Tag: Love

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to my email list to receive my monthly newsletter and other announcements. This is a one-way announcements list, meaning the only messages you’ll receive will come from me. So, you can rest assured that this list is low-traffic. Send a blank email to: newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go.

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

***

36: Last Hours of a Life – Kindle edition by McBride, Jackie. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

A Compelling Easter Novella: My Review of 36: Last Hours of a Life by Jackie McBride #FantasticFridayReads #Fiction #Inspiration

What Amazon Says

He was God. But he was also a man. And He made the choice to go to the cross so we could live with Him eternally.

36 tells the story, from Jesus’s perspective, of the hours beginning before sunrise on the day of His Last Supper and extending through to the moment of His death. It showcases His humanity, because He was not shielded from the pain or humiliation simply by virtue of being God’s Son. It shows Him being tempted, which assuredly He was. Above all else, though, the story reveals His reactions to the various people and events He encountered along the way. Though some of the incidents depicted were not included in the Scripture narrative, they are surely not beyond the realm of possibility and serve to illustrate Jesus’s love and compassion toward others, even in the face of scorn and rejection. My hope is that as you read of Jesus’s love for others, you’ll realize He loves you just as much.

Walk with Jesus through His final hours, because in facing His death, He also demonstrated to us how to live our lives.

My Thoughts

I met Jackie McBride through a writers’ group she facilitates. She wears many hats as a minister’s wife, web developer, mother, and grandmother. She was a physician before losing her eyesight.

In the years I’ve known her, she has found little time to write. But she has submitted material to our group for critique whenever possible, mostly stories about Jesus’s crucifixion from other characters’ points of view, including friends and disciples and even Pontius Pilate. But in this short book, she tells this powerful story from the point of view of The Man himself.

Although the dialogue is mostly spoken the way people talked in those days, in the narrative, Jesus tells his story in first person the way people talk today, which makes the story more personable. All characters, even those whom Jesus heals, come to life as the tale progresses. The additional material not included in the Scriptures adds flair to the story. The crucifixion scene at the end is vivid without being too graphic.

As mentioned in the above synopsis from Amazon, Jackie wrote this book so those reading it would understand the depth of Jesus’s love. If you’re a believer, and maybe even if you’re not, you might want to read this book at this time.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description by

Note that I’ll no longer post my Joyous Jotting series here. So, if you like reading about my life from the perspective of my robotic cat, please subscribe to my newsletter. Starting next month, that’s the only place you’ll find this feature.

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***

H is for Husband #TuesdayTidbit #Life’sAlphabet #Inspiration

Thanks to BeetleyPete for inspiring this series with one of his own he posted in December of last year, in which he wrote every day about his life, using consecutive letters of the alphabet. This week’s letter is H.

When I met my late husband, I was in my forties, and he was in his sixties. I hadn’t been in a relationship before and was content to remain single for the rest of my life, figuring it was better to never love than to love and be cheated on or abused.

Then, along came Bill. At the time, I was living in Sheridan, Wyoming, where I’m still living now. Bill lived in Fowler, Colorado.

In 2003, we met through Newsreel, an audio magazine where blind and visually impaired adults share ideas, music, poetry, etc. I posed a question about computers. Bill, having built and sold computers for twenty years, emailed me an answer. I wrote him back, and that’s how it started.

For the next couple of years, we corresponded several times a day by email and by phone once or twice a week. My father and I visited Bill in Fowler on our way to New Mexico to see relatives. Finally, in January of 2005, I received the shock of my life, a letter in the mail in Braille from Bill, asking me to marry him.

All this time, I thought he just wanted to be friends. But as I found out later, he’d been dropping subtle hints that hadn’t registered. When Dad and I had visited him the previous Christmas, for example, Bill had suggested we kiss under the mistletoe, but I’d thought he was joking.

Bill had proposed to other women before me and had been rejected. It had taken him six months to work up the courage to ask me to marry him because he didn’t want to face yet another rejection.

Well, he almost did. Taken completely by surprise, I didn’t think I wanted to be his wife. It took a couple of months and a visit from him with an official proposal, including a ring and necklace before I finally realized, for no reason I could fathom, that I loved him.

Bill moved to Sheridan, and we were married in September of 2005 in my grandmother’s back yard. Three months later, our lives changed again. Bill suffered the first of two strokes that paralyzed his left side. He spent nine months in the nursing home where I’d worked for fifteen years as a registered music therapist. In September of 2006, when I brought him home, he was in a wheelchair. We both hoped he’d eventually get back on his feet with the help of outpatient physical therapy.

But in January of 2007, almost a year to the day of his first stroke, he suffered a second one. It wasn’t as severe, but it was enough to set him back to the point that he would never walk again. I cared for him at home, most of the time, until he passed in October of 2012.

You can read the story of how I met, married, and cared for Bill in My Ideal Partner. This is a memoir containing a poem at the end of each chapter. I leave you now with one such poem. You can click on the title to hear me read it.

BILL’S HANDS

Soft, gentle, they caressed me,

once milked cows, fed livestock, gathered eggs,

tapped computer keys in a busy office,

glided across Braille pages,

placed a ring on my finger, as he said, “I do.”

When one hand no longer worked,

the other did what it could.

Now they’re both gone

but will be remembered.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description by

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***

Silk Pajamas #SixSentenceStoryThursdayLinkUp #WritingPrompts #Inspiration

“I love the silk pajamas and the mink coat and the Gucci purse, but I’m still not happy,” I told him.

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“I met someone else who doesn’t just give me things. He’s not rich like you, but he holds me and kisses me and makes love to me. I don’t remember the last time you did any of that. Look, there’ll always be a place in my heart for you, but I don’t think you love me, and I want more out of life than just silk pajamas, a mink coat, and a Gucci purse.”

When I was thinking of what to write for GirlieOnTheEdge’s six-sentence prompt for this week in which the given word is “silk,” the above song came to mind. Then, my piece of flash fiction fell into place. You can click here to participate in this week’s hop and read other six-sentence creations.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description by

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***

A Zesty Memory #SixSentenceStoryThursdayLinkUp #WritingPrompts #Inspiration

I love Italian food with zest: spaghetti with meat or marinara sauce and meatballs, fettucine with Alfredo or clam sauce and seafood or chicken and vegetables, ziti and lasagna with meat and/or vegetables, pizza with everything including pineapples. Bring it on!

My late husband Bill also loved Italian food. Before his strokes, he could make a mean spaghetti. But when he could no longer use his left arm and leg because of the strokes, I had to learn to cook. I would be vain if I said my Italian cooking was just as good as his, but he liked it, and that was what mattered most.

***

Thanks to GirlieOnTheEdge for inspiring the above true story with her six-sentence prompt for this week in which the given word is “zest.” You can click here to participate in this week’s hop and read other six-sentence creations. By the way, you can read more about my cooking adventures in My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description by

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***