This is a membership Morsel from “Too Young to Retire”. A children’s book should
always be a good adult book. This book is a story about a lighthouse that retired and then was recreated.
There once was a proud lighthouse named Larry sitting on a rocky outcropping guarding all the ships that sailed by. They would acknowledge him and would blow their whistles and clang their bells as they sailed by. Besides his light he had a beautiful red stripe spiraling up around his tall white slender tower. His keeper lived in Brenda who was the brick house next door, and she kept Larry the lighthouse company through the years.
The different keepers through the years would climb up the stairs to Larry’s light and polished it every day. The keeper’s wife always had a small garden where she grew vegetables and they would plant flowers all around the base of the lighthouse. Brenda loved the flowers the keepers wife would have planted because they made her feel so pretty.
Larry worked hard for over a hundred years, shining his light in the night and blowing his foghorn when the pea soup weather would come in. He proudly stood tall with his gleaming white tower and red stripe showing all the ships that came by where the rocks were.
One day he noticed that the ships had stopped clanging their bells or blowing their horns as they sailed by. He could not figure out what was going on till he heard the keeper talking to another man.
He was saying that now that all the ships had GPS, Larry the lighthouse was no longer needed. He was being retired from service. He could not believe his ears. After all the hard work he had done through the heat of summer and the cold of winter he was no longer useful.
A short time later a moving van pulled up and the keeper and his wife had all their things loaded into it. They came around and said goodbye to Brenda and him. Larry remembered all the good times the four of them had through the years and the keepers wife cried as they drove away. Larry and Brenda felt they had been abandoned and felt they were worthless.
Larry wondered what would become of him. The little bit of grass around him went wild, the red strip started to fade, the white paint started to peel and when the little kids came around, they threw rocks at his and Brenda’s windows, breaking them and letting in the weather.
Larry was so mad and want to chase them away. All he could do was act scary. A little later men came around and put plastic sheeting over the broken windows and boarded everything up. Years went by and Larry and Brenda wept for the good old days.
Then one day, two people showed up and started to walk around the property. One commented that the place looked like it was in terrible shape and maybe it should be torn down. The other commented on the fact that Larry was well built and tearing him down would cost a lot of money. Larry feared for himself, and Brenda and they talked about what this could mean? Larry tried to blow his horn but it just hung there useless.
Soon some other people came by, and they walked inside of Brenda talking about what they do with her. She let her shutter fly open and she let in all the sun light. Even though her floors were dusty the sun showed that they were still beautiful floors and she had great rooms.
Then they climbed up Larry’s stairway. It was rusted and its railing was in terrible shape but Larry made sure they were safe going up it. Up at the top there were bird nests and debris, but the men did not seem to notice all of this. They talked about the view and what they could see and how wonderful that the light house was still standing.
Larry talked to the wind and it sang a beautiful song just for these people. With the waves and wind the two people were truly spell bound.
A couple of weeks later they came back with some other people, and they all toured Brenda, and measured Brenda’s rooms and talked about all the places they could up grade her. They made notes about Larry and what he needed. He heard them say this is definitely worthwhile saving and we can even make this a destination bed and breakfast.
Soon trucks pulled up and men got out and started to work on both of them. Larry’s got a through bath and a new coat of white and red paint. Brenda got all new windows; the workmen removed her old plaster and gave her a new coat of insulation to keep her warm in the winter.
They sanded her floors, installed electricity and gave her new plumbing, a kitchen and bathrooms. She proudly showed off all her improvements to Larry. Besides the paint he got a new set of stairs to the top, and new windows. And they even fixed his fog horn. He let out a great bellow that could be heard for miles.
The tall grass and weeds were cut down and flower beds were planted. Soon a man and wife moved in, and they hung a sign outside that said Larry and Brenda’s bed and breakfast. They were both so proud to be useful again and having people live there.
At night Larry’s light would shine again, and every so often the new owners would let Larry blow his horn to the delight of people who came to visit. All would climb to the top of Larry’s tower and walk around the balcony on the outside.
Larry looked at Brenda and said, “It’s good to have purpose again.” They lived happily ever after. People are like Larry the Lighthouse and Brenda, the grounds keeper house. They are happiest when they have a purpose to get up for and take on their day. Join Too young to retire at Patterson2Y2R.com and find your new purpose. [AP3]
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