A short story I wrote for a Creative Writing Contest

This was entered in a Creative Writing Contest in 2012 and it went to State level, which was actually as high as it could go. So, I was really proud of that. I just recently found out, so that is why I'm sharing it. It is truly a story right from my heart. My style of writing is, more or less, as the Lord gives it, I write it, only checking for spelling errors, and missing a lot, not proper grammar.

The Best Day of My Life

This day started off like the life of any new day. Just getting up and getting the day started was the first goal of the day. For any thirteen year old, that was easy enough. The hard part was containing the excitement that was building within. This day had been marked in red on my calendar since the beginning of the year. As each and every day came and went, it was marked off with a black marker.

I had first marked off days, then with the days came weeks which led into months. The first five months of the year had come and gone with great anticipation for the month of June. Then the days started being marked off, then very soon two whole weeks was gone. There was one day left to mark off, and then all of the sudden, what do you know, June 16th was here. That BIG red-letter day! It was my birthday! Along with that event came the pleasure of doing absolutely anything I wanted to do, within reason, of course. The first day of the year I had said I wanted to spend the day with Maw. She was my mother's mother. If you was a child and knew her, she made you feel like the icing on her cake. Just imagine how she made me feel, her own granddaughter!

The time came for me to go to my grandmothers house. I do not even remember how I got there, I just got there. She had been cooking all morning for my special lunch with her. Just the two of us. You don't even know how hard that is to accomplish. Because everyone wants to be with Maw! But, today was my day! A day with Maw!

Well, she made the biggest fuss over me you ever did see, and guess what, I loved every second of it. She treated me like a little princess, and actually, she even said I was her little princess! How about that! Maw knew I loved her meat loaf, so that was the main course, yummy! We also had butter beans, mashed potatoes, and homemade yeast rolls. She could make the best bread of all time! My favorite dessert is "Vinegar Pie", so she made that with a candle on the side for me to blow out and make my wish. I told her my wish was being lived out as we spoke. I told her also that today was already marked in my diary titled "The Best Day of MY Life". She asked me how I knew it would be that. I told her that simply spending the day with her made it so!

After we ate lunch and got the kitchen cleaned up, we went to the bedroom where she had her special trunk. She said she had not gone thru it in a while and asked me if I wanted to see what all was in it. That had been a dream of mine for as long as I could remember, just to get to take a peek inside that trunk. Now I was getting, not only to see what was in it, I was getting to touch some of it also! Another goal accomplished! As she took out bits and pieces of materials, laces, buttons, photos, and pieces of paper you could see the sentimental value of all these little treasures all over her face. Each and every item had a wonderful story behind it. As she sat telling me story after story, I kept wanting more. Some of the stories were sad and you could see the sadness in her beautiful face. But some of the stories were just down right funny, and those were the best! Anything that made Maw laugh was what I wanted to hear. But even if I could see a tear rise to the corner of her eye, I still wanted to hear her voice, simply because I knew my time with her would be short, even if it was a whole day, it just would not be enough! She told me how I reminded her of my mom when she was my age. Always wanting more stories and to see the treasures in the treasure chest. She said my mom couldn't get enough of that, and I can't either.

She told me stories of her brothers and sisters, back in the "olden days", that was what I called it, anyway. They had a really hard life, she said, but "I wouldn't take nothing for it. Those days made me the person I am today. Just knowing that God was the sustaining factor in our lives, made every day worth living to the fullest, even if it was hard." She told of her love of cooking, and sewing, and reading, and working in the garden, of rearing her children to the best of her ability. She also threw in that she loved Paw a whole bushel and a peck, and laughed one of those laughs that I loved to hear. I was laughing right along with her, just as loud as she was laughing, and suddenly, in the distance came an oh so familiar sound, the sound of an alarm clock!

NO! I don't want to say good bye! The alarm clock was unrelenting and it was time to get up. That awful clock ruined everything. It brought me back to reality and awaken me from the sweetest dream of a lifetime! But, one thing for sure, that dream put a smile on my heart that had not been there in such a long time. As a matter of fact, my heart had not smiled since she went home to be with the Lord five years earlier. I look so forward to having more of those sweet dreams of being with my grandmother and hearing that wonderful laugh and having another day with her that I can call "The Best Day of MY Life!" (written by:pjg-2012)

I hope you enjoyed this story and maybe, just maybe, it helped you remember your grandmother, or another loved one, who has since left this life and gone home to be with the Lord. Sometimes remembering is painful, other times, it is just the thing that can cheer ones heart. Go ahead, let yourself explore some of those memories and dreams of days gone by. Ask God to be a part of all of it and, more than likely, it will end up being a blessing to you and those you share it with.

God bless you as you lay your head on your pillow tonight. Thank Him for seeing you through this day, ask Him to carry you through the night and hit the floor in the morning with joy and praise to the Lord God Almighty for giving you another day to serve Him!!

Hugs, Patty