Dean and His Ideal Family

Dean Peterson had an ideal family. His wife, Joann, was active in the church, kept a great home and was a wonderful mom. His kids were all doing well in school and were the nicest children around. Friends, fellow church members and even acquaintances, admired the Peterson family. So he thought to himself, “What can I do to honor this terrific family of mine? How can I impress on them how awesome they are and how happy I am with them?”

Then an idea came. It crept up slowly, almost faded, then reappeared. It began to take hold, and then grew and filled Dean’s heart and mind. He leaped for joy, “That’s it! I’ll make something, something special, that will honor them all.”

He went to the garage and began to work. As he saw his idea begin to take shape, he got more excited. “This is really going to be good,” he thought, “they’re going to love it.”

He worked and worked and worked. As he worked, new ideas came, and he added them to his original design.

Once Joann popped her head in the garage, “Dear would you like some lun…”

Dean cut her off, “Joann, please, this is secret. You’re not allowed to look until I’m done.”

“I’m sorry dear, I just was wondering if you wanted some lunch.”

“No thanks, hon, I’ll get something a little later. I’m pretty busy right now.”

When Joann left, Dean continued to work. He worked so hard he didn’t notice his hunger or the time.

Finally, he heard a knock.

“Yes?”

“It’s me dear. Dinner time.”

“You and the kids go ahead. I’ll just grab a bite later.”

“Uh, Dean, usually we eat together. Couldn’t you just stop long enough to join us?”

“I know, honey, but this is important. Don’t worry, it’ll be worth it.”

“Well, OK, but we’ll miss you.”

“Me too, dear.”

Dean continued to work, until he heard another knock.

“Dear, it’s the kids bedtime and they want you to read them a story.”

“Honey, I know I’ve been out here awhile, but this job is really special, and I want to get it done. Could you handle the story tonight?”

“Uh, alright, Dean. They’ll be disappointed, but I guess it’s OK this once.”

The last knock Dean heard was Joann telling him she was going to bed.

Dean worked on and on, until finally, exhausted, he came in, and not wanting to disturb Joann, fell asleep on the couch.

The next day was much the same. As Dean worked, he kept getting new ideas, and getting more and more excited about his project. “This’ll be so awesome. It’s for my family, I’ve got to put my all into it.”

The project grew and grew, and got better all the time. Dean spent every waking moment on it. He came home from work, and headed straight to the garage. On the weekends, he spent all his time, either there, or buying supplies.

At first, Joann tried to get him to stop once and awhile, but she tried less and less as time went on. The weeks stretched into months, and still Dean worked away on his project for the family.

Dean did miss his family, but he told himself, “It’s for their good, I’ll be done soon and able to spend time with them then. And they’ll just love what I’ve done for them.”

Finally, after the better part of a year had gone by, Dean finished. He burst into the house. “Hey everyone, I’m done! Come and see!”

No one answered, so he tried again. “Hey, where is everybody? Come on out! I’m done!”

Suddenly, the absolute silence in his house struck him. He searched every room, but could find no one.

“Probably just gone shopping,” he told himself. “ Won’t they be surprised when they get home.”

Dean went into the kitchen to get some lunch. As he walked over to the refrigerator he saw a note.

Dear Dean,

If you ever do decide to read this, I guess it means you’ve finished your project. I hope you enjoy it yourself. We’re sorry to miss it, but we just couldn’t take this life anymore. At first the kids cried a little, because they never saw you. It was especially hard at dinnertime or at a basketball or T-ball game. But we figured we could endure it until you were done. Then I started getting tired of taking care of the kids all by myself. I gave up on most of the housework, and started yelling at the kids more and more. This, combined with your absence, caused them to start losing sleep. They cried themselves to sleep, and often woke up at night with bad dreams. This, of course, didn’t help my sleep any, and I just got crankier.

In spite of all this, we tried to tough it out. But then the kids’ grades started falling. That made me realize just how bad it was getting. So I’ve taken the kids, and we’re now living at my Mom and Dad’s. You know the address, if you need to contact us.

Your wife,
Joann.

Dean slumped down it a state of shock.

“What a fool I’ve been,” he said to himself. Then he prayed “Dear God, how could this turn out so badly? I was just doing it for them.”

The thought came to him, “Who were you really doing it for?”

It hurt, but Dean saw the clear answer to the question at once. He confessed his pride and selfishness to God. Then he knew what he had to do. It was hard, but he knew it was the only way.

He first called Joann, begged her forgiveness, and asked if they could meet to begin to repair their relationship. Joann was hesitant, but agreed to meet. She had one condition though. When, she told it to Dean, he said, “Yes, dear, I intended to do that right now.”

And so it was, early the next morning, before most people are up, two beggars were picking through the Peterson’s trash, and discovered an unlikely find.

“Too bad it’s all busted up,” the first one said

“Yeah,” said the second, “we could’ve got a lot of money for it.”

“The world’s full of funny people,” said the first, as they walked away.

What had caught their attention in the trash were the remains of an exquisite wood sculpture, showing a husband and wife and their three beautiful children happily gathered around a fireplace, enjoying each other’s company, in a room that looked remarkably like the Peterson’s den.