Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: The Importance of Being Earnest (not about the play) (08/04/11)
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TITLE: I Choose You! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Kristi Huseby
08/06/11 -
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His mother heard him as he slammed the door, threw down his backpack and rushed to her side. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him onto her lap. His bony knee stuck out of a whole in his pant leg and there were tear tracks down his dirty face.
“Tell me what happened. Why don’t you want to go back to school?”
“The kids wah being mean to me. They made fun of my name. They said, ‘Who names theh child Eahnest anyway? That’s such a stupid name; nobody has a name like that! Whehe did you even come fom to desehve a name like that?’”
Earnest’s mother brushed his hair off his sweaty brow and prayed for wisdom. She knew this rejection was difficult for him because he had faced so much disappointment in his short little life.
How can a Mom help turn the tide of her son’s broken heart? She knew she was important in his life but did she have the power to help him see the truth?
She took a deep breath and with a prayer in her heart she kissed his forehead and said, “Earnest, do you remember why we gave you your name?”
A “yes” came out in a quiet whisper from the little boy. “Can you tell me again?”
“Earnest was your great Grandfather’s name, and then it became your Grandfather’s name and then your Father’s and now it is yours! You are Earnest Michael Winston the Fourth. That name has been in the family a long time! And now it’s your name.”
“When you came to us, you were such a fragile scared little boy. You had been through a lot in the three years before we got you. Do you remember the day we got you?”
Earnest shook his bowed head; he couldn’t even look at his mother. He felt such shame, why did he have to be like this? Why couldn’t he have just been born to his mom and dad? None of the other kids in his school came to their families the way he did? None of them had a mother who didn’t want them!
His mother gently took her hand and lifted his face so that he would look into her eyes.
“Earnest, I did not carry you inside of me but I carried you here in my heart! I waited and waited for you. You did not come to us by accident. You were the one we wanted! The moment they placed you in my arms is a memory I will treasure always.
Most parents don’t get to choose the children they have, they just have to take what they’re given. But we did get to choose and we chose you!”
“We knew that there would come a day, just like this when you would feel like you don’t belong. That is why we named you Earnest. So that you would know that you are a part of a family who loves you and wants you forever.”
Earnest’s face broke out in a smile. He jumped down off his mother’s lap and said, “Can I have a snack?”
“Sure my Earnest Michael Winston the Fourth, you may have a snack!”
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