McGee: Wind brings back golden memories

Coming to work the other day, I noticed the bright dawn reflecting on the office windows and remembered a story my dad told me about "The House with the Golden Windows."

As a young guy I was forever ramblin' around in the family car. One weekend he and my mom went away and when they came back he wondered aloud, very aloud, how I managed to put 532 miles on the family car while they were gone.

"Let me tell you a story," he said.

"There was a boy who grew up in the mountains in a simple cabin," said my father. "He may have lived in a little cabin but he had his mother and father's love, a warm place to sleep and good food. Every afternoon he'd look across the valley and see a grand house that had golden windows. It was a big two-story house and with the glow from the golden windows the place was a bright beacon on the hill. The boy thought to himself, 'Someday I'll have that house with the golden windows.'"

"So the boy grew up. He worked and worked. He dug ditches, he shoveled coal, he went into the town and got a job at a store. Then he became the store manager and finally the store owner. One day he bought the house with the golden windows. He moved in and was happy. Then one morning he looked across the big valley and saw the little shack he once lived in had golden windows. The morning sun was shining on his old home place and the windows reflected the golden sunshine."

"See?" said my dad. "He should've been satisfied with his home."

I thought it was interesting for the story to be one of my dad's favorites because he was always changing jobs, thinking there was a better position somewhere.

I reckon he was looking for his house with "the golden windows."

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life.

Contact him at: [email protected]