with headlines of World News. On June 3rd, 1953 the news was exciting. Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation had taken place the day before. We were on our way to London. Maybe we would have a chance to see the new Queen?
The dining room set lavishly with white tablecloths, porcelain dishes, and numerous sets of cutlery. We had no idea what to use first and last. Stewards in white uniforms served us as though we were special guests. Each day of the three weeks on the ship was a day of luxury; something we never experienced before.
In London, we visited the Tower Bridge, Madame Tussauds, and Buckingham Palace. We never saw the Queen. The stories we heard about those places were more scary than interesting for me. The things Mami showed me stirred my longing further; lilacs and roses, berry bushes, dandelions – all of which also grew “at home”.
The next stage of our journey was by ship to Gothenburg, and then a train trip right across Sweden to Stockholm. Though it was night, it did not get dark. It was Midsummer week. We passed lakes, forests of birch trees, spruce, and pine. Colorful houses, lovely gardens, with apple trees and flowering lilacs. “That and that and that is just like Finland,” Mami said, pointing out of the window.
My excitement grew. How beautiful our country must be. Soon, soon, very soon I’ll see my home country.
Another night on another ship. Tomorrow we’ll be home. Tomorrow I’ll meet my Grandma and my aunts whom I had seen only in tiny black and white photographs. Tomorrow!
Mami woke me early in the morning.
“Do you want to watch while the ship approaches Helsinki?”
I was up and dressed in a moment. Far out on the horizon, I saw a gray sliver of land.
“That is Finland,” Mami said. My heart was ready to burst. There is the country where I was born! Soon I’ll be there. That is my homeland. That is where I belong.
Three figures, familiar from photographs, stood on the pier. Moments later I was smothered in their embrace.
For two short years, I was not a traveler.
The words of the farewell song still echoed the words: “Till we meet at Jesus’ feet...”
Gradually I began longing for a better country—for the place where all tears of longing are wiped away.
Hebrews 11:16, Revelation 21:1-4
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Red ink:dining room WAS set - spacing