Melanie's Journey

By Mandi Stewart Henkes

Melanie Esther Gresham is a divorced single mother who is struggling with many things: anxiety, finances, anger, etc. Within a year's time, she has lost two close friends and her grandfather. Her grandmother, with whom she's extremely close to, has Alzheimer's that has progressed rapidly. Mel, although a very faithful woman, is like many other Christians and struggles with understanding God's will; she's always secretly wondering, Why did God let this happen? Her daughter Journey is her entire world and quite an outgoing and spunky young lady. Although Mel used to be those things herself, the anxieties and responsibilities of being a single mother along with the pain and suffering from her divorce and the loss of many loved ones has truly taken a toll on her. After rushing to the hospital to meet her mother because Grandma's condition has suddenly worsened, she stumbles into what seems to be a dream world. There, she walks through her old childhood home (which burned down decades before), and she meets and visits with many special people (that are no longer living). Each of them offers her stories and advice that help her with the things that have cause her to be so careworn.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644924976

Book preview

cover.jpg

Melanie's Journey

Mandi Stewart Henkes

Copyright © 2019 by Mandi Stewart Henkes

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

1

Stormy Weather

Rain, ugh! Isn’t that just perfect? Melanie Esther Gresham cynically thought as she reached for the knob to turn on her windshield wipers. Melanie’s frustration grew as the traffic thickened and the drops continued to plunge onto the glass of the new vehicle she recently had to buy. It’s not that she doesn’t love the new car scent and the smooth ride that her sporty SUV has to offer, but the demand for payment that shows up in the mail box every month seems to put a big damper on her excitement. For a single mom who has been struggling and desperately trying for several years to get back on her feet financially after an ugly divorce, a new vehicle would not have been anywhere in her thoughts had the Dot not given out.

The Dot was the unfortunate name given to Melanie’s small black car by her sister-in-law Sloan. Apparently, as she watched Mel putter out of the driveway after a family gathering one evening, it occurred to her that the tiny vehicle looked like…well, a tiny dot. Isn’t it funny how the description of something can often become its nickname? It may not have in this case had Sloan not shared her thoughts with her husband, Melanie’s brother Kyle, and their son and daughter, Taylor and Elle. But she did, of course, and then, being the comical teenaged niece and nephew duo that they are, Taylor and Elle thought it’d be a great idea to also spread the news to Mimi and Grandpa Bud that Aunt Mel’s car had a new name.

After that, the name stuck, and Mel cringed every time someone referred to her unattractive yet rational car by its fairly given title. Although it was as far from hilarity as possible when her car decided to retire on the side of Hwy 21 in the heat of Texas summer, it was later joked that on that day the Dot became the Not. Mel’s family didn’t always pick the best times to joke, but they always did it out of love.

As Melanie reached to give a quick push to the power button on the radio in hopes of ending the annoying static that had taken over the radio station, her yesterday-morning coffee was caught in the crossfire and spilled onto the passenger side floorboard.

Well, there goes the new car smell and the perfectly clean carpet! Now I guess I’ll just have to dish out more money to have the carpet shampooed before it mildews, Melanie muttered aloud sarcastically and with a great deal of aggravation. Everything seemed to be going wrong lately, and Melanie felt as though she was about to break. She strove to be strong for everyone—for her mom and dad, her grandmother, and, most of all, for her daughter Journey.

Melanie had not, so far, been able to give Journey the kind of life she’d always imagined providing for her child. Journey did not hurt for any kind of material thing nor had she ever lacked attention, love, or comfort in any way. She had always been a much loved and perfectly cared for child. But the stack of unpaid bills, the house full of unfinished projects that she never seemed to have time for, and the every other weekend drop-off and pick-up arrangement set by the court during the divorce were all constant reminders that the fairy tale Melanie had dreamed of for her beautiful daughter was not the life that her child was born into.

Because of this, Melanie’s days were often filled with anxiety and agonizing thoughts. Will Journey ever know what it’s like to come home from school to a beautifully groomed yard, enter a house filled with the smell of freshly baked cookies, and be greeted by a smiling mom slipping the supper casserole into the oven? Will her evenings ever be filled with nice family dinners during which everyone, including a father figure, gathers around the dinner table, each member happily playing their role? Will she know the kind of comfort and stability that can only be offered by a blissful family unit like I had when I was a child, with two parents at home? These thoughts seemed to be constant for Melanie.

She wondered if she would even be able to give Journey a sibling. After all, she was soon to be thirty, and the closest thing she’d had to a relationship with a man over the last few years was the one she had with her best friend Sebastian, but they’d been friends since junior high, and everyone knew that they were just the best of friends and that romance had never been a part of their connection.

Between her steady anxiety, her busy work schedule and her inability to sleep through an entire night, Melanie had made an effort to find comfort in things that were not the best for her health. Pints of chocolate ice cream, drive-thru windows with dollar menus, and late-night snacks had proven unsuccessful as a coping aid. To make matters worse, Mel’s attempt to find comfort in food unintentionally racked on close to 100 lbs. to her already not so thin body. This bothered Melanie more than most people knew, except for Journey. She hated that her mom always seemed to be punishing herself for something by trying out the latest diet. She noticed that even when her mom looked stunning to everyone else in the room, Melanie was hidden away in baggy clothes and a dark corner.

Journey constantly prayed for her mother. She hated that Mel had to work so much and was always so exhausted. Journey had always been very grown up for her age. At the age of eight, she had figured out on her own that everything her mom did was done out of love. So she tried to help around the house as much as possible, usually by picking up laundry and keeping her room clean. Well, most of the time anyway. She may be grown up for her age, but she is still an eight-year-old girl.

Journey only wished her mom could see how amazing she was. Her mom was her hero. She believed she was the strongest person alive, which is why it was so hard to witness her mom having such a bad day. Journey knew that her mom had been overwhelmed with the quick progression of her grandmother’s Alzheimer’s and the recent loss of her grandfather and two close friends. All this had happened in a matter of a year’s time, which had not offered an adequate bereavement period for