I have a Christmas story I want to tell you … its about unconditional love. Over 42 years ago, Sandra and I began our life together on 1601 Lynwood. Theres a good possibility that life together in the home we owned all of our married lives will soon be over. Someone may soon become the new owners as we start a new life outside of this town that has been my home for 64 + years. There are many memories of this house that became a home for our family but it was one that almost didnt happen. The house was small … only about 1100 square feet but it was ours and we began our life together in that house in 1972. Several years later we decided to start our family and it would mean a new home or a larger house. We decided to do the latter and add another 400 square feet. We were excited and Dad was determined to build the home we wanted to raise his future grandchildren. Everything was great except it wasnt … materials for the home began to escalate in price … concrete … steel specifically and our home soon found itself $5,000 more than its estimate. Dad knew that our budget was tight and he did everything he could to keep a lid on rising prices. To be honest … I didnt know what we were going to do because I had budgeted only the amount of my raise from my new vocation as a teacher to pay for the home that soon doubled in price. Dad came to my door and offered me the $5,000 I needed to be able to stay in our home. Where he got it … I dont know but I knew he had to make a sacrifice somewhere to do so. Who knows what he did without to make it happen. My promise was to not accept it as a gift but instead a loan. I was to pay a $100 a month for the next 50 months to pay him back. It was to be a loan without interest. As we began to build our family, money was on the short side but we always made do for our kids. We did what most people wouldnt do and shouldnt but we ran up credit cards and were constantly living off of small loans we made with our bank. Then one day after Mom had passed away in 1981 … Dad showed up at my front door. He held in his hand an envelope … handed it to me and left. I really didnt know what it was because it wasnt my birthday and even if it was … why did he hand me a card and leave. When I opened the envelope … there was the hand-written note of our agreement for me to pay back the $5,000 with the words printed with his handwriting ...Debt paid in full … because I love you. I said this was a Christmas story. Not really sure of the exact time but Mom passed away on December 17, 1983 and Christmas was hard that year but it caused me to stop and ponder of the great love Mom and Dad had for me and their sons. They gave what they could for us to have good Christmases and as a child it seemed I always got what I wanted. Maybe not as much as kids get today but I remember the toys, bikes, train sets, Lincoln Logs, Fort Apache set and a BB gun that would shoot your eye out with but it was the gift he gave me that day that I will never forget. Paid in Full because I love you … those were the words and the words I hear still when I think of the Lord my Dad pointed me to as I grew up under Mom & Dads care. Sacrifice is what my Dad did to help me and sacrifice is what my Lord did to save me. Yep … Ill miss this house because it became my home and it will always remind me of the love God wanted me to have through my family as a child to the family I raised within its walls and the family God gave me when I accepted Him as Lord and Savior. You know … even though I called this home for more than 42 years … Im still not home yet!
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 05:55:36 +0000
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