Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: The Family Home (05/29/08)
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TITLE: AT HOME WITH MARK | Previous Challenge Entry
By Hope Grizzard
06/01/08 -
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Church was over until tonight’s service. All said their ”goodbyes”. Putting his arm around Mae, Mark squeezed her up tight, saying softly, “See you later, Gal.”
Eager to get home, he rushed across the road to his wife. Sug had a Sunday feast waiting. He wanted sandwiches and salad, and her attending church. He wanted her singing in the choir with her beautiful voice. Together they sang in other churches at Family Reunions with the entire family. Wow what fun they had.
The Church, Chartered in the early forties, was growing. Mark and Mae’s parents were charter members. The family was just as much home in church, as in their own homes which were within six houses of the other.
Mark, a very friendly man in his late forties, although thankful for his textile mill occupation, needed to relax following work there. Mark, with his winning smile, after a very trying week at work, was looking forward to being with his family and away from the work stress.
“Hot Dog! Friday night! Wrestling’s tonight. Sounds like a good idea to me,” he thought. He heard of men going to bars and clubs, drinking alcoholic beverages and chasing women.
Nevertheless, he did not do these things, and preferred the relaxation with his family, kick off his shoes, and get off his pained feet and legs.
Tonight they would go to the grocery store for the week’s supply first. He could hardly wait to eat the delicious evening meal, and be engrossed in the matches. Dot watched them with him.
Following the evening meal, Sug put the food away; Dot washed the dishes, and noticed her mother unusually mumbling a lot tonight. When she completed the groceries, a bad frown on her face, walked out the door, and sat on the stoop.
“What’s wrong with Mama?” Mark asked their daughter. “I don’t know Daddy”. Mark went outside, and when he came into the house again, he motioned toward Sug’s family, saying, “We are going to Granny’s, wantta come along?”
“Yeah!” Dot had finished the dishes. She loved watching wrestling with her Daddy, but if they were going to visit family, she was ready. She hurriedly put her shoes on.
Sug’s family lived only three miles away in the next little community. “Hey, Orell. You, too Carrie”, Sug said to her brother and his wife. About that time, their surviving sister, Zennie and her husband Clyde, entered their parents’ home; they all lived in side–by–side homes.
Sug’s siblings had no children, so Dot and Ronald, {living in Greenville with his wife and their two children} were special unto them. Lucy, their other sister, had died several years ago with cancer. “How ya’ll doing today?” Zennie said. “Okay”, “Fine”, “Alright” were the responses. “Hunky Dory”, Mark replies.
After talking with her, Mark saw Sug needed to get away from her beloved home. She stayed there 24/7, except grocery shopping. She had never mentioned this to them. Her work was her home, making it beautiful for her family, and always had a hot meal for them to enjoy upon their arrival from work. She just needed some relaxation.
They began their adventures on Sundays, following church, {unless Ron and his family visited} taking a picnic, {it sure tasted good about mid-afternoon}. They made short trips to the mountains. Trying to please his wife, making her happy on their excursions, he would say, “Wonder where this road leads off to?” leaning over to kiss her, following the road.
Compromising is good when you think of the other person’s needs and wants. It made life easier: Mark still watched his wrestling with his daughter, and the ball games on Saturday and Sunday were limited. They all saw things on their outings, which they would not have been able to do, had they stayed home.
In a relationship of any kind, the parties need to compromise, have great communication and thoughts of the other’s needs. In doing this, you eliminate the flare-up or the blast that occurs later.
We read this in the Bible: “Where the treasure is, there your heart will be also.” For years people say, “Home is where the heart is.” Everyone needs rest also, for even the Creator did on the seventh day.
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