For Every Joy that Passes by Kristi Holl

Since Sarah came into their house with a collection of squealing, noisy little daycare children, Becki’s life has been turned upside down. She desperately wants her birth mother back, in spite of her money spending ways and self-centered attitude that made her father clutch at his chest in pain. “Fuddy-duddy” was what her mother called him.

To get new stepmother Sarah out of their house and out of her father’s life, Becki engages in a power-play tug-of-war with her. Tension begins to gnaw away at the new marriage.

But, Katherine, an elderly friend and confidant of Becki’s (who is slowly going blind—something that Becki fails to notice, so consumed is she with her own problem), helps Becki to see by word and by example that “You learn with every change, to let go of what was. Until you do, you can’t appreciate what is,” and that, “Letting go is the only way to make way for the good things.” Katherine’s accident is the catalyst that clears Becki’s vision.

Once Becki begins to evaluate, put life into perspective, and realizes the hard time her stepmother is having, she decides to take a chance on caring about Sarah and believing that she will be permanent family. She tries to understand Sarah’s feelings. The psychological warfare is over, replaced by Becki’s helping out with the day-care center.

Kristi Holl is a resident of Iowa.