STORYTIME TAPESTRY

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

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Oct 22, 2005? 

Today??™s Announcements:

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A very special Happy Birthday goes out to our beloved Norma Liles

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Hi Carol.?  I am down here in the Gulf area still.? ?  Going over to Gulfport and Biloxi on Monday.?  Have been to Louisiana.? ?  Bay St. Louis is all torn up.

Sandra Lewis Pringle

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

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

COLORS OF THE HEART

Sharon Bryant

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Have you ever sat back and thought of some of the wonderful things you have seen in your life??  I do that sometimes.?  Being a person that loves to see and photograph scenery, I have been lucky enough to see many places and witness beauty in my country.

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I've always loved the mountains.?  I wasn't raised in the mountains, but there is something about their majestic heights that are so beautiful to me.?  The Smokey Mountains offer views that can take your breath away.?  I love going there in the fall of the year when the colors are turning.?  But then autumn has always been my favorite time of year.

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Growing up in a northern state where colors? are abundant in fall, I miss that today.?  Though there are beautiful trees in the south, the colors are just not as vibrant as in the north.?  I planted a red maple this year and a Japanese maple to try and recapture something from my past.

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Yesterday I looked at the woods near my house and my mind went back to another woods in a small town in Michigan.?  How I remember looking out my dining room window mornings as I was having a cup of coffee, taking in the beauty of the fall colors.?  How I used to love to walk in the woods, hearing the leaves crunch beneath my feet.?  I miss that.

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But most of all, I miss someone who used to walk alongside me in those woods.?  A little hand in mine with love in my heart, showing a little guy the different kinds of trees, and telling him stories about when I was a little girl? when I? used to walk in the woods with my dad.?  I remember dad and my grandpa putting a target up one fall against a big maple tree, both teaching me how to shoot with a bow and arrow.?  I remember my brother and I climbing in the trees, hiding, seeing who could climb to the highest limb.

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Fall always brings back so many memories for me.?  Ironically, it was that time of year my life changed also.

Having so much beauty around me, tragedy still found its way into my life.?  Fall claimed the life of the little boy I used to walk in the woods with.

I don't walk in the woods anymore and crunch the leaves beneath my feet.?  Sometimes my heart will beat a little faster when I look at the fall colors, remembering that day.?  Sometimes I still cry.?  Sometimes I want to scream out, "Why??  Why did my child have to die?"?  But most of all, I often wonder? how something so beautiful could claim my son's life.?  A beautiful tall tree blazing with the colors of fall.

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I know it's hard for someone who has not lost a child to understand how things from our past from those of we who have lost a child, still hurt.?  I know it's hard to understand that though we still look alike, we are not the person we were before our child died.?  I was once there myself.?  I would hear of someone losing their child and think about what I would feel if it happened to me.?  Then I would shake the feeling off, thinking it would never happen to me.?  Then it did.

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As I looked at the woods yesterday, all these memories came at me.?  In one moment, I would smile, remembering all those good times, yet in another, I felt the heart tugs of what fall took from me.

Yet, I've survived these twenty-eight years without my son.?  How, I don't know.?  It's been tough.

God has helped me in many ways.?  He's been there when I had no one else to talk to.?  He's dried up tears that I thought would never end.?  And He's given me a strong feeling of faith and hope when I once thought was impossible.

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Fall is still my favorite time of year.?  But I will never forget the little hand that held mine and trusted me completely.?  I will never forget the smile in those beautiful eyes.?  Nor will I ever forget those words I used to hear daily....."Mom, I love you."

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Sharon

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IN memory of my son Andy Dunbar

January 22, 1972?  -?  October 24, 1977

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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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~**~**~? 

Damn Wars

Bill Walker

wildbill6807@yahoo.com

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Damn wars, I say this because? that is just what? any war is, damn war. Has there ever been a good war??  I am going into many things here.?  I may ask questions,?  is there any answers to any of the questions, well you the reader might be able to answer that.

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Why do we have wars??  In my mind it is because we love wars.? ?  Wars is a must, we have to have them for many reasons. One reason is all wars are stupid. Also there? is hate, lust, and greed.

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We read much about the war in Nam. We read about the ones that was there. We read, hear about the retuning bad dreams. I know it must have been a terrible horrible war. Is there any war that isn't??  Let me go back, war by war.

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Korea. Cold, long cold nights, dug in best you can on the side of some ridge. You and your squad. A machine gun, a couple guys with a BAR, the rest with M 1 rifles. All at once here comes a wave of the foe. The wave maybe only be a few, trying to slip and get behind you.?  Could be a wave of a hundred, or more. The ones manning the machine gun mows the foe down like a wheat farmer cutting wheat, but still the wave after wave comes. The foe will some time or other do one of two thing, give it up for now, or over run you. Next morning, half the squad is dead, or wounded. There is a couple missing, never to be seen again. Oh maybe one will walk cross the line, or be carried cross it, some day after June of 1953. ? Scared for life, with memories of long nights of beatings, brain wash jobs, starved for food. You say Nam was hell, Korea was too.

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World War Two.. How about Bataan Death march? Who can think of any thing more horrible? Men held out on some God forsaken Islands for days and nights in hope that help is on the way. Only to be over ran at last by waves of the foe. To be transported cattle class to some hell hole.?  Lined up on the deck of this tramp ship.?  Some Jap officer walks along the line. He has a squad of armed soldiers with him.?  He stops, says something. A man is pulled out of the line.?  Taken out in front. Forced down on his knees. A sword man is there. Your buddy is killed right there in front of you.? The body and head thrown over the side.? They may do this to a few others today. You can be sure it will happen tomorrow all over again.?  Talk about hell? All the time you get any thing that looks like food, forget it. Maybe a bite of rice with worms in it. Your a prisoner of war. Japan don't know what the word means. To them it means you are not a human anymore. These are just a small part of that damn war. Talk about Nam and Korea, World War Two was hell also.

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World War One.?  Your standing in water in some damn trench. Water up to you butt. Your feet hasn't been dry in God knows when.?  Some one yells, "over the top,"? ? Out of the mud and water you go. Out into no man's land.?  The Germans has machine guns, and those damn things work. Ask a guy by the name of York. Sometimes you live to tell about it, sometimes you don't. Many of your buddies don't.?  Those are dead or wounded left to lay. The nights are a dream from hell too. The days you get bombed from the big guns. You never have hot food, you never get a good night sleep, maybe your sleep is almost? a stand up, if you fall over might drown in the water, remember??  Oh there is the dry season.?  Might be able to lay down then for a hour or so. Then there is the gas attacks. You talk about hell??  Those guys went to hell and back too. Just like the wars of World War Two, Korea, and Nam.

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Now I can go back to all the Damn Wars.?  Take any of them, every damn last one. Any war is hell for the ones that lived it. Each is the same, yet each is different. Each is hell for those that lived it.

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I don't mean to take anything from no one, what ever damn war they or their family lived through. Ever damn war is hell for those that went through it. Those that seen war up close or a few miles behind the front lines, if there was a front line. These damn wars there is at times no front lines. The old man, the old woman, the kids from age of? 4? to 16, take any of them. You just never know when one is going to pull a gun, or throw a bomb of some kind. Or? being? the one laying a trap.?  Like the young girl with a baby. "Hey G.I. like to hold my baby?"?  Bang goes the bomb. Dead G.I and baby.?  War is Hell, and when you have wars with people who has no care about the life of a baby, it really is Hell.

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I was in Korea, lucky, behind the lines. I still know what the sound of a speeding bullet is like?  coming my way. I know what it is like to find some one has cut the lines to the next out post. And do other silly things, to let you know we are still here somewhere, find us..

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I have seen the XC-99 land at Kelly Air Force base. 2 and 3 times a week.? Would be at about 20 hundred hour.?  That is about 8 PM.?  A plane that could carry 400 bad wounded from Korea. Let me tell you that is a sight, one don't forget.

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Then ask the ones that was home, with a family member over there in any damn war what it is like??  Ask what it was like to get the news? ?  "We?  are sorry ____________________."? ? ?  ? After sorry, the words are just a bad dream.?  Some the bad dream never ends.?  I know a few like that.?  War, any damn war is Hell.

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It is strange how I hear this so often.?  Heard it today.?  "We need the big shot's sons and daughters on the front lines. Damn war be over real damn quick." ?  I got another idea. ? Lets get the big shots on the front lines.?  And by all means let them stay there, no over night visit with high security

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Tinker and Poo; The Boys Write

http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-35741-5

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Well I??™m a story teller, not a writer. Never learned the art of fancy English. I?  happen to live in Nebraska, but I??™m still Missouri. Never married, all the Dollies I ever took a second look at was too smart. Now at 74, just turned that other day, I figure they all home safe. I love Doggies and Dollies in that order. Lost my two true friends this year, that be Tinker and Poo. So I found me a new one. This time a little girlie Peke. She is a normal female. Got a mouth, talks all the time.?  She will never be a great writers of stories like Tinker and Poo. They have about 50 stories on HWS. And now writing back from Rainbow Bridge.

I just try to write about people, places and things best I remember. Have something over 250 stories on HWS. under three names.? ? ? 

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Computer Addict

Sharlett F. Hunt

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?  Three years ago, I never thought I would see the day that I would be sitting here in front of a computer!?  Not me!?  I had worked in the data processing field in 1968, while in the military and, upon discharge, ? swore I would never get close to another machine as long as I lived!?  It was all brand new to me then, and much different than the PC's of today.? 

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?  My first computer was given to me by a friend, Beverly. ?  Her eighteen year old son had outgrown it and it had been in their garage.?  One day she happened to notice some poems that I had written and told me she had a computer I could use.?  I quickly declined her kind offer that day.

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?  I gave it some thought and decided that it would not hurt me, even at my age, to learn how to use these newfangled machines so I might improve my writing.?  I called her and asked her to bring it over.

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?  She and her husband arrived with the computer and just left it setting on the desk.?  I called a neighbor who agreed to come over and hook it up for me.?  He put all the wires together, gave me what he felt was instructions, then left.

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?  I sat down at this machine and knew I was going to conquer it.?  I had an AOL CD so I put it in where he said it goes and waited.?  Believe it or not, I didn't even know how to work the mouse.?  Naturally, I couldn't get online because I had no idea how to click the mouse!? 

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?  I called Technical Support and told them of my dilemma.?  They told me to click on this or that and I kept trying, to no avail!?  I was clicking the wrong thing!?  The technician didn't know what else to tell me so he gave me a case number (mental, probably) and we hung up.

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?  I was nearly in tears when my neighbor came back over and patiently showed me the way to use the mouse.?  What a relief!

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?  Phew! Now I had a machine that I could write on and learn so many different things I had never even dreamed of before.?  I was in complete awe!?  I emailed, I wrote, I looked things up.?  I learned about Google and nearly wore it out and emailed some more.?  I started meeting lots of people from newsletters and groups I had joined.?  What a blessing this machine had become!

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?  I was on the computer day and night, like a person possessed!?  I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about something I wanted to do on this machine.?  I had become addicted!

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?  I looked around my house, dirty dishes, cat toys all over the floor, just in general disarray.?  I had gained ten pounds.? I knew I had to do something.?  I needed to get my life back in balance and do things that needed to be done outside of cyber space.

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?  I started slowly, getting up every once in a while and doing some simple housework that had long been left undone.?  Then, eventually, I started having a time to do what I wanted to do on the computer and sometimes forcing myself to do my normal chores, as well as other interests, such as crafts and things I had put aside for so long.? 

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?  It wasn't long before I was back in charge.?  I still spend a lot of time on the computer.?  I had written enough poetry to publish in a book which I have done, thanks to this? machine.?  My house isn't spotless but it is?  livable for my pets and myself.? 

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?  God has put so many friends in my life through all this technology that I would never in a million years have met otherwise.?  I believe you can get to know a person through this medium and develop a lasting friendship.?  I have talked on the phone, received cards, letters and gifts, even met a few in person that were put in? my life as a result of this machine.? All in all, I believe it has truly been a blessing to me!

Sharlette863 @aol.com

About Me:
I was born in Alabama, the middle of seven children. At about age four we moved to Central Florida and I have lived here most of my life. I am a Viet Nam Era Veteran. I have always enjoyed writing and as I get older it seems to come more naturally to me. I believe everyone has many stories inside them and some are blessed to be able to share them.*************

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~**~**~

~ Messengers of Love ~
Joyce C. Lock

"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends."

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John 15:13

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? ? ?  Sometimes, it seems God asks the nearly impossible; His standards being so high that the average week kneed, belly aching, fearful person could never obtain (defeating ourselves even before we've begun).?  Perhaps, we don't listen carefully to what He said.
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? ? ? ?  Jesus didn't say we had to "give up" our lives, like victims with a gun pointing to our head.?  It's rare that anyone actually faces a life or death situation to protect a friend (aside from war).
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? ? ? ?  What Jesus did mean was to lay our life down, willfully, dying to self to meet a greater need; which only counts when done in love.
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? ? ? ?  When a phone call comes at 2:00 a.m., where the distraught seeking counseling, put aside your need of rest.
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? ? ? ?  When you have in mind a shopping spree except you see another without shoes, consider their need first.
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? ? ? ?  When you've planned a getaway weekend but your friend has emergency surgery, a house full of children, and no one to care for them ~ put off your plans.
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? ? ? ?  When someone's house burns down and they've no place to go, lay down your inconvenience to offer temporary shelter.
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? ? ? ?  When you're hungry, after a worship service, but the church bus breaks down (leaving children no way home), put your need on hold.
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? ? ? ?  When someone you love needs your love, lay down your life.?  Love them as Jesus has loved you (vs. 12).?  And, even when they're not your best friend, Jesus is.
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? ? ? ?  We don't have to meet every need in the universe, just the ones Jesus asks of us (vs. 14).?  We can all do those.?  Once we discover how wonderful it is to be messengers of love, we're eager to serve God more, Ac. 20:35.

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?© by Joyce C. Lock

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Writers Feedback

Sharon's story stirred the deepest and innermost rumblings
that I've had for Texas, since I was a child, to get out of the
U.S.

Just let us Texans run things the way Texas folks need them.
Let California, Massachusetts, New York and the rest of the
states that want a socialist/commie/pervert society have
their way and let us be on our own. We can handle it.

With their gun control, same sex marriages and giveaway
programs for themselves it's getting sicker and sicker out
there for the hardworking, moral and dedicated people of this
country.

Kelo vs. New London was the last straw. We've lost it as far
as what our founding fathers fought and died for.

Texas is having an election November the eighth for a
constitutional amendment to prohibit the recognition of
same sex unions of perverts for the purpose of establishing
what Texas is all about.

My half sister has lead the Pervert Parade here in Corpus
Christi in the past. Been on TV several times. I always
suspected there was something hidin' in the woodpile, so to
speak.
Mark Crider

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Crisis In America by Sharon Bryant. yes, the lady said
it good. I thought the words was very true. I could
write a lot about each part.?  The part about the great
over paid ball players is true as it can be. I in my
time have seen the greatest baseball players of all
time play. Pay was a few dollars, they played for the
joy of it, in most cases and a little grub money.?  I
seen Page pitch. None now could carry his worn out
glove. He could pitch a double header, and be back on
the mound tomorrow. I see where a great over paid
pitcher the other day had to have, get this, 12 days
to rest up. HA.
Bill? 

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? SENIOR WRITERS

Chief Writer: Sharon Bryant

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

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; Lilly, Jodi Flesberg; Lock, Joyce; Mazzella, Joe;? Ojeigbe, Georgewaters;

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

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

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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