The little girl was frantic; running through the garden as if it was an endless field of flowers. Trees close by, an apple orchard in one distant corner and a freshly built pond for children to laze in sunkissed. You guessed it right, we’re talking about the Felling Manor.
When Joel’s parents visited London to reconcile with their son, Joel and Keenan’s love grew stronger and they decided to adopt a little girl. To build a real home, a real family and further their life and their love. When the parents heard of this, they were ecstatic at having a grandchild; after all, their only son is now a father. They visited once again, and asked the boys and their daughter to return to Bristol and live their lives together with them.
After heated discussions about who will take care of what, and how we don’t want any hand-me-downs, Joel & Keenan packed their bags, their lives, their child, and decided to get on a one-way train journey. Homecoming is one of the best feelings in the world, and Joel finally had the joy of experiencing it. He was not the prodigal son anymore. The Felling parents were on top of the world, happy to have their son back home, with his family.
The bar runs itself in London, with frequent visits from Joel, and Keenan has set up his own financing firm for the residents of Bristol; after all, loans are needed everywhere. This was the sign of a finally happy family. Togetherness, love, compassion, understanding, compromise, freedom, and a whole lot of laughing.
Sipping on his coffee, looking at his daughter run the grounds, Joel pulls Keenan closer and embraces him with the warmest hug he has ever been able to give. A long life ahead of them, with its own style of ups and downs at every step, milestones to cross, together forever. Little Jane will grow up with two lovely daddies, grandpappy and grandmammy that love her, a life of fulfilment awaits her.
It is beautiful how lives come together. They intertwine themselves in ways that we can never imagine. One day you’re running on a playground, and flash forward, you cannot imagine that you would be trying your best to get through college and life with your deepest love. Life gets hard, but it also gets easier. When we are denied one thing, we are given many more different opportunities.
Joel and Keenan’s story was about loyalty, strength, willingness, bravery, love and kindness. It is a profound way to discover what makes a person tick; whether it is the sadness of being lonely, the fear of being disappointed, the anger of being taken for granted, or the understanding of a situation. Whatever came their way was handled with unity, with strength, love and unconditional loyalty. They withstood every difficulty, and celebrated every joy.
Fast forward 20 years. Two little boys that grew up to be ever-loving gentlemen, were now giving away their darling daughter, Jane, to a man she grew fond of; that took care of her, loved her, respected her and wanted to spend his life with her. Two scared old men who only gave all their love into their little girl, are now going to let her live a life of her own. Little do they know, she will always be their little girl, and her little ones will always be their grand-little-ones! There’s a whole other level of adventure awaiting!
When we recount this entire journey, there is just one lesson to be learnt: Family comes with unconditional love. No judgements, no opinions, no crassness and no banishing. It is a game of compromise, a gamble of trust and a leap of faith; every single time. We are born for each other, we live for one another; so why do we fight, hurt, maim and disconnect?
Understanding love is the core of every emotion. Love has many forms; it is universal, it can be between any two people and more often than not, only the ones our heart chooses. Conditioning our minds to think a certain way because tradition says so, is not important. What we feel, deep inside, our core values, our core emotions; that is what matters.
Like Wet Wet Wet sings ‘Love is all around us; and so the feeling grows’; and it always will grow, despite what the world tunes towards you!
The End
Written By Anisha Masand
Week 45, November ’20
