STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Sept 27, 2005? 

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A happy birthday wish goes out to Bev Lochridge and Ronni Shaw from your friends at Storytime Tapestry. Actually their birthday was on Sept 25^th but the newsletter mail server Zinester has been down all weekend.?  Rest assured they did get a personal birthday greeting to show them how much we think about them and appreciated them as well.

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Now on to the good stuff..........

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Today's Queue Stories
~**~**~**~

? IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME

Sharon Bryant

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So many have commented on my husband and I and my friend? going to the gulf area to take supplies down and give a hand where needed.?  Many ask how far do I live from the gulf.?  Some have asked, what made me decide to go.

It's hard to answer so many emails individually, so I'll send this out to all in one email.

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What inspired me??  A long, long time ago, I learned something valuable in life.?  I learned that I will never say again, "That won't happen to me."? ? ?  Many of us watch a horrible scene on television and think that.?  I once never dreamed I'd lose a child when I heard of others losing theirs from kidnappers, molesters, or accidents,?  and illness. ?  I thought I would always watch my child closely? and no harm would come to him.?  I learned the day a big tree came crashing down, there are some things in life we can't control. I learned depression after his death.?  I learned wanting to give up.?  I learned how much a heart can be broken.

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I've taken all the experiences life has put in my path as I walk, yet? I always try and put myself in someone else's shoes.?  I couldn't help but think of the people in the gulf area where I live 200 miles from there and the winds we got in my area from Katrina was not a pretty picture.?  I know how scary these storms are.?  I kept thinking about everyone who lost their homes and have to start over again.

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I feel for people who have worked all their lives to have a decent home, furniture, clothes, and then lose everything.?  I can only imagine standing in front of what was? once your home and know that everything inside is water damaged, or gone.?  It has to be horrible.

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I believe we are all put here on earth for a purpose.?  I think God allowed us to have a mind to think with, a heart to feel with, common sense, and compassion for others. I believe sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring people together.? 

We have become a nation of speed, everyone hurrying here and there, we don't stop long enough to look around us and realize what's really going on.?  ? I believe if a hand is needed, and we have a hand to lend, we should do it.

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My trip to the gulf area showed me the destruction a storm can do.?  But it also showed me that so many are grateful just to be alive and have their family members alive, that possessions really didn't seem so important.

I've many times said, I'd give up anything I had and live in a tent without electricity and? running water, if I could have my son back.?  His death taught me that life is the most important thing we can have on this earth.

Some people feel it's possessions, get the best of this, have more than that one, but to me.........it's not. For I feel to love and be loved is the greatest thing any of us can know.

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I met a lot of people on this trip.?  I hugged so many, I can't count.?  But I saw hope in their eyes.?  Some would tell me what they'd lost, and I'd look at them, and they would say, "But we're all safe and no one in our family was hurt so we are blessed."?  Some said, "We'll just start over, but we'll make it."?  And I'd say, "I know you will." But so many expressed the happiness of just being alive.

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When I saw the massive piles of lumber and metal in front of so many homes, I knew the weeks ahead and for some, months of hard work they will have to do.?  I know it will be tough.?  I've learned not much in life is easy.?  My own life has taught me that. That's why when people ask me, "How are you today?"?  I smile and say, "I'm alive."?  I mean that.?  For I recall the years I didn't want to be alive, when depression put me into a hole so deep, I didn't know if I'd ever get out.

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I met a woman yesterday who is taking chemo.?  My sister attended a funeral today for her best friend who lost her battle when chemo didn't work.?  Both are younger than I am.?  Both are mom's with children and husbands.

I can't help but think of Carol's husband and her two girls tonight after burying their mom today.?  I know that pain.?  I know what I felt when I lost my mom.?  I guess that's why I picked up the phone and dialed a number a thousand miles away and said, "Hi Dad, just checking on you to see if you're ok."?  I thank God He has let me have my dad this many years.?  He'll be 85 next month.?  And he seemed more worried about me being in the path of these hurricanes.?  That's a parents love, no matter how old we are.? 

For that, I am the one who is blessed to have a dad who loves me.

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If only people would look around and see reality.?  And realize that no matter how bad things seem to be in their lives, there are others who are facing worse.?  And sometimes, it takes a harsh blow of tough times to make us stronger.?  I've been there more than once in my lifetime.

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So, I went to the gulf and gave a hand because I wanted to lift some spirits.?  I wanted to hug someone and say, "This will pass."?  And I wanted them to know that people will stop and take the time to help others.?  For I know, it could have been me.

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Sharon Bryant

www.angelsremembered.tk

In memory of my son and all who have lost a child

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Sharon Bryant

1946 @bellsouth.net

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About Me:

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? I am Sharon Bryant,? 59 years old and reside in Alabama.

I lost my child in 1977 when he was five and I write
articles on bereavement often.

I am a chocolate/candy maker and also a wood crafter and knitter.

I am married to a wonderful man, and have two remaining children, a daughter 25,
Amy, and a second son, Randy, age 22.

My main goal in life is to help those who
have lost a child. My website is: www.angelsremembered.tk

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~**~**~? 

IN A WHITE ROOM

Gregory Hernandez

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The room is white, painted walls, bare canvas.?  The plush carpet underfoot is the color of the wisps of clouds at the edge of a storm.?  There is a computer terminal and desk set at one end of the living room.?  To the right of the desk where the computer sits is a large window which takes up the entire wall. Outside of the window the landscape is obscure by a thick mist, as white as the room??™s walls.?  A woman walks into the room; she has grey hair with streaks of silver.?  She is carrying an animal, cradling it like a baby.?  The animal looks something like a koala bear, with its wide black snout and its short brownish wiry fur, but there are differences.?  Something about its ears is feline, and its paws are like a chimpanzee??™s hands.?  The animal seems to weigh less than it should, and the woman carries it easily.?  She looks at the room, looks out the window, stares at the computer, sits down and begins to write.?  When she sits at the terminal, the animal seems to no longer be there; she is free, unencumbered.?  She writes:?  I AM AWAKE AND AWARE, ALIVE TO EVERY POSSIBILITY.?  She sits back, and suddenly the animal is there at her shoulder yet again.?  She looks out the window, there seems to be a hint of mountains in the distance.?  She hears the flutter of heavy wings outside.?  She can see nothing, but the wings sound too heavy to belong to mere birds.?  What, then?

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She stands up.?  There doesn??™t seem to be a corridor or door leading from the outside to her present domicile.?  How then did she get there??  The matter is of little concern somehow.?  She stands at the right corner of the living room, standing looking at the window.?  She moves to the center of the room.?  There is a kitchen she can??™t see any other way.?  There is a warm smell from the kitchen ??“ did she leave a pot on the stove??  Somehow the thought doesn??™t fill her with concern.?  She looks back at the computer screen.?  There is a message.?  Something she hasn??™t written.?  LOVE LASTS the message says.?  Was she in love??  She wondered.?  The message disappeared and a faded picture on her desktop showed her, holding a stuffed animal.?  The animal looked a lot like the animal that kept appearing and disappearing on her shoulder.?  She remembered:?  her son brought her the stuffed animal.?  She remembered further back:?  when she was little, she had owned a stuffed doll, when her mother thought she was too old for that sort of thing, she had given away the doll.?  She missed it terribly and had cried for days.?  When she told her son about the doll (in relation to something else) he had gone out and bought the doll.?  He had buried the doll with her when she died.

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The thought brought her up short.

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She??¦died??  She thought about the love she had for her son.?  She was sad, but couldn??™t bring herself to cry.

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Another message appeared on the screen ??“ YOU ARE READY TO COME TO ME NOW.

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Suddenly, she saw that there WAS a door leading out of the domicile, one she hadn??™t seen previously.?  She moved towards it.?  She took a look back.?  Something wonderful was cooking in the kitchen.?  She recognized the smell ??“ rice and beans.?  She left the room.

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Gregory Hernandez (gregory499@yahoo.com) has been a published writer, a model, and a singer in a rock n roll band. He currently plays drums and sings in a Christian band in New Jersey.?  He wishes you well.

? ? ~**~**~

The Beginnings of Me!

Saskia Nienna Steidel ??“

The voice sang loud and hard and created my heart. From this moment it started to beat. But it was still just a thought. Or a dream in my mothers soul. This dream became a wish, the wish became a hope, the hope became a call, a name. And then it was me.

My mothers voice called my soul. My mothers dream created my body. I grow. My heart was beating like a drum, like the answer to her singing.?  It was time to go.

That is where the beginning of ME is. The beginning of Saskia, the beginning of Astrids daughter, Sebastians little sister, Svenjas older sister, Davids love.

It was a long way. To decide to ???become a body??? is an important and uneasy decision. We all decided to do it. That is why we are here. For me, I can say, that I had no other choice when I heart the voice calling for me. The soul, the thought, the ME answered. The ME started looking for material, to create the outside, the body. The ME decided, what it would want to learn in this life, and it created the background that was needed.

Later on, the outside began to grow faster, the ME started to step back. Now it was the time of my brain, of my thoughts, of my believes. I often felt bad, sad, mad, sick??¦.. But the background was needed. It took me a while to understand this. And it was hard.

I also felt loved, needed, wanted, trusted??¦.. That stopped me for a while from thinking and following my way, because I felt so comfortable.

But then another voice called me. The outside had enough time, the body was alright. The voice called for ME. And I went on. Another journey. Hard sometimes; uneasy and painful very often.

But one day, I was able to see and hear ME in my body, in my mind, in my dreams. I was able to let ME be a part of my life again. The ME, that was before this body, before this brain, before this life??¦.

And I understood, why sometimes the pain was needed, I understood, why sometimes the fear was needed. I understood that I could never regretted, without regretting who I am. And that I cannot regret. It is ME, now, here! In this body, with this body. But I am more.

It started with a voice, a thought, a call. My heart started beating again??¦??¦

Saskia Nienna Streidel

saskiaofthewoods@yahoo.de

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My name is Saskia Steidel, I am born the? 17.10.1981 in Germany. I live in a small?  village in the middle of the woods and love to write. Right now I study learn therapy and music therapy and I just quit my job as a ticket manager in the administration of an soccer club, to have more time to study and to write and to work as a Nanny, what I really love. So far I published poems and some other pieces in different books and published one book called "Am Ende der Nebel". Right now I am writing on a children??™s book.

~**~**~

LET IT SHINE

By: Joseph J. Mazzella

? ? ? ?  Some dear old friends of mine returned for a visit with me this evening. There were so many of them ,in fact, that they wouldn??™t all fit into my house. We had our reunion in my backyard then. It was only fitting too since that is where we have had all our best times together. We have held this same reunion each Summer for a while now. I always get so much joy out of it. It is always such a delight to see my dear old friends, the fireflies again.

? ? ? ?  I hope that my friends continue to stay on in my backyard throughout the Summer. I always enjoy seeing them light up the large open field and woods beyond it. Their shining lights can be seen from the grass line all the way to the top of the tallest trees. They can make the mightiest Oak blink more joyously than a Pine tree at Christmastime. Seeing them lights up my own soul as well and always fills me with such love, peace, and happiness. They always remind me that no matter how tiny my own light seems at times I can still use it to help brighten the world.

? ? ? ?  I know that our own light can seem small at times. Just like the fireflies dancing in the night, however, every little bit of light we shine causes another to shine more of their??™s. Their light then causes another and another to shine their light as well until the whole world is lit up by our goodness, life??™s joy, and God??™s love. We all may have just a tiny little light, but the light of God connects all of our souls. We all may have just a tiny little light, but every time we share it we help all of God??™s Children to light up the world with His love.

? ? ? ?  Always remember to shine your light then. Let it shine through your laughter and smiles. Let it shine through your caring hugs and kind words. Let it shine through your loving heart, your joyous soul, and your oneness with God. Let it shine and inspire others to shine theirs??™ as well. Let it shine all through your day, all through your life, and for all eternity.

Joseph J. Mazzellajoecool @ wirefire.com

Joe lives in West Virginia with his wife and three children. Various dogs and cats have adopted Joe and his family for their own. Joe enjoys his family, beauty, love and hearing from his email friends. Joe likes to take the time to smell the roses and enjoy the beauty around him as he goes about his daily life.? ? 

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? SENIOR WRITERS

Chief Writer: Sharon Bryant

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? Agee, Vance;? Apted, Violet;? Baker, Kathy; Batt, Al;?  Berry, Nell;

Boda, Ginger;? ? Buhagiar, Victor; Cassady, B.J.;?  Cavalera, Robyn; Crider, Mark;? 

Deming, Barb; Doherty, Maria; Goodier, Steve; Halley, Ellie Braun;

Harris, Kathy Anne;? Hunt, Sharlette;? 

Jacobson, Gary;? Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Jenkins, Pamela;

Liles, Norma; Lock, Joyce; Mazzella, Joe;? Ojeigbe, Georgewaters;

?  Petry, Dianna Doles; Roberts, Susan;?  Shiveley, Debra; Shaw, Bob; Sims, Richard; Swarner, Ken; Vaknin, Sam; Verhoeff, Jan

Walker, Bill; Walker, Joe;? Warner, Gorden K;

Whirity, Kathy;? White, Robert;

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STORYTIME TAPESTRY STAFF

Publisher: Carol Roach-founder

Moderator: Thelma Hartselle-co founder

Moderator: Clara Westerfer

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