Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

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Today??™s Valentines Stories

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I have two submissions here with no name, I have asked before for the author to reclaim their pieces but no one responded.?  Please if these pieces belong to anyone you know, please have them contact me to receive proper accreditation.?  I apologize for the mix up.

Immigration for Love? ? ? 

By Dafna V. Yee

My mother's father's parents (my maternal grandfather's parents) came to America because they fell in love.

Unlike most Jews who came to America in the late 19th century, (because of poverty and/or persecution), my ancestors came because they broke the rules of proper matchmaking etiquette.

As was customary at the time, my great-grandfather was betrothed to a girl that he had never met who lived in an adjacent village. The marriage was arranged to take place when he was 16 and had finished his training to become a milliner (hat-maker), and could therefore support a wife and family.

Unlike the story in "Fiddler on the Roof," when the young couple in love were allowed to bend the rules and marry for love, or the biblical story of Jacob marrying both Leah AND Rachel, my great-grandparents' decision scandalized everybody.

A few months before the wedding, my great-grandfather happened (at least that's how the family tells the story) to see his betrothed in the act of slapping her younger sister. He went over to console the little sister (who was also very pretty), they talked, and they decided to get married.

He was literally given the ultimatum that he had to either marry his original intended or be sent out of the community. He decided to marry the woman (or girl actually, as she was only 14) that he loved, and to go to America, where customs were not so strongly enforced.

He loved my great-grandmother so much that he helped found the first Conservative synagogue in New York City so that they could sit together during services. Their story also includes that another reason he left Orthodox Judaism was that because he didn't want her to cut her beautiful long hair.

They had eight children together and were very happy until she died at age 38. Although his sister-in-law tried again to marry him, he said that he would not replace his wife's position in the family by marrying anyone else.

If they hadn't left Europe, it is very unlikely that I would be alive, because no one in that part of Poland survived the Holocaust. So, it is possible that my great-grandparents' love for one each other won out over Hitler's hatred of the Jews.

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Things Behind The Sun ? 

Author Unknown

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12.22.01

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It was time to travel through the emotional battlegrounds.

Visiting:

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Uncle.

Brother.

Friend.

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Lovers.

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What does it matter when Resurrection comes?

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Only ever wanting to be loved, to be accepted for who and what I am.

For people to understand my standards and the choices I've made; what I've sacrificed to get here.

The little I've gotten to show for it thus far make a mockery of my choices.

Be a better man??  For what?

Sacrifice family??  Why?

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Just the residual thoughts of painful adolescence, fueled by lifelong alienation, marijuana and Nick Drake music:?  brood little boy, brood.?  Your mother will still be dead, you will still be alone, and the impressions of the past year with Marisa will be indelible, joined in that file with Kim and Angie and Anita.

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And even though there's no real hope of it, I am assured of my talent, even if it's only in my own mind.?  Wishing to be famous (that will show them -- that will show me -- my worth) , I still know that that's not going to be enough of a validation for my life.?  The way I've lived it.?  My choices.?  My betrayals.?  How I??™ve been betrayed.?  At one time I could say I lived a life with no regrets. ? Now I have so many regrets that they threaten to drown me like the tears in the Lethe.? 

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Still, occasionally I think of the song of the black eyed dog.?  That dark song that's haunted me my entire life.?  Melancholic composition, chemical instruments; a formula, or a question:?  how many Percocets plus how much alcohol (add perhaps a dash of overexposure if I lay overnight on my Mom's grave) would achieve the desired result?

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When the harvest is done

You look at the fields and you see the things behind the sun:

Nothing but emptiness

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~**~**~

FROM ME? WITH LOVE? 

Leona Ebling

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It is December 1952 and frosty frames decorate the big old brick house with windows in all thirteen rooms. The foot tub of coals that glowed with red heat the night before were now grey ashen lumps as they waited to carry downstairs and emptied.?  They now claimed a place of honor on the bottomless old iron chair in my bedroom.? ? ?  The vapor was as thick as cigarette smoke from my breath in my cold bedroom.?  The old windup alarm clock clanged out the news it was five thirty a.m.?  I pressed down the lever on top shutting off that sound I had dreaded hearing so soon and willed my bare feet out of the warm covers and onto the icy floor.? 

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Pulling on my jeans, anklets and penny loafer shoes I hurriedly finished dressing with t-shirt and old cardigan sweater.?  I headed for the stairs and soon was preparing to cook breakfast for my seven siblings, six boys and one small girl ranging in ages two to seventeen plus my grandmother who suffered from rheumatism in the winter and my dad.

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I shook down the grates in the old wood cook stove and took off three of the top lids.?  Places several corncobs that had been soaked in kerosene in the fire box, laying some small kindling sticks on top and a few larger pieces.?  Replaced the lids and with an old stick match I lit a piece of paper from the old Sears & Roebuck catalog and the fire was off and going.?  Just a piece of cake, huh??  Then I opened the dampers to let it get started good and get rid of all the smell of the kerosene so I could baker my morning 36 man size biscuits made from scratch.? 

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On into my grandma??™s room I laid more firewood onto the still hot live coals in the big old wood burning heating stove and opened the dampers so it would draw and soon warm up the cold bedroom.?  Then I grabbed up the water bucket from the kitchen cabinet top and poured out the remaining water it held into the teakettle leaving about a quart in the bucket.?  I needed it to prime the pump with when I got it thawed out.

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? Putting the teakettle on the cook stove to heat, I now headed out the door with water bucket in hand.?  Just as I knew it would be, the pump was frozen with ice around the leather sucker that would cause the water to be able to come from the well into the pump pipe and out the spout as I pumped the handle.?  So wadding up some more good old Sears & Sawbuck I lit a match to it and held it under the pump spout and near the ???neck??? of the pump.?  Soon I was catching water in my bucket as I pumped the handle fast and hard.?  (Oh, I may have had to make a few attempts of making paper rolls and lighting them for the thawing.)? 

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Back into the house with my water bucket full of good COLD water I set the stove damper for the oven to heat and peeled and sliced some what is now called ???Texas sliced fried potatoes.??? Putting a large iron skillet on the front lid of the stove I also had some fresh sow belly going.? 

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Back to the bedroom I shut the dampers on the stoves (I forgot to mention I fired up daddy??™s stove also.)?  This was to keep the fire from all going straight up the chimney as we called it and would heat the rooms much quicker.?  (Also would prevent a chimney fire, which I was so afraid of happening.)?  Back to the kitchen I grabbed a big bowl and set it under the pull-out flour bin that was in the top part of a big white kitchen cabinet.? ?  Turning the sifter I measured out about ?? of the bowl full of flour, added salt, baking powder and milk or water (sometimes milk was not to plentiful).?  Made my biscuit dough with my hands, rolled them out with a big old wooden rolling pin and cut them out with a pint jar making about 30-36 man size biscuits.?  Rolled them over in warm bacon fat and placed them in the two pans ready to go into my now 350 degree oven.

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?  All the time I was remembering to stir my frying potatoes and keep frying more meat as well as adding the right amount of wood to keep the fire in the stove burning at the right temperature .Then I hurried to set my table, put out grandma??™s mouth watering jelly and go to the storm cellar for cream and butter.?  That was out refrigerator.?  Now I am making homemade milk gravy.?  It is time now to call ???Hurry up!?  Breakfast is ready!??? and here comes the troops ready to eat.

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Our table is a large long wooden one with a bright checkered red and white oil cloth spread.?  Two benches set along the sides and a chair one each end.?  Every thing is put into large bowls and platters.?  Daddy serves the smaller children and I fix grandmothers plate to either take it to her if she is too crippled up with the rheumatism to come to the table or to set at her place at the end of the table.? ?  I am fifteen years old.

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We won??™t mention the clean up later (smile) of course that is my job also.?  Still is most of the time.

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Now another date it is 1994 and at 57 years of age and I am cooking breakfast.?  It is on an electric stove.?  I turn up the thermostat for our house heat.?  I cook some instant oatmeal or fix cold cereal and make drip coffee.?  My water is at my fingertips both hot and cold and the only thing that hasn??™t changed is I am still getting up and fixing breakfast for kids, (at this time three of my youngest sons children) my son who is their dad and my husband and daddy and grandpa of these.?  Oh yes and myself.?  (Smile.)

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However, shall I also share with you how blessed I am even now in this year of 2006.?  It is February and though there has been some minor and some major changes.?  I continue preparing breakfast with love.?  This morning it was sausage, biscuits, homemade gravy and eggs fried to order.?  All cooked on the electric stove.?  The thermostat stays at a regular temperature of sweater comfort and with the oven adding warmth as the biscuits baked this morning we did not need the sweater.? 

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I called my son (whose three children are grown now) and his wife and we had breakfast.?  How abundantly blessed I am with love and family. My eldest son also came and had coffee with us as he does every Sunday to see how we are doing. (He knows we always say we are okay so he has to see with his own eyes.) Smile.?  How I hope they know it is with deep and grateful love I prepare the breakfast and enjoy their company.?  How I am blessed with my dear husband of soon to be fifty-one years still teasing me an saying it is pretty good garbage. We are parents of five children, three boys and two girls.?  Twenty-one grandchildren and twenty-one great grandchildren.?  They are not all able to share these breakfasts as often as the ones I wrote about but they all value our love and share time with us as they can.?  How thankful I am and how blessed with love as I remember a valentine day of 1955 and I received my engagement ring from this husband.?  And on through the years we have been so blessed.

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Daddy is gone.?  Several of my siblings also.?  Dear little grandma is also waiting for me in her home above but I continue to say thank you Lord for all these blessings I am still enjoying today fifty four years later.?  Signed to my family?  ???From ME with LOVE

Still "Dancing with Life" (my book you can order from AuthorHouse.com or Barnes & Noble?  your friend and fan of all those wonderful stories as we make a difference in lives every day.? ?  Leona? ?  wwjdleona@aol.com

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A Lifetime of Love? ? 

Sharon Bryant? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 

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I ran my hands over the worn smooth wood.?  Years have passed since it? was brought into my home.?  Yet, in those almost forty years, I have collected a lifetime of memories.?  A lifetime of love.

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I remember the day I got it.?  I was looking into a window and there it sat.?  I felt like it was calling out to me.?  I entered the store and asked the man how much he wanted for it.?  Way beyond what I could afford as a newlywed.?  He said he'd take monthly payments, and that's how that beautiful piece was loaded on my vehicle and brought to my home.

No matter where I placed it in my home, it looked ok.? 

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It was rough times that year in '67.?  It was war time.?  Money was tight, and for a newlywed, just having such a beautiful thing sitting in my house was enough for me.

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Through the years that old chair has rocked many babies.?  I've knitted many sweaters, baby afghans, outfits and tons of scarves while rocking in that chair.?  How many nights I've held a little one and rocked them to sleep, I can't count.?  How many times I rocked a sick child to sleep, I can't count either.

Dad used to sit in that old rocker when he came over.?  I'd smile when I'd see him taking a "little nap" in the comfortable chair.

When my children were little, everyone wanted to watch television while sitting in the chair.?  On cold winter nights, I placed it near the fireplace.?  Many cups of hot cocoa have been sipped while relaxing in the old chair.

Years of having a small child on both sides of me, reading them a bedtime story in the old chair.....the memories are priceless.

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People could? get shocked while sitting in the chair also.?  One day my father came over and sat down.?  "I'm getting married," I announced.?  "You're WHAT?" dad said.?  I'll never forget that look on his face that day.

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I remember the day dad came to see me and told me to sit down.?  I sat in the old rocker.?  "Your mom has cancer." he said.? ?  I stared out the window, unable to speak for a few minutes.?  When my son died, the chair was the only place I wanted to be.?  I've rocked myself to sleep more times than I care to count.

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Yes, I have a lifetime of memories.?  Today when I checked? the chair? over, I'm still amazed the fabric is still in good shape.?  I once thought about having it reupholstered, but changed my mind.?  I could never find a print today that would match the original.

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I sat in the old chair tonight.?  I closed my eyes and for just a few moments, I was back in time.?  When life was good.?  When worries were small.?  And now I wonder if one day I will ever rock a grandchild in the old chair.

Thirty-nine years ago when I bought the chair for $99.00, I never realized it would give me a lifetime of memories.?  Looking back, it was the best investment I've ever made.

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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 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 Contest Section

~**~**~

LIKE DREAMERS DO

Author Unknown

(9/4/05)

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His hands were scarred

from trying to catch stars

his eyes were blind

from trying to count time

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Every time he fell down

he earned the frown

that was stitched on his face

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His voice held a song

that he was bound to sing once

in his life

although he didn??™t know when.

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He was counting the days

scarring his hands

and going blind

until then.

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Readers Feedback

Sharlett, has given us all a lesson in how to turn our troubles over to God before we plop ourselves right in His way to work them out.?  Great piece, sweetie. Love, Barb

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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; Braun-Haley, Ellie; Harris, Kathy Anne; Hunt, Sharlett; Hymes, Christina; Jacobson, Gary; Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Kevin, Tim; Jenkins, Pamela; Liles, Norma; Lily Jodi Flesberg; Lock, Joyce; Mazzella, Joe; Morris, Deepak; Ojeibge, 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, Gordon, K; Walsh, Sue; Weymouth, Barbara J.; Whirity, Kathy; White Robert;

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Storytime Tapestry Staff

Carol Roach - Founder/publisher

Thelma Hartselle - Co-Founder, Moderator

Clara Westerfer ??“ moderator

Bob Johnston - moderator

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