Shadowed Jewels Club

An Unexpected Visitor

To say that my family isn't blessed would be a lie. We are very blessed. Others can scoff at me, but God is real. He proved it to me and the rest of my family. How? I'll tell you.

Some a time ago, my dad worked for a bank as an editor. Dad made a good salary, and we were happy until, somehow, something didn't work out and my dad ended up unemployed. We kids were somewhat oblivious to the whole situation and thought everything was fine, but my parents were worried. My dad stayed unemployed for almost a year; even now, we wonder how we survived. Yet, even though Dad was unemployed, it never felt like it. We still always had enough to eat.

My parents, however, were praying for work, so that Dad could support us. It seem like any work would come our way; but God hadn't forgotten us. Before the year had ended, Dad had another job!

Unfortunately, it was in the next province, and that, to us children, meant that Daddy had to go away for a long time so that we could have food and clothes.

We woke up very early on the morning dad was supposed to leave and went outside to the car to say goodbye to him. That was the most painful moment of my day. I kissed him goodbye and then went inside the house to hide my tears. Dad himself looked as if he were about to cry.

After Dad had left, we went about our school day, but we were still stinging from that morning. Our school performance dropped and we quit learning Afrikaans altogether. Previously, it was dad that taught us Afrikaans while Mom taught us everything else; but now we really didn't want to study it.

From then on, until the day Dad came home, our weeks went like this:

Saturday- have worship, eat, get dressed, study the Bible until the afternoon, eat, distribute books and pamphlets in the neighborhood, come back, wash up, have evening worship, do chores, go to bed.

Sunday- have worship, eat, get dressed, go out into the neighborhood and distribute SDA books and pamphlets, come back, rest, eat again, do chores, have worship, wash, go to bed.

The rest of the week would be like Sundays except we also had to study. On Thursdays, we would walk to the shops (which was a big risk) during recess so we could buy vegetables and clothes. As you can see, it was a pretty simple lifestyle we had while Dad was gone, and yet, whenever I think back, it was a pretty satisfying lifestyle. It would have been even better if Dad had been able to join us.

Cut to about seven months later and say it was… Friday? No, never mind. We kids were sitting on the couch in our pajamas ready for morning worship. Mom came and sat down on a little seat in front of us. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were pink.

"Mom, what's wrong? You look like you've been crying," I asked in concern.

My memory on her response is hazy, but I think she denied it and said she was fine. I left it at that, assuming she was 'just missing Papa.'

"Do you guys want pizza for lunch?"

"But Daddy won't be here to share it."

"No, but he'll buy pizza for himself when we buy and eat when we eat."

That settled it and for the rest of the morning, my mind was on a tightrope, trying to balance daydreaming, schoolwork and drawing.

That afternoon, we set off. I'd like to believe I whistled like a Nightingale, but, I was too happy to whistle! We got close to the pizza place and Mom asked, "Hey, who's that man over there?"

With a sort of excited suspicion, I took a quick glance. My eye stopped at the doors of the optometry shop.

"It's Daddy!!!"

I took off like a shot and, reaching him first, jumped on him and started crying. I'd never felt so happy!

In the end we did get our pizza, and we discovered that Mom had been in on the surprise. I said I was angry with her for not telling us, but I wasn't really. I was just too overwhelmed.

Turns out, Dad had found a job that was close by and decided to visit us since he was gonna come home soon. He only got to visit us once a month. The saddest part of the story was I didn't say anything about underline, outlook or grill; academy had nothing to do with it; and I was too young to even understand existential!
______________________________
I'm so sorry! The next story will be better, I promise!