Journey of Faith

 Carl, who was just pissed with his 75th birthday party, starts to walk in his known park with his own thoughts. On the sidewalk his feet hurt because of a stone on; so he takes a seat on the bench in front of the lake. 

By seeing the scenic beauty and the calm water of the lake, he's lost in his own thoughts. He is literally upset as his kids were too busy with their life and work. And didn't show up for the birthday party. 

Lost his lovely wife nearly 10 years ago. From that time he's just fed up with life. This 75th birthday was special to him but went in vain. Carl's biggest disappointment is , can't meet with the grandkids. 

Those thoughts work like magic and he is taken back into his mid 30's. He was amazed with the situation. 

Carl remembers it's his parents house , so he enters and knocks on the door. His mom answers and opens the door. She is so surprised and asks him, "how did he come here?" But, hugs him with a bit of water in the corner of her eyes , and invites him to come inside. He enters the living room and asks where his dad is; She replies, he went to the local market for groceries. 

He sees some medicines on the table , some of which have names of his parents. So , he complains to his mom why she didn't inform him about their illness. His mom says , because he was busy. Though, she called him but that goes straight into the voicemail. Carl remembers hearing that message but forgets to do important project work in the office. 

His mom gets two cups of coffee and gives him one , with some chocolate chip cookies, those are his favourites. At this time his father also comes back. He is also very surprised by seeing him. And asks him , "what's he doing here?" Carl answers , "to see you two". And his father's mouth opens only for OKAY. 

Carl is a bit upset with his father's reaction and tells his father. His father says , then what he was doing during the other day when his mother was hospitalised and needed some emergency blood. Before Carl answers, his father replies, OH! you were busy on your vacation. 

Carl can't say a single word against his father's allegations. He knew those all were true. But, with a bit of rage , he says, "I send you monthly wages ,the reason for my business." 

Okay, his father says. And also remembers him about the sacrifices they made as parents for him. His father wanted to buy a car, but that was the due time for Carl's school fees, so the plan changed and he used his old car. 

They can't afford a big house but for Carl and his girlfriend's comfort and privacy they took a house loan which Carl's father paid off still after his retirement. Even , they wanted to go on vacation in Switzerland but that plan didn't work out as Carl needed financial support for his business startup.

Those conversations made the three of them cry and water dripped from their eyes. Carl leaves the house saying buy to his parents. 

And , go straight to the park bench. Sitting there he decides not to go back right now with all of this guilt. So, he made some calls and planned to meet his past self. The past self arrived in a luxurious car and started to find the person who called him. Carl comes in front of him and the old self is surprised by seeing him. He in shock remarks,"Who are you? Seems like a lookalike but old enough." Carl slaps his old self and tells him,"I am you in your mid seventies." He informed him about the conversation with his parents and told him to take good care of them. Even had to take them on a vacation in Switzerland. The old self starts to apologise and cries. 

Carl supports him and calms him down, the old self straight away went to meet his parents. He even took good care of them and the whole family was living together. Seeing them happy Carl thought all the future must be settled down and he came to the park and sat down on the bench. The water in the pond starts to shake and his eyes feel heavy and everything becomes dark. When he opens his eyes he is in his present self on the day of his 75th birthday. To his surprise his kids are searching for him, even his grandkids, after finding him, run towards him and get up on his lap. Taking them on his lap his eyes filled with tears. After a couple of minutes all the family members arrived near the bench with birthday cake and presents. But the biggest surprise for him is his late parents' soul smiling from the sky along with his deceased wife. When the first bite he took from the cake it became his last piece as his soul leaves from his body and flies high into the sky to meet with his parents and wife. Looking down his kids and grandkids were crying but deep down inside their hearts they were happy for this great goodbye. 

He goes there and finds all the similarities of all the things that happened with his parents , which also happened with him . And , understands that in this life he was real busy for establishing his future and ignored his past. Which his childs did with him. 

Now the family tradition gets changed and children are spending time with their parents though they are mature enough. The values of family and friends are really important in this first paced life. It's like a race but only running for the prize can not be the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to get successful along with keeping in touch with family and friends.

Disclaimer : This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, business, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental, viewers discretion is advised. 

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