Valentines Day, 2016
This blog is brought to you by EVVY award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.
Click here for information on her publications. This e-book can be delivered within a few minutes for the cost of less than a Valentine’s Day card. And you can learn more about the character that I sent this Valentines to Heaven to through the memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
From my heart to yours, Happy Valentines Day from
http://www.allthingsfulfilling.com.
The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball. ~Doug Larson
Guess what I got last week? A Save the Date notification of my 45th high school reunion. When I first read it, I thought, “Oh, there is a typo,” until I made some mental calculations. How could it be that so many years have passed? After all, wasn’t it just last week I was a teen?
In all those years since I was a student I have only attended one college reunion. I guess it’s because I am more interested in living in the present.
I’ve maintained some friendships in my home town as well as my college town over the years so I haven’t let go of my schoolmates completely.
About a year and a half ago, I had a book signing for my award-winning memoir at Ukazoo Books in Towson, Maryland, the town where I grew up. It’s the setting where most of my memoir takes place. It warmed my heart to see some faces I hadn’t seen in decades.
Life has been kind to me despite very tentative beginnings and I am extremely grateful for that. I feel very young at heart and try to do all in my power to stay healthy. There are lots of theories of how to achieve that, but moderation in all things is the key, in my opinion.
An exception to the rule is allowing oneself to do kid-like things frequently. What’s good for the heart and soul is guaranteed to be good for our health, including residing since 1975 in the snowy mountains.
This article explains the benefits of getting out and enjoying some wintertime activities!
This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.
“Some memories are unforgettable, remaining ever vivid and heartwarming.” ~ Joseph B Wirthlin
It’s a wonderful thing to live as an adult with the heart of a child, still full of wonder.
We’re never too old to engage in childhood activities like taking a trip down the sliding board, pumping higher and higher toward the skies on a swing, wading in the waters of a rippling stream, getting messy with finger paints or diving into an ice cream Sundae with such zeal that it ends up all over our face.
A few years back my son took me to Michael’s Craft Store, looking for a picture frame. “Pick out a frame you are happy with,” said Marc, “it will complete the present.”
Before we were finished shopping my son said “Mom, did you see what’s at the front of the store? You might be interested. Go pick one out for yourself.”
“I followed his orders and have enjoyed being a child all over again – all wrapped up into something that used to bring me hours of pleasure as a child.”
According to this article from Business Insider, I am not the only one who is having fun revisiting my childhood!
When I need to switch things up and do something different other than reading and writing, there are all kinds of creative activities I dabble with which bring me pleasure. Many of them I enjoyed in my childhood.
This blog is brought to you by the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and short stories Lessons of Heart & Soul.
Quote by: Norman Vincent Peale
Have you read the debut novel by Amy Brill, The Movement of Stars? I just finished it and enjoyed a book club discussion of the publication with a group of United Methodist women.
Knowing so little about astronomy, when I first began reading Brill’s novel I was concerned that I may not be able to get through the astronomical details. How wrong I was. I became quickly involved in the relationship of the two main characters whose lives intersected. They seemed to have a deep understanding of one another due to parallel themes that ran throughout their lives. Both were strangers in a strange land, each deemed by their culture to be a people who should be denied to dream and excel.
As I became involved in the narrative, I could see how necessary the astronomical details were to the heart of the story. Brill’s writing about the planetary world was written as tightly as possible to convey the story of a well-rendered fictional personality based on a real life person, Maria Mitchell. She was a pioneer in her field, the first professional woman astronomer.
I felt the author did an admirable job of crafting an historical novel and I would argue with some reviewers who said “the central character was too staid.” After all, she was a Quaker who the author aptly portrayed with the values of her culture.
This blog is brought to you by the author of the EVVY award-winning book Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
Parenting is the stewardship of the precious lives that come to you through birth, adoption or second marriages. Leadership is the stewardship of the precious lives that come to you by people walking through your door and agreeing to share their gifts with you.” ~ Bob Chapman
Any one who has read the award-winning memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected comes to know through the story that the “saving grace” who appeared at a door one day became a valued and loved part of the family.
Sure, she earned a living working as household help but she played a significant role in the fabric of a family who was richly rewarded by the human traits she brought to the workplace. Her life lessons were shared from a unique and often humourous perspective.
The other day I came across an article called The Power of Treating Employees Like Family. I share the article with our readers today because of the insight it gives into a business story and also into the goodwill that can be nurtured between human beings through their jobs.
Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve had several employers who have treated me as family. What it a difference it makes in how your feel about your job, your co-workers, your capabilities and your willingness to go above and beyond. I’m grateful that I’ve been able to experience that in the workplace. In my opinion, in makes a difference.
This blog is brought to you by the author of the EVVY award-winning memoir, an anthology of stories Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and
short stories Lessons of Heart & Soul.
Kindness is just love with its workboots on. ~Author Unknown
Do you think traits such as kindness and compassion can be taught or are some people endowed with these traits from the start (innately)?
Many educators feel character education is the only way to reduce bullyng in schools.
YouAreNeverAloneFoundation.org has found a way to involve children in their program “I Matter, You Matter: Let’s Start the Conversation.”
In fact, school kids put their most pressing questions down on paper hoping to help improve their relationships with schoolmates, their families and friends. Through practicing empathy and understanding other’s points of view, the goal of this program is to advance listening and compromising skills and provide help in identifying one’s own feelings, too.
Teachers, your school can become involved, and the questionnaire that is being used in schools to begin the dialogue between children can be downloaded on-line.
Caring coins are also available with this program, which is an easy way to pass a message from person to person. More than 176,000 of these wooden coins have been shared around the world as a part of the YANAF mission. It started at the grassroots level to inspire caring connections in our community and the greater world by providing hands on opportunities to be kind.”
If you are concerned about our future generation of children, please spread the word about this program.
This blog is brought to you by award-winning author, Sue Batton Leonard.
The first thing you can do is be right with yourself. For me, that means spiritually and being right with God. ~ Condoleeza Rice
There is a store called A. Schwab Dry Goods Store in Memphis on Beale Street where history seems to have stayed still. It is filled with all kinds of merchandise from previous eras. Upstairs is a museum dedicated to old things such as old fashioned telephones, typewriters, 45 rpm records, roll top desks, vintage posters, evidence of the culture of the spiritual south, music history and more. A trip down the aisles of memory lane in Schawbs is fascinating but a bit sad because a little bit of evidence of racial segregration is upstairs among the artifacts.
I’m not so ancient that my life goes back to this kind of telephone, but I have lived through a variety of rotary dial and princess-style handsets, push button telephones, mobile phones and cell phone designs.
Do you remember picking up the phone and dialing 0 to ask a friendly operator about the weather forecast? And for many, many years to make an out-of-state call you dialed O and asked the operator to place it for you. Sometimes you were even on a first name basis with the operator in your area.
I recently browsed a website called ClickAmericana.com and came across a 1972 poster from AT & T. On the poster it advises parents to teach their children an important skill – how to dial 0 on the telephone because “they’ll always have a friend.”
It seems long gone are those days, but tomorrow’s story on All Things Fulfilling demonstrates there is still goodness in people and perhaps we judge too quickly. If we could listen with open hearts to neighbor and strangers alike, perhaps the divisions that have existed for generations would improve a little bit.
The truth of the matter is, America is not what it used to be, but there are lots of people who have old-fashioned caring values, you’ll see in tomorrow’s story.
This blog is brought to you by
award-winning author, Sue Batton Leonard.
Here is information on her publications:
Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and
short stories Lessons of Heart & Soul.
“You will never say goodbye to the past, until you understand why the flashbacks haunt you.” ― Shannon L. Alder
Today on All Things Fulfilling, we’ll celebrate the birthday of one of the most influential civil rights activists of all time, Martin Luther King. His work to erase racial segregation and racial equality for all was tireless. Sadly, his unfinished business in Memphis is still a work in progress in our country.
We’ll take a trip through images to Memphis, Tennessee situated along the Mississippi River. The city’s cultural roots run deep and it’s known for his rich music heritage. Beale Street abounds with eateries of it’s famous barbeque and sounds of rhythm and blues, gospel, jazz. It’s also known as the birthplace of rock and roll.
The Orpheum Theatre is historically significant and today it plays an important role in educating children. Their belief is that “when kids find art, they find themselves.” Many celebrities have performed in this theatre whose beginnings date back to 1890, when it was then known as the Grand Opera House. In 1907 it was renamed at The Orpheum.
Tragically, Martin Luther King’s life ended on April 4, 1969 in Memphis, Tennessee during a time of racial tension and upheaval. It was a period of unrest in my own life also. I write about this time in Chapter 21 Someone to Watch Over Her in my memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.
“The basic quality that any great story must have is a story that illustrates the human condition.” ~ William Shattner
Who is your favorite audio book narrator?
What’s that you say? “You’ve never listened to an audio book yet?”
What is you, crazy?
Audio books are on the rise and are greatly appreciated by those who are on the run. They allow for multi-tasking – while driving in the car, exercising or cooking dinner. You need not do a thing, only listen.
Here’s a list of some of the favorite audio book narrators of all time. Narrators like Maya Angelou and Garrison Keillor and others are well liked because their voices are so memorable.
It was a fulfilling experience narrating my own audio book because the central character, Fanny, had a dialect I could emulate so well. It is what many readers say “drew them into the story in the first place.”
If she were here today, “she say, you oughts to put dem earplugs in yo’ ears, and listen to a story. You don’t knows what you is missin’.”
Oh, how I miss that lady who was the heart and soul of my story. She was some kind of special. One might even call her a “whip stitch.” Just thinking about her makes me smile. And she sowed my heart in more ways than one.
If you are looking for a fun, memorable experience listen to the audio book version of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected through Audible. It’s downloadable within a few minutes. Any one of the formats – the award-winning audio book, e-book or paperback makes for a great Valentines gift for yourself or for someone in your family. After all, it is a love story from several different perspectives!
Also available are 10 short stories cut from the EVVY award-winning manuscript, Gift of a Lifetime. Lessons of Heart & Soul gives readers a humorous and touching glimpse into the love of a family, just like the first publication. .
Let’s state something up front! There is no perfect life. There just isn’t. Postings on social media might lead us to believe otherwise but, remember, we are often only seeing the good parts. During the holidays people ramp up their efforts to create images of having perfect lives and Christmases.
Everyone has struggles and things to overcome in life. But as they say, what you do with those challenges is what counts. That is why it’s important that for those who have inspirational stories to tell and feel they could write a book about it, to do so. The reason I penned a memoir in the first place was to help others who struggle with health issues understand that our attitudes profoundly affect our well-being.
I’m very proud to say that this past Christmas, thanks to the Mickey Barrows Memorial Endowed Fund which “benefits children who are confined to the hospital during the holidays,” copies of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected found their way to families through the Childrens Colorado Foundation in the Denver area. The hope for the initiative is that the book brought some smiles and cheer to faces and encouragement to teen cardiac patients who were hospitalized during the holidays. The book has won the Harvest Book Award in the young adult category and two EVVY awards from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association.
So, for anyone who is considering writing a narrative that will bring light and love to others, here is my message: Help others to know you are never alone.
This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of short stories Lessons of Heart & Soul and the EVVY award-winning anthology Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
See you back here on Monday!
All Things Fulfilling 