One In Every Family




	WRITE 2 THE HEART Stories that are aimed "Write 2 the Heart" June 3, 2003 Cheryl Speir, Editor, moderator@write2theheart.com ----------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to your latest issue of "Write 2 the Heart" You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription or a friend generously forwarded their copy to you. To subscribe send a blank e-mail to subscribe@write2theheart.com. ------------------------------------------------------------ Family "characters" make life interesting. They give the rest of the family something to talk and laugh about. Yet, we love them and couldn't imagine life without them. . ------------------------------------------------------------ One in Every Family By Mary-Ellen Grisham ------------------------------------------------------------ I guess most of us have a notable relative on one side of the family or the other. My Aunt Margie used to have my father's family to visit around Memorial Day. She said that it was the way she remembered her "honored dead" since she didn't get to see us most of the time. Besides being a complete character, Aunt Margie owned about fifty acres of choice land in the rich Bellefontaine area of St. Louis County. Along with having a large yard full of flowers, trees, and bushes, she had an enormous vegetable garden. The back part of her land was a woods filled with paths to explore and a small stream. The "woods" was cleared enough to be a delight to all visiting children. Even with all these outdoor blessings, her inside house was a mess. There was almost nowhere to sit down without crawling over boxes and treasures, and her kitchen was the only room a visitor could walk through without obstruction. A tiny wobbly table just outside the kitchen along the dining room wall was the only place to sit down to eat. Besides all the clutter, the house was dusty. Margie just never cleaned. For the family picnics, large boards were placed on wood horses outdoors and then covered with country tablecloths. Most of the food was cooked outdoors, and it was all delicious, especially the home grown vegetables. I guess it never dawned on her that people didn't visit her indoors because there was nowhere to sit down comfortably. I suspect that didn't faze her a bit. She visited and helped all her neighbors up and down the country road, and they all cared for her. When Uncle George died, she married Lennie, an eighty-one year old man with a twinkle in his eye and a sly sense of humor. When Lennie died, she more or less married the church. Always active in the church at the top of her road, she became even more active when widowed and spent most of her time there and in other charitable activities. Even though her yard and gardens outdoors were neat and tidy, she never cleaned her house or disturbed her "junk" until she moved. Condominium living must have cramped her style, but since she was gone most of the time, I guess she hardly noticed. When she wasn't doing good, she was known to knit and crochet endless piles of dishcloths for her friends and family. Each of us on my dad's side of the family, had her own dishcloth and "Tuffy" from Aunt Marge, and these common but useful gifts lasted for years. When she died way up in her nineties, she had outlived most of her "honored dead," so she left all of her money to the church. Those who remained didn't mind being left out of her will, or if they did, they never mentioned it. Maybe it was just that money could never have replaced Aunt Margie. ©2003 Mary-Ellen Grisham meginrose @ empowering.com You are encouraged to write to the authors to let them know what you think of their story, just remember to remove the space before and after the @ symbol. The space is placed in the address to protect our writers from viruses and email harvesting programs. Have a comment on today's story? Send it to: moderator@write2theheart.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- Mary-Ellen is a Christian writer living in Godfrey, Illinois. As a recently retired teacher, she develops her writing by contributing inspirational pieces to e-mail newsletters and Internet sites. Recently she has become Editor-in-Chief of Eternal Ink, a twice monthly Christian ezine newsletter. eternal_ink-subscribe@associate.com -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- Letters From Our Readers -------------------------------------------------------------- Betty King is one of God's great blessings to ME! We have begun a deep friendship over the Internet from reading her writings and my comments. I am so pleased to be involved in her life. We both agree that GOD brought us together and we each have committed our lives in service to Him. I am so glad to see another one of her interesting heartfelt experiences from you, Cheryl. Thanks. Nancee Donovan Hi Cheryl, I know people often think of young love as being so wonderful. Truly Betty shares what those of us who have been together for 30 or so years can feel when young love continues to grow. I think with each day I love my husband more. And that is just love getting better. Diane Dean White --------------------------------------------------------------- Military Prayer Reminder --------------------------------------------------------------- As you read over this list of names, please take that moment to pray for these young people and their families: Chris Speir Tim Speir Alan Thaddeaus Howard Todd Holland Graham William Julie Sagel Jessie Marshal Thompson Jason Eric Hernandez Kristin Danielson Ken Prieur Please continue to pray for our country, our leaders, and our troops at this time. If you have loved ones in the military, or who are being called to go overseas, send their names (first and last or first only) to be included in our prayer reminder. --------------------------------------------------------------- Chocolate Alert! I know that got your attention! I am working on a chocolate cookbook to be given away on Write 2 the Heart's web site. This work in progress is tentatively called "Write 2 the Heart of the Chocolate Lover." Anyone who would like to join in the delicious fun, send a chocolate recipe with a brief bio to be included after each recipe. Send as many as you wish. --------------------------------------------------------------- Cheryl's Corner Last night we had wave after wave of electrical storms pass over. The wind and rain caused the electricity to go out several times. Mason was spending the night and was getting a little anxious about bedtime with the lights being out. I gave him a small flashlight and he happily went and crawled in bed with his papaw. When I went to join them, Mason informed me they were playing tic-tac-toe on the ceiling tiles by shining the flashlight where they wanted to be. They were using imaginary insects instead of x's and o's and what did I want to be. I wanted to be a hummingbird. I was told I could not be a "honey bird" I had to be a bug. I became a lightening bug. Mason asked his papaw what he wanted to be now, and David told him a spectacular spectator. I guess that sounded enough like a bug; he was allowed to be one. God Bless, Cheryl ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- © 2003 Write 2 the Heart Nothing may be reproduced or published without the written permission of the individual author or copyright owner. All rights belong to the authors.