Giving your only son. My granddaughter gave me a book of stories, written by a guy in Alabama, and I find it quite intriguing. He talks about his folks getting a divorce when he was age 9, and he would live with his father one weekend, and his mother the other weekend. He said this is the worst arrangement ever. You need two sets of everything, and you still forget something that you need, and you are never truly home.
His parents sat him down one night and told him his dad was moving. But first they were taking a vacation in Hawaii, and he would be staying with his grandmother. As they left he stayed at the window until he was instructed to go to his room. He listened to the radio and the local disc jockey had a dedication show which made him think of the song, “I Want To Know What Love ls,” by Foreigner.
He knew it would take his folks an hour to get to the airport, and if he could request they play the song it might save their marriage. He dialed and got a busy signal, hung up again, and did this for 45 minutes till he finally got through. Needless to say his folks didn’t hear the song, and he didn’t save their marriage. It became evident that they were getting a divorce. To a 9-year-old boy this is something that is impossible to understand.
“I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna know what love
I know you can show me”
He’s been living with his dad every other weekend, and his dad has gone overboard to make his life enjoyable. They spent many weekends outdoors hunting and fishing and he was becoming an expert. His one recollection was the fish that got away, and when he brudded about it about it His dad gave him a lecture about concentrating on the one that got away.
Their main meal was hamburgers, instant mashed potatoes, anud peas. His dad loved peas. It was a small apartment so his dad would smash the burgers on a counter no bigger than a school desk. He had a Weber grill on the back stoop, but there was only room for his dad and the grill so he would watch TV. Later he would regret that he never learned to grill burgers because all his buddies were experts.
His one recollection was that his dad ate onions nearly every day, but he couldn’t stand them. One day his dad said he was making him a special burger, and as he bit into it wasn’t too bad, but when he realized it was onions and it made him sick. To this day he still can’t stand onions.
When he was 18 he met beautiful lady, they married and she put through law school. Today he is a respected courtroom lawyer in a small Southern town. They they have three daughters and he has tried to be the best father that anyone could be. Their together thing has been hunting and fishing. They live only an hour and a half from the ocean, and there are lakes all around them. Each girl has their own tackle box and is an expert fisherman.
His only indulgence is a nice boat and a diesel puller, which he feels a bit guilty for, but not too much to enjoy it. The dually even comforts him, after a long hectic day in court. All the tension vanishes as he hears that diesel come to life. He treasures a pistol that his wife got him, and he carries it whenever he is outdoors. Rattlesnakes are quite common in their area. I think if there is any takeaway from this story is that the family unit is such an important thing. Without the family our society eventually dies.
A healthy family is to be treasured.
I grew up in a church where divorce was simply not tolerated, therefore I knew this was not an option. Our church has become lax on this teaching but I still have the same mindset. This has never been an issue because I have a wonderful wife and companion, a hard worker, and I don’t know how I would live without her.
God gave the only son he had, that whoever believes. John 3:16. God gives us a gift, which is free, and all we need to do is accept it. We are here to give glory to God. This is the only thing that really makes sense, and as I get older becomes more precious.
—James Nwuhouser
