Love a Good Story. I just Love a Good Story. Don’t you just Love a Good Story? Well, here is another Good Story.
How have you done so far? Have you been faithful to your resolutions? I’ve given you enough time, an entire month, to get back on track if you got off or if you are beginning your promise you made to yourself. Guess what? Our New Year has begun. Yes, 2025 is here whether we were ready. Over the past several days into this new year, I’ve thought about what we say to each other to greet the new year. The expression is: “Happy New Year,” or “Have a Happy New Year.” What does this really mean? When we say, “Happy New Year,” are we asking the new year to make us happy?
As far as I know, there is only one way we can have a happy new year. But, it is something we must do. It’s easy. It’s not asking to do something that is difficult to carry out, but it is something that will bring you joy and happiness. I’m not talking about the strain of losing weight on the same or different diet or going to the gym or any of those things where our heart is not there.
We can have a happy new year by being ready to help each other, doing good deeds (sometimes simple) for those around us and those in great need. We can say nice things to each other, compliment each other for what we do and say to each other. We can remember birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions that we know our friends and loved ones cherish. We can visit those in hospitals, remember friends we’ve disconnected with without reason. We can stop being so busy with things in our lives and be present for those in need, those we know and those we knew. I truly believe if we can take time for others, we will have a Happy New Year. We won’t have to wish it. It will be.
Olivia, in my novel Blessings and Curses, helps a man on death row. See what happens. Sometimes helping others can bring a new life or something unexpected. You can get it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Blackrosewriting.com
So, everyone, A Very Happy New Year
Isn’t that a good story?
That’s all for now. See you next month.
Don’t forget to let me know what happens to you as you do and say wonderful and loving things to your loved ones, friends, and strangers.
Love a Good Story. I just Love a Good Story. Don’t you just Love a Good Story? Well, here is another Good Story.
This month on June 16, we celebrate Father’s Day. I’m happy we celebrate our fathers. They deserve it. We need our fathers. They do so much more in the family than we know and/or give them credit for.
Both parents contributed evenly to who I am today, and I am thankful and proud of that. Even though society thinks mothers are extremely important to a child’s development and upbringing, the father is just as important, especially in today’s time where the mother is away from the home as much as the father. But fathers contribute hugely to their children’s development and enable growth in ways we don’t think of or see. Men show, mothers say or tell.
When I was very young, I didn’t think about what my father was teaching me. I just loved him so much. Every day, I would sit in the window waiting for him to come home from work. When I saw him coming through the front gate, I ran to the door, jumping and squealing because my father was home. I did this until I was in the third grade. But as a third grader, I didn’t jump and squeal. I was glad to see him. Later, we moved to a new house, and the arrangement changed, but I greeted my father until I reached high school.
My father showed me and my siblings how to solve problems by the way he handled his problems and the help he gave to us. Whenever I had a problem and asked my father for help, he had a story to tell me. After the story, he would tell me the moral of the story and find out if I understood how to solve the problem. I told him what my next step would be. He also had a procedure for solving problems and when I was in high school, when he thought I would need it, he told me the procedure he used for solving problems. As an adult, I continue to use that method.
Fathers enable their children to have confidence, to be sure of ourselves. My father always encouraged me, told me I could do something I didn’t think I could do. My father showed me how to ride a bike after he bought me one for my birthday. He didn’t ask me if I wanted one; he bought the bike. He showed me how to handle the bike. Riding looks simple and easy, but there is so much to learn about riding a bike. It is not as easy as it looks. I loved to bike. As an adult, I was always on my bike. I was always confident in my ability to handle the bike, except I never wanted to change a flat tire, and because of that ability, I could get out of tight situations where many others either fell or had to get off their bike. Biking enabled me to see my ability and gave me the freedom to feel secure. I thank my dad for that.
My father also encouraged me to be knowledgeable, do well in school, be curious about things and find solutions. At report card time, I would bring my report card home to my mother, but I couldn’t take it back until my father had seen it. One time he didn’t like the grade I got in one class and went to the school to talk to the teacher. The grade was changed.
When I took on a project at home or at school, that was more than I expected and felt like giving up, my father would say, “Stay the course,” meaning bring what you began to a positive conclusion. Often it took me longer to complete, but I did what he asked of me. I completed the projects. I did it for him, at first. But my father showed me that completing the project made me a better person. I was now reliable.
My father showed me how to be an honest person by being honest and doing for others. He always said pay what you owe. But you don’t have to take on someone else’s debt. He encouraged me to always put myself in a positive position. Be truthful. The truth will not hurt me, but will make me a better person. He showed me, and all of us, love. He helped my mother with the dishes after meals, cooked for us, and helped clean the house. When I was sick, my father bought me ice cream and during dinner when I couldn’t eat with the family, he would come to my room and feed me chocolate ice cream, my favorite. He did that every time I had the flu, or cold. It was his medicine. Before I knew it, I felt so much better. Today, whenever I have the flu or cold, I get chocolate ice cream and think about my father. It was never medicine; it was his love for me.
My father asked me not to hate others for any reason. He encouraged me to help those around me who needed help. Be good to everyone. He was also a Christian man, thus, held Christian values. He also showed me how not to take advantage of women (which some women do to each other), and instead, lift them up. He showed me how, by the way he honored my mother.
He always said that until the country changes, it was still the man’s job to take care of his family. My father always provided for us. He protected us, gave us not only what we needed, but much of what we wanted. He had us evaluate what we wanted and showed us how not to waste money, time, or effort.
The world is changing now, and thankfully fathers see their children need them. From my view, fathers are much more involved in the lives of their children. In many public places, I’ve seen fathers do a myriad of things such as carrying their children or pushing them in the stroller, attending school meetings and parent-teacher meetings, attending school activities such as plays, chorus, football, basketball, science fair, and other school activities. These things show the children that they are important. This builds the son or daughter’s self-esteem, enables the son or daughter to know their place in the family and helps them feel safe.
I realize that there are many children or adults without fathers. With some, the fathers were not as involved with their children. Others had fathers who are in the service or do a service such as a firefighter, police officer or work away from the home. It would be a nice idea to leave your father, who works odd hours and is away from the home, a Father’s Day card expressing your thanks and love for him. See what happens. Be sure to let me know how things turned out. I will wait to hear from you. Only do this if you don’t have a personal reason to keep your distance.
On June 16, 2024, honor your father. Like you did with your mother on Mother’s Day, show your father that you are thankful for him and that you love him and care about him.
I would love to hear from you about your father. Please write and tell me all about your experience.
The Attractiveness of Wisdom is a story about a father and his relationship with his three children. Purchase the novel. Let me know how you enjoyed it and what you think of the father, Hamilton, in the story. I have to say I love him, and I really love his son, Jeremy, who is attached to his father and who also helps his father become a better person.
Isn’t that a Good Story? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Please send me your comments by responding to this blog. Until next time, Love a Good Story. Purchase The Attractiveness of Wisdom. I know you will love it as well.
Blessings and Curses, Finalist in the Readers Favorite Award, 2020, also awarded Top Ten Most Popular Books in the Frankfurt, Sharjah, and Guadalajara International Book Fairs, 2018.
I Just Love a Good Story. Don’t you just Love a Good Story?
Here is another Good Story.
A Lost Friend
A friend called earlier this month to tell me how happy she was on one hand, but very sad and concerned. She’d reconnected with a long, lost friend. She said she hadn’t seen or heard from him, the guy she loved and dated for six years, since he told her he was getting married. After their relationship, they ended up being good and close friends for a year before he found someone else and devoted his time to her. As she talked, I wondered what it would be like to reconnect with someone I was close to years ago. Why the separation? How would I greet my friend? Would I feel guilty because I didn’t keep up with her or him? Would the friend feel guilty and shy away from me?
My friend said her friend had fallen on hard times after his first year of college. He lost his parents and didn’t have the money, so he dropped out of school after midway his second year in college. He tried to find a job, but no one hired him. He also married (another woman) just before he entered college, making his life more challenging. For the life of me, I don’t understand why her friend wouldn’t tell anyone, and/or ask for help.
He separated from his wife, leaving her the apartment. She had a part-time job, and he didn’t want her to support him on her salary. He continued looking for a job, but no one hired him. Before he knew it, he found himself living on the streets. Initially, he thought he would only be out of a home and on the streets for a week or two, but years later he was still living where he could, even in shelters, when he could. In the shelters, he always ended up being the victim of theft or some man trying to rape him. Frequently, he had to fight his way out of the shelter. Like homeless men, he chose to live on the street or find a corner no one knew about, which was unlikely. When he found a place, that place didn’t work out for various reasons.
My friend told me he told her he could never get enough to eat and taking food from places where the homeless could eat became a way of life. The workers in these food places understood and would, occasionally, bring him, and others, extra food. Other places only gave everyone a sparse helping of everything and the homeless had to leave after they’d finished for others to come in and eat.
In the fights, he usually ended up injured. These injuries had to heal on their own. Hospitals and clinics weren’t eager to take in a dirty, smelly man. He remembered when he was employed or in school, the times he came across a homeless person. He wondered why and how it happened. He’d never thought he’d be in a situation like that. Now, he can’t relate to being homed. He said, no one asks to be homeless. It happens when your life gets out of control, when there’s no job or money coming in; when no one can take you in because they don’t trust you; when you lose your home and all your possessions such as your personal high school graduation pictures and diploma, pictures of your family and your parents sitting by the fireplace in their beautifully decorated house, pictures of your siblings, your wedding pictures, the time you played baseball, the times you won the Spelling Bees in elementary school; your birthday celebrations, your Christmas presents, the birth of your child, and the family at the table eating with a large turkey in the center; and the lives of your relatives. When you are homeless, you take only what you will need. The rest of your life, you have to discard. It is because the homeless person feels left out of the life he/she once knew. They no longer belong to that life. They no longer have the life everyone else has.
He is now in a nursing home. Somehow, he qualified for service. How that happened may be another story. I didn’t ask about it. My friend said he barely remembers her and doesn’t remember their relationship or the things they did together. Isn’t this another way of coping? It would be better not to remember, not to think about all the good you had before the new life of homelessness. Why try to remember something you will never have again? The situation won’t change. Is he trying not to remember; refusing to let her in? How far should she go? How hard should she push? She doesn’t know. Is he waiting to see if she wants to be involved? Should she worry? She should follow her heart. That’s what I’d tell her should she ask. My friend is trying to jog his memory, but he stares at her with empty eyes and an empty heart as he shrugs his shoulders.
My friend is gravely disappointed to see this once vibrant man who with his energy for life filled her with happiness and vigor, who wanted to be a dentist, now dirty, his body filled with scars, bruises, cuts, and who suffers from inner physical problems and emotional insecurity and emotional problems beaten down by homelessness. My friend said when she goes near him, he automatically goes into a defense mode.
His wife, they never divorced, does not recognize him at all. This man may never be his true self again, the man everyone once knew and loved who had everything going for him. My friend said she can’t stop crying for the loss of her friend and confidant.
His wife feels guilty that she didn’t make him stay. She said they could have worked it out. She wanted to let him know he has a daughter. She didn’t know she was pregnant until after he left. She always wanted her daughter to meet her father.
Have you reconnected with a relative or someone you new years ago? What did you do? How did it turn out? Are you satisfied with the results? Is your friend or relative satisfied with the results? My friend needs to know what it is like for others. Please help her.
That’s all for now. Isn’t this a Good Story? Please comment. I would love to know your thoughts. Until next time.
Love a Good Story 