For d’Verse Poets Pub: https://dversepoets.com/2020/10/12/prosery-telescope-of-time/
The Visit
We were going to meet him again. We hadn’t seen him since we were kids. He was so mean, grouchy, and just seemed like a monster. How could a man like that be the father of someone like our dad?
Debbie and I walked slowly up the walkway. We could see the curtains move in the window; he must have been keeping an eye out for us. As we got to the door, it opened slowly.
Standing in the door was a little man, barely five feet tall.
“Debbie, Michael, it is so good to see you. It has been so long since I have seen any of my grandchildren!”
Debbie and I looked at each other and smiled. He was just a sweet old man. ‘We look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time’.
“Hi Grandpa!” we said.
©2020 CBialczak Fiction
Great storytelling. It’s funny how time changes things isn’t it. Glad they were able to share time with him when he’d become a kinder and gentler person ❤
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Yes, its like when you remember something from when you were a kid and when you see it as an adult you are amazed at how different it is than what you remembered.
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I honestly was not expecting the ending! I love that it ends on a positive note and that with time, things and people can surely change for the better. Beautiful and emotional writing.
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Thank you. I was thinking about how young kids sometimes think older people are “grumpy” or “mean” when they don’t really know.
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I love this surprise reunion/happy ending! Just made me smile 😃
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I am pleased the girls were reunited with their Grandpa, and that he didn’t turn out to be such a monster after all!
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Right?!?! I think sometimes, especially as a child, you get something in your head and it is very hard to change that viewpoint.
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I’m glad this had a happy ending. I also wonder why he was so mean, and how sad to have all those wasted years.
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I think most of it is really just how kids perceive things. You know if they don’t get everything they ask for you are “mean”…I think age helps take care of some of those misconceptions.
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That’s two pieces about grandparents in a row, Christine, and I hadn’t read any in a long while! Yours reminded me of my father’s father, who we thought was mean and grouchy, mainly because that was what we were told – until I spent a few weeks with him and my grandmother and I got to know him better.
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I don’t remember my grandpa that well, but when I “picture” him, I see him as formidable and big…who knows.
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Our position in time does change our point of view. I’m glad they reunited! (K)
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Age definitely has you seeing things differently
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Isn’t it interesting how time in maturity changes our view of things. I think we’ve all experienced that, and you’ve written well here to express it. Find Writing Christine.
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Thank you! I remember my grandpa only a little bit, he died when I was a little girl, but when I think of him I “see” a big, formidable man.
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Maybe he softened with time, but often grandfathers seem scarier than they really are…
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Exactly, that was my exact thought
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Your piece reminds us that times change, people change, and our perspectives change as we grow older.
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Exactly!
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I am so glad this prose piece had a happy ending and that everyone was reunited 🙂
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Little kids sometimes find “old” people intimidating, you realize later in life that they aren’t so scary
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A sweet ending to what could have been a terrible outcome…
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