STORYTIME TAPESTRY

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

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Dec 9, 2005? 

Today??™s Announcements:

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? We will start the Christmas Contest Tomorrow, Dec 10^th.

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

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Animal awareness series endorsed by Shiloh and Hank our mascots; all stories must receive their approval.

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Cat had one to many battles health wise.?  Leah did every thing possible to pull it out. She going to have it? cremated, tomorrow. Picked out a nice little wooden fancy box. will have name?  and dates on it

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Rainbow Bridge Gang.?  Special Report, Skittles

Bill Walker

Tinkerpoo2000@yahoo.com

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Today Dec 6, 2005 we were just resting up from breakfast, when up the lane came this little Kitty.?  Well It looked little, didn't weigh much.?  It looked lost, well come to think about it the first time up the lane we all looked lost. Most of us had no idea what and where we were.?  All we knew was things was so different.?  About all had pain, and bad days before we made the trip.?  Now the pains and bad seems to be left behind. There is a happy feel, also a lost feel, and some wants to go back for a bit. They never got to say good bye.

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Well we got this Kitty to come over to our little group.?  We got the names all handed out. Found his name was Skittles.?  Said he was Leah Suiter's baby.? One of the Angels took him in her arms, and he felt much better.

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After he got a little food, and water, a bit of cat nip,? ? a little loving he started to look a bit better.? Skittles told us of his life, what kind of home he had, his treatment, his games he like playing.?  His last few weeks was very hard, what with the moving from the aftermath of the storm. His sickness., we all joined in telling him we understand, and those days are left behind.? ?  He will soon forget the bad days and remember the good times. Here the only tears are tears of joy, when the loved ones will come walking up the lane.?  We have nothing here in the ways of pain and heartache. Jesus and the Angels? is here to wipe away the hurts and tears of earth.

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?  All Creatures Great and Small

? ? All Things Bright and Beautiful,

? ? All Things Wise and Wonderful,

? ? and, The Lord God Made Them All.

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All?  will be here waiting, no matter how long it may be.?  Waiting to see you coming up the lane.?  That will be the day of joy.? Skittles? will be? here, to run and greet you, along with Jesus and the Angels.

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So Leah,?  Skittles will miss you, same as you miss him.?  He is sad at leaving you, same as you are sad at his leaving. Days on earth is short, and with many troubles. Days here in Heaven, are days of never ending happy times. You see we Little People are sad of one thing.?  We are sad in a way, you are not here yet. But we are told you will be? here in your time. Therefore we wait, and watch for the mist to part, and you walk up the lane.? ?  Oh happy days will be here, when we run to greet you.

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Don't stand by my grave and weep, for I am not there.?  I am here waiting and watching for you to come home.

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Remember us till we meet again.?  We are not gone from your heart if you will do so.

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

Crazy Times

Jaye Lewis

One thinks of the craziest things when one is experiencing a nervous breakdown.?  One always prepares.?  Some people write notes and letters to all their friends, telling them how much they are loved or hated.?  I know of a woman who cleaned her entire house before she broke apart, as though the world would think ill of her if everything wasn't left "just so."?  Another woman, a realtor, sold three houses the day before her breakdown.?  Another woman, a brilliant physician, was fine, even "perfect" the entire day, seeing patients, dictating reports, smiling at her staff, right before she leaped across her desk and creamed the chief of staff with a paperweight.?  Probably the most unique breakdown that I've ever heard of, is of the man who drove himself ninety miles an hour to the hospital, on the wrong side of the Interstate, praying that God would give him a sign "by the parting of the cars."

Anyone can have a nervous breakdown, especially rescuers, encouragers, enablers, and those of us who must be in control of all things.?  I remember the events that led to my breakdown.?  I was forty-two years old, and I was attending college full-time, while working part-time.?  I had two wonderful young daughters and a daughter, nearly twenty, who had been displeased with me since she was two.?  My husband was serving in the U.S. Navy on a "death ship" that we jokingly called the USS NEVERSAIL.?  My oldest daughter was living away from home and constantly calling me on the telephone, demanding I rescue her or "stay out" of her life.?  The list of burdens was endless.?  I was hurtling towards a total emotional crash.

I started giving away my favorite possessions.?  Everything I did had a finality to it that screamed, I'M STILL IN CONTROL!!?  But I wasn't.?  I was terribly out of control.?  I began dropping my classes at school, and I began talking about death, a lot.?  At the time I had no relationship with God, except an internal screaming:?  PLEASE HELP ME!!!? ? 

One day, after spending an hour on the phone with my oldest daughter who had called me to enumerate all her troubles.?  One person was doing this to her.?  Another person was doing that to her.?  She couldn't understand why she couldn't keep a man, even though she slept with everybody.?  Everyone was persecuting her, and nothing was ever her fault.?  Could I please tell her what to do?!!?  I tried to advise her, and she hung up on me, right after she screamed into the phone, "STAY OUT OF MY LIFE!"?  Okay, why did she ask for advice if she wanted me out of her life??  Fine, I'll stay out of your life!

The day continued to spiral downward.?  I worried all day about my husband and the dysfunctional ship that he was attached to.?  Younger Navy wives depended on me to give them strength and advice.?  One after another called me all day long.?  I encouraged here.?  Advised there.?  I was an equal opportunity rescuer.?  Everyone got rescued except me.?  I listened to their complaints, and by nightfall I was miles behind in my college studies.?  I felt alone, hounded, and exhausted.

That's when the phone rang.?  It was my oldest daughter.?  Perhaps she called to apologize, I thought.? 

"Mom, bring me the jumper cables, so that I can start my car," she commanded.?  This after screaming at me to stay out of her life.?  It was that final straw.?  The world was going crazy around me, but I was the one who lost it.?  In a daze, I simply did what I always did.?  I obeyed that need to make her love me, and I obeyed.?  I got the jumper cables, climbed into my car, and I met my daughter at a restaurant parking lot.?  She was on a date.

I don't remember much.?  Life seemed as though it was happening at the wrong end of a telescope, distant and vague.?  My daughter took the cables, handed them to her boyfriend, who used my car to start hers.?  Then they left me standing in the parking lot, alone.?  I don't remember driving home.?  I remember sitting in the driveway with the car running, wishing I was breathing carbon monoxide.?  But I couldn't do anything to hurt myself.?  It just isn't in me to take that awful step.

I turned off the car, and I went into the house.?  My two beautiful, young daughters were sitting on the couch.?  I said some awful things that both of them heard.?  It pains me still to think how much it must have hurt them.?  Their concern was only for me.?  Jenny called a therapist friend, who gave me the only advice that she could legally give, and only after I insisted.

???If it were me, Jaye, I would admit myself to the psychiatric ward."?  I knew she was right, and she was able to call a wonderful psychiatrist, who immediately accepted me as his patient.?  He made arrangements with the civilian hospital, but I had to make arrangements through the Navy hospital, and get my own waver.? 

Jenny, her young face filled with fear and concern, dialed the phone and handed it over to me.?  It was a Sunday night.?  A young Lieutenant, with no medical experience, was the weekend duty officer.?  What a wonderful blessing he was.?  The first thing I did was start sobbing.?  Then I stumbled through every word of my story.?  My guess is that he had never received a call like that before nor since.?  He was so kind.

"No problem, Mrs. Lewis.?  I'll handle everything.?  I'll wake people up, if I have to.?  Don't worry.?  We'll take care of you, and my wife and I will pray for you."?  He took my information, including my husband's legal information, and I thanked him through shaking sobs.?  In retrospect, I realize that he was the one who notified the Red Cross, who notified my husband's ship.?  I was ready to go to the hospital.?  Now all I had to do was find a ride.

Jenny, age sixteen, did not have her license, yet.?  So she couldn't drive me.?  Several ladies in our Navy Wives Support Group were called.?  They gathered at my house and had an endless circle of dialogue as to who was responsible for driving me to the hospital.?  Each of them had a perfect reason why it couldn't be her.?  You go.?  No.?  You go.?  Nobody said, "I'll go."?  Then one decided that my oldest daughter should be the one to help her mother.?  They got hold of her somehow, and they were able to convince her, against her will, to come over and at least talk to me.

By this time twenty-four hours had passed from the moment of crisis, and I should have been admitted to the hospital already.?  My adult daughter stood in the living room, with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face, simply disgusted with me.

"Look, Mom, I have a date, and my date doesn't have a car, so I'm driving!?  Sorry, but I'm busy!"?  She turned her back on me, and she stalked out of the house. ? A horrible dagger of pain shot through my heart, as I realized how little my life meant to her.?  Always her rescuer, she would not stoop to help her mother.?  Only a mother can understand what that did to me.?  The bottom of my life, became a wretched hell.

After that, I thought I didn't care anymore.?  How I could be in so much pain and still feel numb is beyond my comprehension.?  Once the shock wore off for the well meaning ladies, the discussion of how to get the emotionally disturbed woman to the psychiatric ward continued.?  I don't remember the details.?  I just know that they chose the most alcoholic Navy wife they could find to drive me to the hospital, which was an hour away.

This woman began every day with 30 ounces of cola, which she promptly poured half out.?  Then she filled the cup with rum, whiskey, or vodka, whichever was available.?  She nursed this all day, every day, continuously refilling with liquor, until she fell senseless to the rug in front of her T.V. set.?  She gargled with so much mouthwash, between glasses, that if you lit a match she would catch on fire.?  Thankfully she didn't smoke.?  This was who my trusted friends chose to drive me onto the Interstate.?  Somewhere in my mind, beyond the pain, a sense of the ludicrous was beginning to take shape.?  I could almost feel a chuckle bubbling somewhere underneath my loss.

So, they packed my night clothes, day clothes, and a few personal items into the car of the totally smashed woman.?  I wanted to grab the stuffed puppy dog that my husband had given me.?  My thoughts immediately went into gear.?  If I, a forty-two year old woman, show up at a psychiatric ward with a stuffed dog under my arm, they'll know for sure that I'm nuts!?  Hello!?  Reality check!?  I was going to a psychiatric ward with an alcoholic!?  Of course I was nuts!?  I left the dog at home, and I climbed into the car.?  Please, God, don't let her kill me," I prayed.

The woman was well meaning, drunk, and all over the road.?  First we started down the wrong side of the Interstate.?  Then, with a hysterical suggestion from me, she crossed the median and weaved her way to the right side of the highway.?  Then she headed for the outside lane, completely passing over to the shoulder plummeting towards the ditch.?  Whoa!?  Quickly she turned the wheel to the left, and we were headed towards the median.?  Quick, she reverted back.?  Back and forth we went, as my life passed before my eyes.

I didn't know whether to pray that the police would stop us, or pray that they wouldn't notice us.?  I began to imagine the conversation, as they pulled us over.

"Offisher," the alcoholic would exshplain, "I'm sssssshoffering thish woman to the pssshychiatric hoshpital."

"Well, I'm sorry ma'am.?  I have to give you a ticket, and you'll have to change drivers.?  Ma'am," he would say, looking at me, "do you have your licence with you?"

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"Well, yes, officer, I do, but I can't drive."

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"You don't know how to drive?"

"No, sir.?  I know how to drive, I just can't drive."

"Well, why not?" He would ask, irritated by now.

"Well, " I would explain, "you see, I'm the crazy one.?  I have no mind left.?  Trust me.?  You don't want me to drive."

Thankfully, angels surrounded that car, and we arrived at the hospital unscathed.?  I couldn't have been happier than to hear the huge, steel door clang shut, behind me.?  By this time, I was just glad to be alive.?  In some crazy, only could happen to me kind of way, I knew that my life was important.?  And low as I was, I was certain that with time, excellent care, and the grace of God, I would be well again.

Bio:

Jaye Lewis is an award winning writer and contributing author to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.?  Jaye lives in the mountains of Virginia with her family.?  Her book, Entertaining Angels, is being re-edited and will include this story.?  Visit Jaye's website at www.entertainingangels.org?  Email Jaye at jayelewis@comcast.net? 

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Poetry Section

~**~**~

? FOR YOU AND ME
NOVEMBER 26, 2005

Robert Gilbert Jr.


WITH THE GIFT THAT GOD HAS GIVEN,
WE HAVE FACED THE DEVIL MANY TIMES
TO SEE IF WE WOULD STAND TOGETHER,
A TEST OF OUR TRUE LOVE

WE HAVE CRIED TOGETHER, WE HAVE LAUGHED TOGETHER,
EVEN THOUGH WE ARE APART
OUR LOVE BINDS US CLOSER
WITH GOD IN OUR HEARTS

TIME COULD NOT ERASE THE LOVE WITHIN
NOR SHALL ANY PERSON,
TILL OUR DAYS ON EARTH IS AT END

TOGETHER WE SHALL STAND, SMILING AT THE WORLD,
KNOWING THAT THE LOVE WE HAVE
IS GIVEN FROM GOD, HIMSELF

LET OTHERS STAND ASIDE, SO THAT WE MAY PASS
AS WE WALK ARM IN ARM
THRU THE CHURCH, DOWN THE AISLE
AS OUR LOVE, WILL ALWAYS LAST

A LOVE FROM YESTERDAY, WHEN WE WAS, BUT A CHILD.
TODAY, AS A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN
SHE WILL BE, MY BEAUTIFUL, LOVING BRIDE

ROBERT H. GILBERT, JR
"mailto:RGBLUEBOY @aol.com

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? ~**~**~

Always and? Forever More
NOVEMBER 28, 2005

Robert J. Gilbert Jr.

I WISHED THAT I COULD FIND, ALL THE WORDS FOR A SONG
BUT THERE ARE SO MANY, WITH THE WORDS ???I LOVE YOU???.
I DON??™T THINK THERE IS A SONG, THAT TELLS THE WAY I FEEL
SO I WILL TRY AND TELL YOU, ???YOU??™RE MY LIFE, FOREVER MORE???.

I COULD SAY THAT YOU ARE MINE, NOW AND FOREVER
YOU STOLE MY HEART? THAT SUMMER DAY, NOT SO LONG AGO
BUT THOSE WORDS HAVE BEEN SPOKEN, FROM GUYS TO OTHER GIRLS
BUT, ???YOU ARE THE ONE IN MY LIFE, FOREVER MORE???.

SO MY DARLING, WHAT I SAY TO YOU, I KNOW THAT IT??™S TRUE
YOU HAVE MY HEART, IN YOUR HAND, MY LOVE BELONGS TO YOU
THESE WORDS I??™LL NEVER NEED, TO MAKE MY DREAM COME TRUE
YOU SEE, ???YOU ARE FOR ME, MY LIFE FOREVER MORE???.

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ROBERT H. GILBERT, JR
"mailto:RGBLUEBOY @aol.com

About Me:

Once retired from the military, Robert H.
Gilbert, Jr., took on new adventures as a
truck driver and a writer. He says he
started writing in early 1991 and hasn't
stopped yet. When Robert writes
poetry and short stories, he hopes to make
readers feel a part of it. Robert credits
his wife who inspired him to begin sharing
his writings. He says the responses have
been a true blessing.

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Writers Feedback

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Thank you so much for doing such a great? job on this newsletter.?  I loved the story:?  MIRACLE OF THE QUESADILLAS? ?  lol?  hahaha

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Carol, - How to do a Critique

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? ?  Thanks for sharing that.?  So many people out there think a critique is some reason to attack and try to destroy what another wrote from their heart and mind.?  Wishing you every joy, Joe

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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; Gilbert, Robert Jr; Goodier, Steve; Halley, Ellie Braun;

Harris, Kathy Anne;? Hunt, Sharlette;? Hymes, Christina

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

Liles, Norma; Lilly, Jodi Flesberg; Lock, Joyce; Mazzella, Joe;? Morris, Deepak;

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

Weymouth, Barbara; 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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