Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

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

May 25, 2006

Today’s announcements

Today is the last of the Mothers Day stories, and as promised I will give you my publishers pick.   It was a very hard choice, as each and every one of the stories was awesome.

Publishers pick: Mothers and Daughters by Dianna Doles Petry.  I just this story because it had absolutely everything in it.  It showed the struggle between mother and daughter, the love, the joy, the sadness, and the frustration of illness.  It showed a self doubting but loving daughter trying to cope with the reality of her relationship with her mother both past and present, and it show the journey of introspection in hopes of gaining insight into the nature of Mothers and Daughters.  Congratulations Dianna, on such a wonderful story, and an inspiration to us all. If you would like to reread the story, you can contact Dianna at: dianna59@earthlink.net, or go visit our archives for May 18^th, or write me: winterose@videotron.ca

We have another new member Steve MacDowall, publisher of the Thursday File, who becomes member #329 for Storytime Tapestry.  Please email him and let him know how much you enjoyed his story.

Now onto the good stuff!

Today’s Mother’s Day Stories

~**~**~

Missing Mom

Steve MacDowall 

I find that at times - and it can happen at the oddest of moments - I think
of my Mom.  Although she passed away almost eight years ago, the
emotions, of not having her around to turn to and share a special
moment, well up in me.
For example, the other day.  I was sending new pictures of our
granddaughter, Shannon, to my sister by e-mail and for the briefest of
moments I found myself looking for my Mom's e-mail address
(which, by the way, Mom never even owned a computer).
The power of wanting to share was so strong that my mind filled in 'lets
send Mom the photos'.  It was a strange moment - a poignant moment.

My Mom did get down for a visit several times after we moved to
Moncton.  She just loved being with us and treasured every minute
she spent with her grandchildren.  One of the last great memories
I have of her was walking down a path at the Green Gable house
in Prince Edward Island; she had my hand and suddenly experienced
a terrible sentiment of missing her husband, my Dad.
It was one of those, best of times, worst of times occurrences.
She was a wonderful lady, my Mom.

Steve MacDowall

Editor of the Thursday File
www,thursdayfile.ca      Email : steve@thursdayfile.ca
click on the apple !


Words that inspire...
I love quotations. I started a newsletter on Quotations over 6 years ago. It was a Thursday so I called it the "Thursday File". We stopped it in October of 2005 but we had so may e-mails asking us to bring it back that we did.
Our Online Folio started up again December 1, 2005. Please subscribe today...
The "THURSDAY FILE" is sent each week for pure enjoyment! Uplifting and thought provoking quotations. A multitude of sites to discover, that will enlighten, surprise, or just plain bring a smile to your face. A Synergy of thoughts, for those who love to explore.
Our readers (10,985 subscribers as of this morning) are from Canada, U.S.A., UK, Holland, Egypt, India, New Zealand, Australia, and other parts of our globe.
We would love to have you join us.

~**~**~

I Love You Mom

Sharon Bryant 

Each year on Mother's Day I get a little sad.  Sad for the mom I lost many years ago.  Sad for the son I had with me for five Mother's Day then lost him.  I remember there was a time when I felt I was not a mom anymore after my child's death.

This year will be my hardest.  I guess because even though I have not had my mom with me since '82, I still had my dad.  Dad joined mom in heaven this January.  I can only imagine what Father's Day is going to be like this year. 

Each year on Mother's Day I used to pick up the phone and dial a number far away saying, "Happy Mother's Day Mom."  I always heard her laughter and her thank you for the gifts I would buy her.  And though, those thoughts are always with me each year, I still had the next month that I could pick up the phone and dial another phone number far away and wish the greatest man in the world to me, a Happy Father's Day.

I remember the day I became a mom the first time.  I remember the pride when Mother's Day rolled around and friends sent me cards and some sent cute things welcoming me into the club where I was finally a mom.  I remember the five years I had my son with me.  In those five short years, I believe I taught him a lot of things.  Maybe his wisdom was beyond his years.  Maybe God felt he had done his job here on earth.  I'll never forget the day that little boy was called home and my heart was ripped from my body.

I remember the first Mother's Day without my child.  I spent it crying my eyes out, having my insides ripped from me again.  I felt it wasn't fair that I had been a mom for only five years.

Then two years after he died, I adopted a baby girl.  I was a mom again!  I couldn't wait for that little girl to say those precious words to a mom's ears......"Mama." 

When Mother's Day rolled around that time, I felt I once again belonged in the ranks of a mom.

Almost three years later, another baby boy joined my family.  Once again, I was mom again.

I've already told the story about the plant my first son bought me just two weeks before his death.  I told of how it is not a flowering plant, and had never had a bloom of any kind on it for over twenty some years.  But that Mother's Day, for some reason unknown to me, when both my other two children were not near me, the plant bloomed one flower.  A flower that was too large for the tiny stems on the plant it grew. 

I'll never forget how it showed the tiny bud on the Thursday before Mother's Day.  On Friday, it was so much larger.  On Saturday, I stared at it amazed at what it was doing.  And That Mother's Day Sunday morning when I ran from my bedroom to check the plant, there stood a gorgeous flower.  Standing straight and tall, and so large.  On Monday morning it was gone.

I've always felt my first son may have sent me a sign from heaven, letting me know that just because I could not SEE my children, they were still there.  It was the only year that happened.  It was the only year I felt alone when all my children were far from home, and yet......they were still close in heart.

I wish all mother's out there who have lost a child, a gentle Mother's Day.  And yes, we will always be a mom.  A mom is made from love and that is the one thing that death cannot take from us.  The love of a child.

For those who have their mom's living, I hope you know how lucky you are.  For I would give anything to be able to just one more time, pick up the phone and say, "Mom, I love you."  Just one more time...........

Sharon

Sharon Bryant

1946@bellsouth.net

www.angelsremembered.tk

~**~**~

In Memory of a Mother

Sharon Bryant

I look into the mirror and always see the same green eyes.  The hair color once was the same but age has changed the auburn to gray and reddish/brown. I look into the smile and see so much the same.

I am one year older than she was when she left this earth.  I often think why?  Why did she have to die so young, never knowing her grandchildren?  Why was a man left behind who loved her so much?  I often ask God, "Why did you take my mom?"

Those last few days in the hospital, she whispered, "Tell your children about me."  I promised her that I would always tell her grandchildren about their grandma.  And I have. I've told them how feisty she was, how honest she was and how brave she was when the end came.  I've told them what she taught me, the things we used to do when I was a child, and the love of a mother.

We hate to think of ever losing our parents.  Yet when we do, we have so many memories that carry us through the hard times when the heart tugs begin.

I can remember as a child the roller skating in the city and mom right beside me.  At the lake, the many times in summers we loaded the boat and spent the whole day fishing.  The trips on the Trolley car to the city to go shopping.  Most of all, I remember the wonderful meals she cooked.  What I would give today for one of the buns she used to make.  Dad and I used to sneak down in the middle of the night, and slap some butter on them and dip them in milk.  She always caught us and she would grin and say, "You two are going to weigh 500 lbs. one day." I can sit back and think of so many things in my lifetime. 

When cancer was beginning to show with me, she sat with me and told me, "We will get past this."  And we did. Yet when cancer began to show with her, we couldn't get past it.  I can't forget the times sitting alongside her in the hospital, looking at the woman who gave birth to me and who gave me everything to make me who I am today, and there was nothing I could do to make her better.  It broke my heart.

The last few days when she had dad bring the envelopes to the hospital and wanted to split up her jewelry between myself and my sister......I didn't want to take anything.  I would have preferred to have her well and she keep the jewelry.  Yet she told us, the time had come.

In January of this year when we laid dad next to her at the cemetery, I knew her life was finally complete.  Dad had finally "come home." So on this Mother's Day, I will think of my mom being happy,.  Happy that we have walked the path she always told us to walk, happy that we have raised our children the way she hoped we would....and happy that her and dad are once again together.

God Bless you Mom.

Your daughter,

Sharon

~**~**~

Mother’s Day Poetry Section

~**~**~

My Little Girl

Sharon Bryant

You never spoke to me

Not in words I could hear

But your eyes show me a love

As you were always near

I told you I was your mama

That word you always knew

You showed me so much love

In the eleven years I had you

If I had known that morning

Was your last day with me

I would have held you in the hospital

My fear I didn't want you to see

When they told me to go home

That they would call with the news

I thought it was just some illness

That medicine would make you good as new

When the call came

And the doctor said "She had...."

I knew that you were gone

My heart became so sad

You were not only my "child"

You were a gift from heaven above

The years we had together

Had a special kind of love

I loved to tell you stories

And watch your golden eyes

You always seemed to understand

With that gentle heart inside

I have your photo by this screen

And not a day goes by

That I don't remember our years together

My precious little dog Pokey, you and I

In Memory of Pokey

Sharon Bryant

Prayer Requests and Updates

Prayers for Gina and Mark Boda and family.

I don't know how your email came to my address but I am so glad that I opened it
It has good things on it and is a Christian material   I just read the special request from Ginger Boda  and I want to add my prayers along with the others  I live in the Texas Panhandle  in a Retirement home and enjoy my webtv  each day Thank you for your web page   Keith
Corea

God bless and be with you and all your family as they say goodd bye for awhile to the "DAD" who is so precious and means so much.  Leona

Senior Writers

Chief writer: Sharon Bryant

                                     Chief researcher/historian: Hartson Dowd

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; Marlor, Janice Bumbalough; 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;

Wainland, David; Westerfer, Clara; White Robert;

Storytime Tapestry Staff

Carol Roach - Founder/publisher

Thelma Hartselle - Co-Founder, Moderator

Clara Westerfer – moderator

Bob Johnson - moderator