by Mary Ann Joyce from the July 8, 2019 issueTagline: Melody struggled with the idea of becoming empty nesters and moving to a smaller home...until her husband surprised her with a beautiful gift.
Observations: Dang! I was going to write an empty nester story, but now I guess I've got to put that on hold for a while. LOL
Okay, THAT WAS AN AMAZING STORY. Way better, in fact, that the story I was working on.
What stands out most to me is how thoroughly Joyce showed us how much these two people love each other and how solid and long-lasting their relationship is. Check it out:
- Hank apologizes for being late.
- Melody doesn't put up a fuss because she understands the reason.
- Melody "knew what her husband wanted to hear" about the grey hair, so she says it to him.
- They tease each other playfully.
- He notices her expression and ditches the humorous tone and tries to comfort her.
- He brings pizza home in an attempt to recreate a memorable picnic in the house that they're planning to sell.
- He gives her a meaningful gift to show he understands how much she will miss their house. Not only that, but he had it made ahead of time, so this guy really thought about the perfect anniversary gift for her.
- He offers her the chance to stay in their big house.
By the time you get to the end of the story, it's very clear that these two would be happy anywhere. I just reread the last paragraph and the hairs on the back of my neck went up (in a good way.) This is a perfect example of why Mary Ann Joyce has so many stories published in Woman's World.
Photo by Zulio via Flickr CC license
5 comments:
This was a great story. I enjoy stories about already married couples. I also loved how their marriage was shown to be a happy one. But I also caught in the first paragraph that they were talking about the "D" word. I knew that probably didn't mean divorce but it took a second to see what it did stand for.
Oh, you're right, Sandy! That early in the story, it certainly could have been divorce.
Enjoyed this great, well-written story. I too thought divorce in the beginning, then the story really hit home because Hubby and I have thought about downs-sizing also.
I actually do not like stories about married couples unless the author takes a fresh spin. This was a very fresh spin. Loved it. Well done, MaryAnn!
Thanks everyone! I wanted to have the reader think at first the "D" word might be "Divorce" but only for a few seconds. I figured there were probably many readers in the age range of the characters who might be going through being empty-nesters and downsizing. I enjoyed putting this one together!
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