Our greatest gift is the thunder of Silence. ~Joel Goldsmith
It’s the end of the week, and the wisdom of the wordsmith in me says “that’s enough!”
Do return on Monday to All Things Fulfilling. You’ll be Looking at Lucky and I will tell you how that relates to my life. Some details of my journey weren’t included in the memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, so I’ll share more on this site. Sue’s memoir
“If you are yearning for the good ole days, just turn off the air conditioning.” ~ Griff Niblack Nostalgia Quotes & Sayings (Being Nostalgic, Good Old Days, etc)
Where is your tech support person when you need him? Weeks ago my husband and I moved,and getting digital equipment reconnected is time consuming.
We are not so technologically challenged that we’d confuse an Etch-a- Sketch with an i-pad. But sometimes I think I’d rather return to the days of the Etch-A-Sketch since there are only two knobs and no wires or portal interfacing. Trying to connect some digital devices are challenging even though they are reportedly “user friendly.”
I remember when the Etch a Sketch came on the market in the early 1960s – it immediately went to the top of my Christmas list, and Santa fulfilled my wishes. The Etch-a- Sketch was our traveling companion. It kept us kids entertained and from fighting on road trips.
The other toy that was a saving grace in the car were these number puzzles. Remember them? We also had a larger one with a U.S. Map on it that you had to unscramble- that was very challenging.
It’s fun to look back on old toys from my childhood. Some of them make me wonder if kids today would even know what they are or take interest in them. If you are from the baby boomer generation, what was your favorite plaything that you wish you could still locate today? Search, you might find it here http://www.vermontcountrystore.com.
See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.
This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of “Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.”Sue’s memoir
“Have you realized that today is the tomorrow you talked about yesterday? ― Jaachynma N.E. Agu, The Prince and the Pauper
Indeed, I have come to understand that! For many a year I had visions of writing and publishing our family’s story, and it has become a reality. Memoirs are important because they are not just about our immediate family. They often reflect and record a time in history, a culture or religion, a way of being raised, and the values we pass on to the next generation.
Oh, there were times when I doubted, got discouraged or couldn’t find the right words, but I never let it stop me. Action led to fulfillment of those dreams. I made it happen!
Each time the task seemed daunting or I couldn’t find the right words or hit a road block I’d press on remembering the words of Bill Cosby “Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.”
We published authors overcame our fears and live to tell the story of it!
This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
“Your supposed to be using your gifts and fulfilling your dreams at every age.” ~Victoria Moran
On May 23rd from 5-7 pm I will be one of three people who will be featured at an art reception at Kneading Hands Therapy. Kneading Hands has the distinction of being “Best of the Boat” as a leader in massage therapy. They also have a growing apothecary and retail gift shop. http://www.kneadinghandstherapy.com/ Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected can now be purchased at Kneading Hands Therapy, so stop in anytime during their business hours or come the evening of May 23rd. I will be there and will personalize a copy of my newly released memoir just for you, if buy it. Kali Waldman, a multi-media artist whose love of art began at a young age will be present. Some of her art is abstract with unintentional messages that appear in many of her pieces which helps her to name them. Kali also enjoys photography and handbuilding with clay. For more information on her art, here is a link https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kaliart/263624433681489?ref=hl. Lori Aigner will be present to talk about the Tower Garden, an aeroponic growing system. Her information will be timely, as planting gardens here in mountain country is just around the corner. Kneading Hands Therapy will have sale items, giveaways and refreshments. Stop in! I’m excited to be included in this event because the reception involves gals who are growing their passions through business and life – so an evening of all things fulfilling! Thank you, Ali Boehm. I’m looking forward to the event. This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Sue’s memoir
Grown don’t mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What’s that suppose to mean? In my heart it don’t mean a thing. ~Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987
Now that Mother’s Day is over I can tell you what I got Mom since my present that I was planning came much earlier than expected, thanks to the efficiency of my publishers, The Bookcrafters.
You see, I had been planned on giving my Mom the first copy of my new publication Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected as a Mothers’ Day surprise.Sue’s memoir
So began my quandry. What to give Mom for Mother’s Day, instead of the book. It was solved when I stepped into Kneading Hands Therapy’s apothecary and gift shop to bring them copies of my memoir to sell. There it was, a little heart pillow, artfully decorated with a small banner that said “Write it on your heart that everyday is the best day of the year.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Perfect,” I thought, ” mom will love it.”
My mom really needs no reminder of this adage because she already has a zest for living and a unfaltering positive attitude toward life. Thankfully she has tried hard to pass on her joie de vivre to me, my siblings and her grandchildren. But, I thought, “she might like to hang the heart pillow from her bookshelves in her library or from the bedpost as a reminder to have faith, hope and find love in being alive every day on this earth even if things get more difficult with aging. She and my Dad are in their mid-eighties.”
Hope you had a great Mother’s Day, Mom. I was thinking of you and how grateful I am that you have had a long,healthy life to enjoy your four children and the grandchildren, too.
See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.
“How beautiful on the mountains are on the feet of those who bring good news.” ~ The Bible
My sister Jan had just walked in the door from work the other day when her telephone rang.
“Meet me at the fence,” her neighbor said. With urgency Jan threw down her pocketbook and ran out the back door wondering what the issue was this time. For twenty-five plus years whenever a “meet me at the fence” call came through between Jan and her neighbor, something was up. One of them had some kind of news to share with the other.
Jan stood at the fence waiting for her neighbor for a few minutes. Then watched her walk from her house across the lawn with one hand behind her back and a huge smile on her face. Jan knew from her expression it was good news, this time. Jan’s friend and her husband are police officers and sometimes she encounters difficult days, and needs to talk.
“Oh, my gosh, Jan!” her neighbor said “I can’t stop laughing. I love this book I am reading.”
“What are you reading?” Jan inquired.
The neighbor took the book from behind her back, where she was hiding it. It was a copy of “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.”
“That’s my sisters book!” Jan said, with enthusiasm and surprise.
“I know it! That’s one of the reasons why I bought it!” said her neighbor. I’ve told everyone down at the police station they’ve got to buy it. It’s a balm for the heart and the soul when things in the world are too depressing and you want to uplift the spirit.
The author thanks you, Beth, from the mountains of Steamboat Springs, Colorado! I am happy to hear you like the book. Many publications are sold when news of a good read travels beyond fences!
This blog brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. Sue’s memoir
“The realization of ignorance is the first act of knowing.” ~ Poet Jean Toomer
Just seeing the image of this car brings back memories of one of the first times it dawned on me that someone is always watching over me.
Here’s what happened that caused my reckoning. My parents had a car exactly like the one pictured. One day my twin and I and our little brother who was about four at the time, got into a little mischief.
My twin and I had decided we were taking our brother on a road trip. We were getting out of Dodge (Towson, Maryland) while our mother was otherwise occupied with our youngest brother. He was just a newborn. The three of us piled into the front seat of the sedan and began trying to move the steering wheel, pushing all kinds of knobs and buttons. Since the car engine was off , moving the steering wheel was next to impossible! Suddenly one of us must have hit the emergency brake and released it. The car began rolling backward.
My sister and I quickly jumped out of the car and grabbed the front bumper. The car miraculously came to a stop. “We ‘re as strong as Popeye,” we both thought. We were convinced our awesome strength and determination had prevented the disasterous result of having the car roll down the drive and hit a tree with our little brother in it. (Mind you, we were nine and my twin and I were very underweight. Our strength combined was only enough to stop a flea from jumping off the carpet).
Lesson learned as a child: It’s not a bright idea to play in a car.
Retrospective lessons learned as an adult: Someone much greater than myself was looking out for the three of us. Yes, I am here to tell you there such thing as God’s protection.
This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Sue’s memoir
Since I left high school in Towson, Maryland in 1971, I rarely have looked back to those teen years. In fact I have never driven by the site of the school, not even to get a glimpse to see if anything has changed and I’ve never returned for a high school reunion.
A couple of summers ago when I was in the area of where I grew up, visiting family, I did drive by my three childhood homes, all within the same neighborhood. How I was feeling was hard to grasp. I suppose it could be described as a mixture of beautiful feelings and a very quick dash of sadness that life marched forward. The melancholy feelings lasted only a few brief minutes.
Funny, isn’t it, how some people live their entire lives in one place feeling completely fulfilled and others move on. For me, I can’t imagine having stayed for all these years in the same environment where I spent my childhood.
My husband feels the same way. He left his childhood surroundings on the northern shores of Massachusetts (north of Boston) and never looked back. I suppose we were meant for each other – Baltimore girl, Boston boy, parents to a son raised in Vermont – now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico – a transient three, aren’t we?
Its taken me a life time to learn there is truth in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quotation, “the only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” I’ve come to many more conclusions about how life takes unexpected turns as I have written my memoir.My reckonings will give me plenty more to write about.
Photo Above: My high school in Towson, Maryland.
Interesting fact: Swimmer Michael Phelps, holder of 22 Olympic medals, also graduated from this school about twenty-five years after me.
Photo below: Overhead view of where I grew up – moved to three different homes in the same neighborhood. My dad built all three. The first house was a small cape style house, then onto what might be described as a southern colonial farmhouse and then to a 1970’s modern-style home which is smack in the middle of this picture.
Tomorrow’s blog is about a hard learned lesson that happened in the 2nd of my childhood homes.Sue’s memoir
Do return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow. This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.
“Having a baby is painful in order to show how serious a thing life is.” ~ author Lisa See
At the end of last week my husband and I changed residences. As we went through the process, I began to think of the analogy between moving and giving birth:
Through both you have to do the work and you are faced with labor. Yet if you want to make way for newness in your life, you must bear down, face it and go through it, whether you want to or not.
Once you’ve gotten through each event, you can look back and laugh. You forget all the pain and agony that was packed with the experience.
I’ve moved many times throughout my life. My most transient years were after I graduated college until the time I married. Come on back tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling. We will be visiting the neighborhood where I lived for the first 18 years of my life. It is where many of the stories in my memoir took place – in Towson, Maryland.
“Were in tarination have you been chile? You liked ta scared me a half a death,” the stellar character in my memoir said to me one day, as I ran in the door late for dinner.
“What do you mean, Fanny?” I had never heard her use a big word like”tarination” before. I’d heard it from my parents, but I wasn’t sure exactly what tarination meant. Perhaps she was trying it out for size. My parents were away for the weekend and it was Fanny’s duty to play the role of our parents. Nobody could get a point across better than she could, even though she said things in a different manner.
“I been callin’ and callin’ and you ain’t be answering me. Don’t you be doin’ that to nobody, not even to your Mama. We needs to know you alive. When someone calls your name, speak up chile – don’t be shy. Anythin’ you say means as much as all dat jabbering dat comes outta yo’ brothers’ squalk boxes.”
I didn’t know what Fanny meant at the time. But, now as an adult I get it. Sometimes these kinds of realizations in life take time.
There are so many meaningful things Fanny said to me when I was a child that went over my head. In retrospect it’s made me realize the significance of Buddha’s words “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.”
Sadly, we often don’t realize the full impact people have had on our lives, until something happens.
This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Sue’s memoir
All Things Fulfilling 