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Date Posted: 18:59:36 12/22/01 Sat
Author: Just a Person
Subject: Christmas Lights- A Story

It was in the 80's.
The Boy, 12 year old, was in the process of the toughest year of his young life. The divorce had broken the family, robbed him of his step-brother and step-sister, ruined the family business and left him and his mother broke, and nearly homeless.
They were back at the house now, after spending six months in cheap motels and shoddy apartments. They had left the house when the boy's mother decided that she wanted the divorce. The step-dad stayed in the house long enough to destroy the business he and the boy's mother had worked so hard to build. The step-dad wasn't a bad guy. He was just hurt tremendously by the whole thing, and did what was in his power to give some hurt back.
The boy and the mother moved back into the old house. The mother now worked two jobs, but that still wasn't enough. The phone never made it on, and in November, she couldn't pay the eletric company. Occasionally the mother's new boyfriend stay the night, but he was hardly the fatherly type, only a dozen years older than the boy. He was also not much of a provider.
Sometimes, the mother would get a little bit of money and get herself and the boy a hotel room, They spent Thanksgiving at the hotel, and had dinner at the neighboring Waffle House.
Not having power means losing alot of those creature comforts people get used to. Like refridgerators, Tv's, lights, radios, microwaves and heat. And Christmas lights.
Finally, after 6 weeks of no power, the woman got ahead enough to pay the bill, and on a thursday night she told the boy that she payed the bill but the power company would't turn it back on until the next monday.
On friday, the boy got home from school, and recieved a great surprise, the electricity was on. Being a boy, amongst the first things he did was put up the Christmas lights. It had been a matter of no small concern to the boy, to get those lights up for Christmas. He didn't want the electricity back on for many reasons, but those lights were very important. He had always helped his step-dad put them up, but this year, it was all his show.
While he put the lights up, a girl from down the street walked by and said, derisivly, "why are you putting up lights if you dont have any power?" That kinda stung the boy, he didn't want other people knowing that his house didn't have electricity. He didn't want their pity. In fact, the boy is now a man, telling this story under an assumed name for that exact same reason.
The woman wasn't home. She was at work, the late shift at a diner. She worked there at night, 6 days a week, and also worked in an office 5 days a week. Life was tough, life was hard. Each night's sleep only led to another day full of work. Work she didn't enjoy, work that lasted 16 hours some days. Like this day. This friday. The woman was dead tired, and after the day job and then the waitressing job, she was ready to collapse.
The drive home from these two jobs was 30 minutes in a 10 year old thunderbird. It was hardly the lap of luxury. I can not give you any in-depth perspective into her thoughts that night. She was tired, she was miserable, she was beaten down, and she felt bad about the condition of her life. That was natural, anyone would.
When the woman pulled onto her street, she kinda noticed the lights. I am guessing she dismissed them as belonging to the house next door. Then as she drove closer, she realized that they were indeed her lights, on her house.
She stopped the car... and just looked. Looked at the house, with its many colorful lights on it. Looked at the house, which now seemed more like a home than ever. She cried. This was special. She spent several minutes, just sitting there, crying tear of joy, tears of happiness, tears of relief. Her house had electricity, when she got in, it would be warm for once. Her boy would be in there. How she adored him at that very moment. He had put those lights up all by himself, across the top of the house, around the windows and door. He was just a boy being a boy, but in the process, he had created a very special moment in his mother's life.
She went into the house, hoping to hug her boy. He was asleep. According to what she told him later, she settled for kissing him on his forehead, and going to sleep in her nice, warm house and for the first time in months, she had a feeling that everything was going to be ok.

The boy who became the man doesn't get too excited over Christmas lights anymore. In fact, he doesn't get excited over Christmas much at all anymore. If you were to ask him why, with all of the good he did by putting those lights up in 1987, would he not look forward to putting up Christmas lights anymore. I would answer such a question with this. "Never again, no matter how hard I try, will anyone ever be as happy to see Christmas lights as my mother was on that night."

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