STORYTIME TAPESTRY

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

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Feb 5, 2006? 

Today??™s Announcements:

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? Today we welcome another new writer, Maria P. Urso, friend of Sharon Bryant, now becomes writer #286, for Storytime Tapestry.?  Please email her and let her know about her wonderful story.

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

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Today's Queue Stories
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The Awakening

By Maria P Urso

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As a child growing up in the far northeastern part of the state of Pennsylvania, rumors and stories of haunted houses, cemeteries, and other strange occurrences were common among the communities.?  Satanists, black masses, and children kidnapped for sacrifices caused fear in several communities at various times during my years as a teenager.?  It was a time when families stayed close to home and never walked the streets alone, especially at night.?  I always wondered if there was truly any validity to these stories.?  I believed in God and in angels.?  I also acknowledged there was a devil and demons or evil spirits or at least the thought of them existed in my mind.?  And I often pondered the spiritual realm, whether entities, ghosts, and other paranormal beings existed.

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Years passed and my faith deepened.?  Thorough study of the Bible and Jesus??™ life here on earth drove me into a deeper prayer life, a more meaningful relationship with God.?  Changes began to occur within me and gifts of the Holy Spirit as spoken of in the Bible were granted to me.?  I began dreaming dreams that came true, sensing the good or evil in a person within the first few minutes of meeting them, and seeing or hearing things that most people do not, often finding myself searching deeper and deeper in the realm of the unknown, of the spiritual.

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  On the evening of November 8, 2005, my brother and I had just left the hospital after visiting with my ailing father around 8:30 p.m.?  My brother lived in one of three apartments that were all contained within one old large house.?  The left side of the house was one apartment and the right side was split into two apartments, one on the bottom level and one on the top, which is where my brother resided.?  I walked up the steps to the front porch looking at the weathered gray paint on the floorboards and stepped up to the front door.?  As I entered, a small ceiling light lit the staircase in front of me and we ascended the stairs one by one, all twenty-four of them. I had to catch my breath when I reached the top and stood there for a moment looking ahead at the d?©cor in the kitchen.?  He said, ???I let Allysen remodel the kitchen and the bathroom and I did the rest.????  I responded, ???Mighty big of you Bro, to give her the two smallest rooms in the house to have fun with.????  We chuckled and moved around the banister as we passed the kitchen and bath and moved onto the computer room and finally the large arched entrance that led to the living room.?  There we sat and talked for hours.

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Around 11:00 p.m. his girlfriend, Allysen came home and asked if I had seen the bedroom yet and I told her, ???No???.?  So we all three ascended another flight of stairs as my brother tried to explain the ???Zen??? d?©cor he was trying to establish throughout the place and reaching the bottom of the stairs, I of course had to give him my fifty cents worth of ideas.?  Notice I said fifty cents and not two cents.?  Allysen stated she was tired and was going to bed, but that she was leaving a blanket and pillow for me in case I decided to stay the night and I thanked her.?  My brother and I continued on in our conversation of mysterious happenings going on in the apartment.?  ???Things are disappearing, the kid screams in his room at night, Allysen said she saw me coming up the stairs behind her on her way to bed and I was already in the bed???, he continued, ???And I got sick of it, so I had a confrontation with it.????  I said, ???A confrontation with who???? ???Or What?????  ???And how did you confront it????

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  He explained how one night, lights were flickering, TV kept coming on after he would shut it off and that he could feel a presence and he got mad and demanded, ???Whoever you are, whatever you are, I want you to leave now.?  Get out of my house now.????  So I asked him, ???Is it gone?????  He said, ???Yes, there??™s been no more activity since that night and I don??™t feel anything in here anymore.????  And I asked, ???Are you sure, it??™s gone?????  He affirmed with attitude, ???It??™s gone.????  Again I replied by stating that if I spent the night there as he requested me to, and during my sleep his TV turned on by itself, I would be sleeping with him and his girlfriend. ? We laughed and joked and I told him it was best if we got some sleep.?  I got comfortable on the couch; he turned out the lights and made his way through the darkness, upstairs to his bedroom.

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  I fell into a deep sleep as pleasant thoughts danced through my head.?  I needed pleasant thoughts after spending a week, day in and day out, at the hospital with my Dad.?  About 20 minutes had past, cozy, warm and comfortable, when my consciousness was awakened.?  No longer was a dreaming or thinking of the pleasant thoughts, a feeling came over me as if someone were standing over me, looking down on me.?  Eyes still closed, I tried to shake that feeling off and readjust my pillow to my head, when I heard a loud distinct whisper in my left ear, ???KEEEEEP THINKINGGGG???.?  Adrenalin started flowing in my body, heart thumping like an engine winding up for the start of a race at the Indianapolis 500 and within a split second of opening my eyes to see what it was that just whispered those eerie words into my ear, it was on me and in me.?  First the weight on my side and chest and then in me, wiggling around in my body, like spooned-out Jello tries to adjust to the desert bowl it??™s emptied into, this being, this ghost, this entity was inside me and it felt like it was trying to adjust itself within me.?  I tried to raise myself up on the couch, but it prevented me from sitting up.?  Terror struck as I tried to scream out to my brother, but as I called his name, no sound came out.?  I tried two more times, but I had no voice.?  I grabbed my throat and I thought to myself, ???You are not taking me over.????  In those fleeting minutes, I mustered all the energy I could and my body screamed out, ???GET OUT OF ME.????  As those inaudible words were spoken in my head, with all my strength, I forced myself up into a sitting position and the second I sat up, my body had seemed to throw it out into the living room and there it stood, a little taller and wider than my brother, but definitely the shape of a man, black in appearance with a white aura surrounding every limb, every extension of it??™s body.?  I sat in astonishment and my fear seemed to settle down as I yelled my brother??™s name for the fourth time.?  Only this time, my voice was audible and his girlfriend heard me as my scream for help drifted to the upstairs.?  I called one final time and as I did, this entity??™s body became sparkles of light, dissipating into the darkness and it was gone.?  By this time, my brother was half way down the staircase asking what was wrong, I told him ???Take me home, take me home NOW.??? He said, ???What??™s the matter??  Did the TV come on?????  I said, ???Worse than that, he was here, I heard him as he spoke, I felt him as he was in me and I watched him disappear.????  He said, ???WHAT??  How come I don??™t get to see it, hear it, feel it?????  I shrieked to him, ???You said it was gone.????  Of course, my brother, they way he is he thought it was funny, until he said, ???this is really starting to tick me off.????  By this time I had ran to him on the staircase and crawled up the stairs hanging onto his pant leg.?  I said, ???Take me to Mom??™s, I??™ll not spend another night in this house.???

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  As we gathered our things, Allysen said, ???I??™m not staying here alone, I??™m coming with you.????  We headed down the stairs and along the narrow hallway and proceeded down the final flight of steps as he explained to me that days earlier, his landlord had met this lady in town and had a brief chat with her.?  He said the old lady asked his landlord what he did for a living and the landlord told her he was in real estate and rented out houses.?  She asked where and the landlord starting naming some of the locations, including my brother??™s address.?  The old lady said, ???I don??™t know numbers on that street, but there is an old house that is haunted on that street.?  It is the only one with a witch??™s head in the front of it.????  By this time, we??™re out on the front porch and I stopped my brother and said, ???Oh that??™s just great, NOW you tell me.????  Again he snickered.?  I asked where on the house was this witch??™s head as we continued to descend the front steps outside.?  He said, ???Turn around and look up???.?  I said, ???My knees are still shaking from what just happened inside and now you want me to look at a witch??™s head.?  I don??™t want to see no witch??™s head in your window.????  He said, ???It??™s not in the window.?  Just come down the steps, and look up.????  As I gathered all of what courage I had left, I turned around and there just below the pitch in the porch??™s roof, centered was a stone head carved.?  It was 3:00 a.m. at this time and dark outside and hard to make out, but it didn??™t look pretty, that??™s for sure.?  My brother said, ???I don??™t think it??™s a witch??™s head, I think it looks like an Indian.????  I responded, ???Like you are always telling me about people??™s perception, how one person sees things differently than another, what might be an Indian??™s head to you, may in actuality be a witch??™s head.?  I??™m out of here.???

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  Never in this lifetime would I have ever thought I would have experienced something like that.?  Never.?  People watch movies about paranormal beings, activities, and the like.?  Some become fearful, some enjoy them as if watching a comedy.?  One can let their imagination take over and they could only guess what it would be like to experience the paranormal, but only those who truly experience it know what it is truly like.?  This entity that dwells in my brother??™s house is not a good spirit, it is evil, dominant, and strong.?  I??™ve had heavenly experiences in my life and this was not one of them.?  Jesus spoke to us of evil and the devil many times throughout the Bible.?  He spoke about powers of the air and principalities.?  These things do exist and now I am a witness thereof.?  I do not know the reason it chose me, or maybe I should say, why I was allowed to experience it.?  I do not know as strong as my faith is, why I didn??™t call out to Jesus, rather than screaming for my brother.?  What could my brother have done against something not of this world??  But I do know this experience has given me a true awakening??¦ to other beings and other dimensions that break through and dwell in ours whether for a short time or lengthy visit.?  My advice to anyone is to always be prepared, never knowing when your ???adversary, the devil is prowling around seeking whom he may devour.?  Put on the full armor of God??? and may God be with you.

Maria P. Urso

mpurso@bellsouth.net

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Boxers "the breed" are my number one priority right now, we show in both conformation and obedience and I am the mother to 3, Jasmine, Gitana and Abbey.?  Oil and acrylic painting is my next love, painting murals, on canvas, glass and other items.?  Writing is my third, writing poems and
short stories of an inspirational nature.?  I have two daughters, grown and live the life of a single person at 45.?  I also enjoy reading, horseback riding and nature as a whole.

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~**~**~? 

Sometimes

Sharon Bryant

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I knew he was dying.?  She told me.?  I knew she hurt.?  I could see it in her eyes.?  I knew she was worried about her mom.?  I heard it in her voice.?  I knew the pain she was going through.?  I've been there.

The call came just days ago.?  "You better get up here as fast as you can, he doesn't have much time left."?  She was on a flight that afternoon.?  I thought so much of her while she was with him.?  I knew the feelings she was going through being through a loss so much like hers.

She came back home.?  She came over for dinner.?  She told me the doctors had done all they could, that God would have to do the rest.?  The next day she received the call........he was gone.

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I thought about the call I received back in '82 with the words, "She's gone."?  I remember I was vacuuming when the phone rang and usually I wouldn't be able to hear the phone ringing, but that day, I did.?  I knew.?  I knew before I picked the receiver up it was my dad or my sister calling to tell me we had just lost our mom.

I remember the pain.?  I remember dropping on the couch and bawling my eyes out.?  The night before I was at the hospital with mom.?  The doctor told us she would not make it to Christmas Day and if we wanted to celebrate, do it quickly.?  We did.?  It was December 22.?  My brother bought the tiny tree with the miniature lights on it.?  We gave our gifts to the woman who had raised us, taught us, loved us, and there was nothing we could give her to save her life.?  We lost our mom on December 23 that year.

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My friend is going through this tonight with the death of her father.?  She called me yesterday and told me he had passed over.?  It was only minutes before I picked up the telephone and dialed that phone number almost a thousand miles away and said, "Hi, just checking on you again, you ok?"? 

He just turned 85 last month.?  And of those 85 years I have had? 59 years of love, respect, and memories.?  Enough to last me the rest of my life.?  But......I don't want to let go.?  I want to keep him forever.?  He constantly reminds me that we can't live forever.? 

Times I wish I could go before him.?  I don't want that kind of pain again.?  He tells me he wants to go before me, he can't stand that kind of pain again either after losing my brother.

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Sometimes I wonder when I look back on all the good times and then all the sad times, it seems the sad times outweighs the good times when your heart is heavy and the memories are flooding your mind.

Sometimes I wonder why we are here.?  Sometimes I wonder why I have lived this long.?  Sometimes I think of my own children.?  I know I never want them to witness what I did with my mom.?  I don't want them to carry that memory and know that I suffered.

Sometimes......just sometimes........I wish I had all the answers.

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 26,
Amy, and a second son, Randy, age 24.

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

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Poetry Section

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Night Dreams

Tim Kevin
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My darlin', when you lay abed,
It's surely not a time for thinking
But as the leprechauns have said
It be a place for love an dreaming
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To be taken wearily adrift in sleep
Your soft curls spread upon a pillow
Silence broken by your sighs so deep
Wanting a mystical lover's kiss to follow
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Dreamily seeking a warm embrace
An imagined lover now in your arms
Warmly placing kisses upon your face
And so susceptable to your lovely charms
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Unconciously your breathing becomes fast
As desire and physical longing take over
Wanting this torrid dream all night to last
Til your dream lover is forced to surrender
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An to awake lazily, your mind now fresh... Just a bit tired but body so
warmly sated
A nightime visit that pleasured your flesh
Ready to face the world again unabated
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by ..... ?© The IrishWarlock ... 1-08-06

irishwarlock@webtv.net

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The Advancing Years

Tim Kevin

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As I stumble along through these quickly advancing years,? 
Please help me create much more laughter than tears,
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To dispense more giggles and cheer than gloom,
To dispel despair and bring smiles into every room.
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Never let me be indifferent to the wonder an imagination in the eyes of
a child,
Or that special twinkle in the eye of an aged senior, shown to many they
beguiled -
Don't let me forget the exhileration and joy in efforts to bring smiles
to all,? 
Regardless if even though the gesture may seem small
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To make people happy, and forget, if even only for the slightest moment,? 
All the grief, sadness, and unpleasantness this world manages to foment.
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And I hope in my final moment, I
may hear You whisper in my ear
"When you instilled in My children a little smile to take away their
fear,
And continued as they grew
You gave to Me a smile too."
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by?  ..... ?© IrishWarlock
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irishwarlock@webtv.net

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Writers Feedback

?  I have Learned - This is beautiful!?  thanks, Kairn

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Hi Carol,

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? ? ? ?  I like naughty! Very entertaining,

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? ? ? ?  Thanks for the chuckle,

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? ? ? ? ? Pauline Fisher

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ooo, naughty is right....ha! ??“ Tami

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This is a very very cute poem.? 

Too bad most don't take that lesson and apply it.

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That was hilarious.?  I love seeing your lighter side.?  Wishing you every
joy, Joe

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Hi our Winterose gal? I need a laugh today?  lol?  a fun one?  but as always?  you are so good!? ?  Hugs Leona

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The Naughty poem is adorable!?  You shameless hussy! Lol sharlette (I think somebody missed the point lol)

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Prayer Requests and Updates

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Did all of you know that Sharon Bryant's Dad passed away? She sent word to me, and I know she is writer there. I though she might want me to tell all of you. Please keep her in your prayers. This is going to be extremely difficult on her. She and her Dad were very close.

I enjoy all the stories, coming from the group!

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Mindy Sayre

mls78@comcast.net

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CAROL, I AM SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT SHARON'S LOSS. IT IS SO HARD TO LOSE A PARENT BUT SOMEHOW I FELT THE LOSS OF MY DADDY MUCH MORE THAN MAMA.?  I WAS ALWAYS HIS LITTLE GIRL.

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LOVE, PRAYERS AND BLESSINGS FOR SHARON.

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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

Moderator:?  Bob Johnston

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Send all inquires about the newsletter including submission requirements:

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