Sweet Escape

Real Estate — By Shopping Blogs on March 11, 2009 8:50 am

Dave loved camping and getting away from his real estate management job. There was just something about the cacophonous sounds of the forest that spoke to him. The owls and frogs, crickets and scurrying critters sang to him underneath the stars, as the smoky smell of hickory wood from the camp fire made its way to his nostrils. He remembered all of the times that he and his family had gone camping outside of town near the lake. That was before the divorce, of course, when they were all still together and the boys were young enough to be excited about camping the way that he still was. Rummaging through his local furniture storage unit, he could still smell the faintest scent of hickory from camp fires long since extinguished, and he longed to be able to experience that once more with his sons, even though they were both living with their mother, attending high school, and thoroughly caught up in all of the drama that the life of a teenager has to offer.

Dave’s career in real estate management kept him fairly busy, and even though he was supposed to have every other weekend with his boys. They, too had lives of their own, and they did not always hook up like they were supposed to. Dave understood that girlfriends were top priority to a seventeen year old boy, and that football practice took up a great deal of time. He tried to be easygoing about it, but in his heart, he felt alienated, alone and sad. Rather than feeling sorry for himself, though, he decided to do something about it. Once again, if just for himself, he would take to the forest, sprawl out under a blanket of endless twinkling stars and listen to the rhythm of the night as is washed over him, lulling him to sleep by the crackling fire.

Just a few hours before he was getting ready to leave, his oldest son, Mark, called him to say hello. When Dave told Mark of his camping plans, Mark, reliving the same memories that had worked Dave over just hours before, was practically begging to come with him. In the end, both of his sons joined him for camping, even though it was not even his weekend. Dave and the boys made new memories, talked about the past, talked about girls and sports and coming together more often for a weekend under the stars. Little did his boys know how much of an impact that one event had on his life, bringing him back into the light of loving relationship and out of the shadow of sorrow and aloneness.

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Tags: Real Estate Management