STORYTIME TAPESTRY

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

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Special Treat ??“ Debra Shiveley

Feb 1, 2006

? Blessings

Debra Shiveley

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? I am in my usual place at this time of the day: seated comfortably and happily at my computer, working on my current book.?  I feel a sense of contentment, even bliss.

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My novel is dedicated to my son and through my writings I share with him my journey through this life.?  I am constantly reminded of where I am and where I have been.?  I am in awe, for no greater contrast could be possible in a single lifetime.

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I pause and look around.?  Right here, where I sit, is evidence of the many blessings that have come my way.?  Here to the left is a pantry bulging with foods; to my right, a modern stove on which to prepare them.?  How different from the starved child who had to collect pop bottles to sell for bread.

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Behind me is a family room.?  It is lovely!?  The carpet is swept, the furniture dusted.?  It is clean and presentable and respectable.

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How good it feels to be respectable!?  It is one of the biggest blessings in my life.?  I look back on the child who had no friends.?  People don??™t make friends with a child of the town drunk or the town floozie.?  Those are old terms but they still sting.?  It was years before I could break free of their curse and make a life of my own.

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I lived poor, but I lived proud, my head held high.?  I fought for self-esteem with every fiber of my being until, finally, I truly loved myself, liked myself, and could look out upon my world with eyes full of wonder instead of fear, pain, loneliness.

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My world today is so very different from where I began.?  I am in control of my environment: no hand falling upon me without my consent, no police coming in the night to stop the screaming, no ducking out the back door so no one will know I live here.?  A very different world for within this part of my life dwells my biggest blessing: my son.?  Here is love, safety, quiet.?  Here I can grow emotionally and spiritually.?  Here I can achieve my dreams.

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Copyright ?© 2004 Debra Shiveley Welch

merribuck@merribuck.com

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Debra - Mitakuye oyasin - We are all related.

Author of "A Very Special Child" http://www.whodathunk.org/averyspecialchild.htm -- I firmly believe that I have received the same child I was meant to receive whether I gave birth or adopted.?  The same soul, the same entity was meant to be mine from the beginning of time. D. Erin? Welch "A Very Special Child"We love our life on the lake where birds and animals of every description abound
www.merribuck.com
"Making the decision to have a child is momentous -- it is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
- Elizabeth Stone."