Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Green (10/22/09)
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TITLE: D'ose Nasty Green Thinks! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lisa Evans
10/29/09 -
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Dawn prepared their plates, set them on the dining room table, and sat down across from her pudgy faced daughter who was fashionably dressed in jeans and a Hello Kitty tee shirt.
“Lydia, please put your doll baby aside; bow your head and say the blessing.”
Dawn sat quietly expecting to hear Lydia begin grace as usual by saying Gee-thus, the Savior’s name; her lisp made words with esses and el’s difficult to understand. But Lydia didn’t utter a word. Puzzled, she opened her eyes to find her daughter stiffly sitting with her jaw slightly dropped open.
She knew Lydia wasn’t distraught over the burnt fish sticks; after all these years, she had grown accustomed to mommy burning at least one meal a week. Rather, it was the scoop of green peas that had finally finished rolling around on her plate that made Lydia gaze fixedly as if she had been hypnotized.
Determined to get through dinner peacefully, Dawn tucked her chin down to her chest and proceeded with blessing the food. She had scarcely said Amen before Lydia blurted out, “Mommy, I don’t wike d’ose nasty green thinks!”
Dawn could feel the prickly fingertips of agitation crawling up her spine. “Those nasty green things, Lydia, are peas. And I don’t expect you to like them; I just want you to eat them.”
“But why do I have to eat dem? Why can’t I eat my dee-zert first?”
Dawn exhaled, then closed her eyes and rested back in her chair. A moment later, she stood, swept her plate up in her hands, and made her way into the kitchen.
Since when did children get to tell their parents what they didn’t want to eat? Not in my day, Dawn thought as she paced the floor.
She was the product of the generation that taught you to eat everything on your plate and not to waste food. Whenever Dawn and her siblings took a long time to eat something their mother had made that they didn’t like, she would remind them how blessed they were- then point out that there were children starving in Africa. Even after that, they didn’t like the food any better.
Though she realized Lydia wasn’t much different from her when she was a child, tonight, she had very little tolerance for her daughter’s inherent stubbornness and no intentions of entertaining her inquisitive intellect.
Dawn secretly peeked in on Lydia to see how she was coming along with eating her vegetables. Poor Lydia, she was just sitting there staring at the green peas, occasionally pushing them around on her plate.
She quietly tipped back into the kitchen. Folding her arms, she leaned on the counter and looked out the kitchen window pondering Lydia’s inquiry about eating desert before dinner.
Who does that? Dawn mused.
As she caught a glimpse of her neighbors’ children playing tag in the yard, clips of her own childhood played in her mind like a low-budget movie. She remembered all the fun she had rolling down grassy hills, riding her bike, and dreaming without limitations.
Hmm. Maybe that’s what God intended for us- to begin our lives without any worries or burdens; it’s like God wanted to start us off with cake and ice cream!
Dawn returned to the dining room to find Lydia slouched in her chair, head tilted to the side; she was sound asleep. In the grip of her small, chubby fingers was her favorite Disney Princess spoon cradling three of “d’ose nasty green thinks;” it wasn’t until she pulled her chair out from the table that she saw the other seven peas in a crumpled napkin in Lydia’s lap.
Dawn smiled. “I guess we both had a long day, huh, Princess?”
Using her last measure of strength, Dawn picked up her daughter and carried her to her room. There, she tucked her in the bed and climbed in next to her. As she yawned, pushing the hair softly from her face she whispered in Lydia’s ear, “Tomorrow, we’re having desert first.” Then she drifted off to sleep.
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"Since when did children get to tell their parents what they didn’t want to eat? Not in my day, Dawn thought as she paced the floor."
Change Dawn to Dan and we have a true story...LOL.
Everything about this entry is awesome!
Number 1 on my list!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May God bless and keep you writing such treasures!
Sincerely,
Dan Blankenship