Three In One (Part Three) (A Non-Fiction Piece, A Poem, A Fiction Story I Wrote In One Post)

       To empower and encourage others in a creative way once more I'm sharing three pieces below. May these pieces shared empower and encourage someone; and thank you again for your support!

        Building Time (Non-Fiction)

       It was playtime and we would get time, time to make memories. It was building time and a relationship would be constructed and invested in: parent and child, father and son. Legos would build a legacy....or so I thought; the attention of children is mysterious that way.

         In the change ups constants were present however; even here among the ever shifting, great reward would be shown in our time and activity together.  Even now great joy was being prepared and something vastly more amazing that couldn’t be achieved any other way. Great joy was there in spite of the eccentric ways present.

         It was one room, then one activity, and suddenly they’d switch. There was always something being created, being built in the adventures of this time in parenthood. It was both untamed and exhilarating. Toys taken up, then others laid down to enjoy and make a new landscape in life. To keep pace was challenging, but I’ve always enjoyed a challenge. There was awe and wonder  in the shifting and I refused to miss it. It was foreign to me this journey of family time, yet that wouldn’t keep me, someone who needs structure. Two lives were melded together in the wild waves of playtime enjoyed in that day. Two perspectives came together and built something I didn’t think possible in the unstructured: memories.

         Intentional. Making sure (with all I could) I was engaging, giving attention with effort (emotional, mental and spiritual). It was playtime where we'd do something, more than just physically having fun with toys but in our time together. We would grow and learn unity. We would interact socially and become better…better together. We would move from place to place, toy to toy and game to game with fun as our aim. We’d laugh, learn and love in this great sailing of the seas of father and son recreation.

         It was building time, more than building Legos, and I'm glad....for in seconds that changed where those memories together never will.

                       Hope (An Acrostic Poem)

Hope says "Go forward." and I do,

Open to a grace awaiting me. 

Pensive yet persistent in valleys travelled,

Even when I can't see light sometimes.

The Roads Taken (An Older Fiction Story I Wrote)

              Staring at the last statement owed, memories flooded his thoughts as he prepared for a new start. Over and over each hard day remembered washed upon the shores of his mind. Each empty night of need followed right behind in his pondering. It was long years that almost destroyed him with each buffeting of his will; he almost quit. Slowly however, the tides of ruin were changing and this was the last wave to overcome, the last time such turbulent moments would nearly submerge his dignity. He checked, then double and triple checked the resources available to him as he braced himself for the journey up this last swell, the one that was rising before him. "Just enough. Good.", he thought to himself as he then reflected on the funds available to him, considering the roads he had traveled to get there. He took one deep breath in then exhaled as he made the last call; this would change everything.

                 The roads taken to get here seemed to resist, push back even and fiercely attempt to stop prosperity and the completion he longed for. He refused to give in to such temptation, refused to just settle for “almost there" and he continued forward with his plan. It would be slim in his resources after the debt was settled, it would be worth it though and with each moment he kept reminding himself of this. Picking up the phone for the last time as he began down these rough roads he made the last call. The road to change isn't always quick or easy and this call reflected that as he waited to make this last transaction, slowly travelling down this new path to freedom. "What will you do 'till you get more money after this?", questioned a voice of opposition in his head. "I'll enjoy freedom and the new resources that will replace the lack.", he replied. "What if that doesn't happen?", the voice further persisted. "What if it does?", responded Joe resolutely. In the middle of the back and forth exchange within him a person answered on the other end of freedom: a customer service worker. The transaction began and hope was in progress. As the approval and confirmation was being handled Joe thought about the years of debt, homelessness and debt as he looked around his new place, as he reflected once more on the roads taken to get to where he was now. He thought about the shame felt and the failure that plagued him for what seemed to be most of his life. He wondered again why he had such a difficult time believing he could overcome such hardships. Just then the customer service representative uttered the approval and confirmation. The voices of resistance went away and the debt was paid off.

         Going over to his shredder he turned it on to shred the final letter of a bill he owed on a large debt that he now no longer did. The shredder roared to life, grinding the letter into tiny pieces of confetti, the very same curse to him now became a celebration of prosperity and freedom; new life in a new way on the level roads taken to a better purpose at long last.

Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!