THE STORY OF MEN

I was raised in a “close-knit” family,
“Never a dull moment”, that tells it all.
We celebrated birthdays and reunions together,
And at our gatherings, we’d have a ball!
 
With uncles and aunts and nephews and nieces,
Grandparents, and Grandchildren were there too.
The house would literally burst at the seams,
Do you get the picture I’m painting for you?
 
Well, sure, we had our differences,
No family exists without them.
But at the drop of a hat, they’d bury the hatchet
And say, “Great!  We’ll all be together again!
 
Well, time rolled-on, as it naturally does,
I got married and we settled in our home;
But that first Christmas..Boy! It sure was different!
It was just me and my wife, all alone!
 
It didn’t take long tho, to remedy that,
By the NEXT Christmas, we were THREE!
I asked my wife if she’d enjoy more,
And she patiently answered, “We’ll see.”
 
Well, we had to wait for TWO Christmases to pass
Before the number of our family was more.
Our little boy gained a baby sister that year!
And THAT Christmas, we numbered FOUR!
 
That was great with me, as you can see,
Our family was growing, Land Sakes Alive!
Need I tell you the rest, we added to our nest,
And the NEXT Christmas we numbered FIVE!
 
Now, I’m not saying that five is a crowd,
It seemed just about right to me.
My WIFE said, “Well, shall we try for more?”
And I answered patiently, “We’ll see!”
 
I thought to myself, two boys and a girl;
Shall we try to “even it up”?
It didn’t take long to make the suggestion:
“Darling, why don’t we get us a PUP?!”
 
Well we did just that, in fact we got TWO.
Three kids and two dogs, that’s the scene.
It was then I understood my Grandmothers’ laments,
But she actually had FIFTEEN!

With just our three, I wondered sometimes,
Could we do for them what we should?
Then JESUS entered our lives, all five,
We’d trust HIM, then do what WE could!
 
Well, they’re grown now, all three of them,
They’re pretty fantastic kids if you ask me!
One was ‘snatched’ from the nest, before his time,
And the other two, well they’re finally ‘free’!
 
Yes, ‘free’ to “Do their own thing”, as they say,
They are free to do what they do best.
Tonight as I write marks that time in space
When the youngest has now left our nest.
 
Now they won’t have their dad ‘hounding’ them,
And their Mother has been called to her reward.
My prayer tonight, as I sit here and write
Is, “Jesus, watch over and keep them safe, Lord”.
 
And that the ‘family cycle’ will continue Lord
And there’ll be those reunions once again.
I guess what I’ve written isn’t really new;
It’s just the age-old “Story Of Men”.
 
 
 
                  (God Bless you, Mark, Tammy and Joe!)
                            jac 7-8-84

...