A Lesson in Contentment - Part 4

 Good morning, FFFs!

I hope you've had a lovely week. Mine has been busy, a little crazy, but good.

Last Saturday my sis and I did childcare for a ladies fellowship at church.
Sunday was a normal Sunday except that I worked in the nursery during Sunday School and held a little guy. Such fun! In the afternoon I read. Tried two books and didn't end up continuing either. Then I went out with my BF and flew a kite for a bit. When was the last time You flew a kite?
Monday I mowed the yard for the first time this year. It needed it. I tried to mow around all the wild sweet William. The rest of the day I was trying to catch up on different things that I normally do in the morning.
Tuesday we got snow. All morning. Sometimes it was really heavy and would actually start to stick to things because it was coming down too quickly to melt. But by afternoon it had stopped and everything melted. I wrote 1,500 words that day.
Wednesday was pretty normal. But I had to pick quotes from my 4th of July book. That was a challenge since I've never been much of a favorite quote type person. I was able to get 1,300 words written that day.
Thursday, yesterday I guess it was, my mom, sis, and I went up to spend the day with my grandparents to celebrate my mom's and my birthday. It was a good visit, and then we came home in time for supper. I didn't write last evening. Instead, I started reading one of the other stories for the 4th of July collection. :)
Today at least the 5 youngest nieces and nephews are going to be coming over around lunch time and staying until we're not sure when. Their oldest sister is participating in a "mock trial" for school. This is her 2nd time and while her group won the first event last week, they have a harder team this week to compete against this week. Not sure I'll get any writing in or not.
Tomorrow my best friend and I are going out to celebrate my birthday. We're planning on having a picnic somewhere. Hopefully it will be warm enough to really enjoy it. I hope to write something that day.

Anyway, that's been my week. Add in Camp stuff, real life, emails, and such, and you've got a pretty good look at the business of my week. :) 

I hope you enjoy this next part of this story. I do like Kelsey, Zoe, Wally, and Aunt Olive. Do you?

 

A Lesson in Contentment

Part 4

    Aunt Olive called them into the living room and when they made their appearance, they were motioned to an empty section of the sofa. Plates of the moist lemon cake were handed to them and glasses of root beer. On a low table stood the vase of coreopsis.
    Glancing about half shyly, Kelsey found the other girls, except Candace, looking at Wally who was seated on the love-seat beside his cousin. With a slight shake of her head, she dropped her eyes back to her plate. Why did girls have to be so crazy about boys?
    For some time the room was full of small talk, Kelsey keeping silent and listening as she did every day in school. Finally Aunt Olive set her empty plate down and said, “I think I would like to tell you a little story, if you don’t mind. It is the reason I love these bright flowers so much.” And she nodded to the full vase.
    At her words silence fell on the room; only the soft patter of rain could be heard through the open windows.
    “I was young, just out of high school in fact,” Aunt Olive began, settling herself in her chair and folding her hands. “I had a job in the soda shop and loved every minute of it. But my favorite time was when a certain old friend of mine would walk through the doors. No,” she said, shaking her head at the significant smiles several of the girls exchanged, “he was much too old to be my boyfriend. In fact, he was more like a grandfather. But when I was young, I had found him an interested listener when I needed someone to pour out my troubles to, for my parents were both quite busy. Mr. Williamson would often bring me a posy when he came. It might be a rose, or a wildflower he had picked along the side of the road.
    “One day he came in with a single coreopsis in his hand. ‘For you,’ he said, handing it to me. ‘Because you make every day like sunshine.’ It was so sweet of him, and I didn’t notice the young man who was standing beside him. The young man was his grandson and we were introduced. For several days Mr. Williamson brought me a coreopsis or two each evening. They brightened up my room at home.
    “Over the next few weeks I began to notice his grandson, Ernest. We would talk, and before long he would show up at the soda shop when Mr. Williamson couldn’t. Yes, girls, we fell in love over the course of the following months. We got engaged and planned on being married the following early summer when the coreopsis were in full bloom. But the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor that December. Ernest wasn’t in the army, but he joined before Christmas.”
    A long pause followed, and the room was so quiet that Kelsey distinctly heard the purring of Miss Olive’s cat from across the room where it lay curled up on the back of the love-seat.
    “He was given a short furlough before being shipped out,” Aunt Olive began again, one hand holding something which hung from a chain about her neck. “It wasn’t very long, but it was time I have always been grateful for. We could have gotten married then, but neither of us wanted to. Ernest said he wanted me to be free should anything happen to him, and I–well, I didn’t want a rushed wedding. We wrote to each other often. I wrote every day, and when the coreopsis were in bloom, I pressed one and sent it to him. He carried it tucked inside his small Bible the rest of his life.” Closing her eyes, Aunt Olive drew a deep breath. “He was killed on the beaches at the invasion of Normandy.”
    A gasp came from the girls in the room, and Kelsey felt her eyes fill with tears.
    “The fields here at home were full of coreopsis.” Tenderly she took off her necklace and held it in her open hand: a pair of dog-tags and a ring. For a long minute she sat looking at them. “Mr. Williamson died shortly after the news of Ernest’s death reached us. He hadn’t been well for months.”
    A half sob came from Zoe, and Kelsey gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
    “It’s all right to cry. I did. I still do some times, but when I see one of these lovely little flowers,” and she leaned forward and with gentle finger touched a golden petal, “I am reminded of something my old friend told me the day before he died. ‘Olive,’ he said, holding my hand in his, ‘life isn’t easy. It’s hard, and we may want to hide our faces, but don’t do it. Be like those bright yellow flowers out there. They bloom in the rain because when the sun is shining they kept their faces turned toward it. They may not live long, but they brighten the world wherever they grow. Keep your face toward Jesus Christ, and you’ll be able to smile in the rain as well as in the sunshine. Don’t stop brightening the world just because Ernest has gone. Promise me you won’t turn bitter, Olive Child.’ With his tired, worn hand in mine, and a vase of lovely coreopsis blooming beside the bed, I promised. And, God helping me, I’ve kept that promise. It hasn’t always been easy, but the sight of these flowers always helps.”
    Giving a long sigh, Miss Olive smiled. “I haven’t told that story before, but Kelsey’s gift was such a sweet reminder that I thought you all might like to hear it. You all have the same choice I have, you can frown and wilt under the rain of trials, or you can keep your face bright with the light of Jesus Christ.”

Did you get snow this week?

How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

Do you have a favorite character in this story?