With a Song in My Heart (or somewhere)

Oh you are in a for a treat today! Let me introduce the witty and talented Kay Keppler, author of Betting on Hope. Kay lives with me in California, but it's a big state and so we've never met in person. Maybe one day. Without further ado, here's the very talented Kay!

What am I thankful for? I wanted to write something profound. I’m so lucky in so many ways. I have great parents, a good education that I didn’t have to go into debt for. I have my health and my work. Friends and family.

And...blah, blah, blah. I’m thankful for those things, sure. Absolutely. But I wanted to be more specific.

I thought about my life. I watched the news. I wondered: What are our aspirations? Are we more thankful for things we work to get? Or things that are given to us? Or events we have no control over?

And you know what else I thought of? That song from the Sound of Music. You know the one I mean: Raindrops on roses. Right, that one.

I want to say up front I’ve never much liked this movie. It’s just too scrubbed for me. And I don’t much like that song, either, for the same reason. I’m more of a Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin kind of gal. But once I’d started to think about what I was thankful for, I just couldn’t get this song—My Favorite Things, the raindrops one—out of my head. All week long, it’s been running through my brain. And when you don’t much like the movie, and you don’t much like the song, well, it’s been a bad week for thankful. Not so much thankful now, no sir-ee.

But I kind of like old Maria’s take on life. She appreciated the small things (those dang raindrops). She lived in the moment (the doorbells). She liked color (the bright copper kettles) and bad weather (the raindrops, the snowflakes), and, of course, she was a sensualist, she liked presents (brown paper packages tied up with strings).

So with apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein, here are a few of my favorite things. A few things, among very many, that I’m thankful for.

Chocolate and cashews and ripe avocados

Wool socks and seeing the Dickeyville Grotto

Old dusty books with their spines torn apart

These are the things that are close to my heart.

Hard contact lenses and exit row seating

Tampons and Advil and pain that is fleeting

Comfortable shoes and adjustable chair

These are the things that I simply can’t spare.

Phone conversations with friends close and distant

Lunches and dinners with folks real insistent

Tax refunds after I file my forms late

These are the pleasures that never abate.

When life cheats me
And defeats me
Forget what makes me glad—

I drink down a shot of my favorite gin
And then I don’t feel so bad.

Giving Thanks

 Hi everyone,

Today I have the privilege of introducing Angela Campbell.  Angela Campbell is a fellow Carina Press author and a talented writer. Her book, “Cry Wolf,” is available wherever e book are sold and is on my top five must read books. Every time I read a snippet, it moves up. Angela is also a very generous person, always ready with a congratulations or good job to her fellow authors.  Find out more about her and her book at www.angelacampbellonline.com.

Here's Angela!

First of all, I’d like to think Shawna for allowing me to be a guest here today. And if you haven’t read her book “Altered Destiny” yet, go buy it, now — hurry! It’s terrific!

When Shawna announced she’d like to feature a month-long blog campaign of authors expressing their thanks, I was all over that like ink on paper! I’ve always been a firm believer that everyone is blessed in some way, no matter how down on his luck she is or what hardships she faces.

I’ve certainly had my fair share of negative experiences. I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was 12. Hardest thing I ever had to face. I lost my best friend’s mother (my second mom) to breast cancer years later. I could go on and on about the other people and pets I’ve lost or my money woes, etcetera, etcetera. But I try not to walk around dwelling on the negative. I know there are far too many people walking around with much heavier burdens than mine!

I prefer, instead, to count my blessings — and I have many.

As Thanksgiving approaches, what am I thankful for? Would it sound silly if I said everything? Even those bad experiences have benefited me in some way. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful family, and I wouldn’t trade the friends I have for anything. It all has made me a stronger person and, dare I hope, a better writer?

When I’m writing a story, I plot a moment I call the hero (or heroine’s) epiphany. You know — that moment we all have at some point where we make an important decision about something. Usually, for romance writers, it’s the moment where our stubborn hero realizes he can’t live without the heroine, or vice versa. As for me, I’ve had many head-smackin’, D’oh! epiphanies in my lifetime. There’s one that stands out above most though.

I was 15, depressed and still missing my mom. Then one of my brothers announced he and his wife were pregnant. Wow, I was 15, and going to be an aunt. I mean, how weird.

But as my sister-in-law grew more pregnant, I felt hope bloom in my chest again. Wow, I was going to be an aunt. Pretty soon there would be a little kid running around, and I very much wanted to be a part of that kid’s life.

I prayed every night that the baby would be a girl, even though the male gene was predominant in our family. I can’t even remember why I so badly wanted a niece rather than a nephew. Everyone kept telling me, “Don’t get your hopes up, Angie. It’s probably going to be a boy.”

The day finally came, and my father picked me up from school with the news the baby had been born. And it was a girl!

As I stood in the hospital peering through the nursery glass, squinting and trying to figure out which wrinkled pink-blanketed baby was ours, I made a vow that I would never dwell on the negative again. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so alone anymore. I secretly like to think that my niece was God’s little gift to me, to remind me that life is too precious and too short not to see the beauty in it. And maybe even a reminder that He is up there, listening when we need Him most.

For the last 21 years (gah, I’m old), my niece and I have been BFFs, and my brother even blessed me with a nephew I adore along the way, too. Now my niece also wants to be a writer, possibly inspired by the fact that her crazy aunt who has been struggling years to get published finally did.

And oh yeah, I’m pretty grateful for that too!

So now that I’ve overshared waaay too much for one blog post, feel free to overshare back! What are you most thankful for, and why? ‘Tis the season to be thankful, after all!

Fall, Thanksgiving, Memories ...

I have the privilege of introducing you all to the Awesome, Crystal Posey. (And no, that wasn't a typo. Awesome and Crystal are synonymous, so capital and comma) ; )

A talented writer, Crystal is one of my biggest cheerleaders, meaning she knows when and how to kick me in my rear to get me motivated. She is my web-mistress *Ker Thwack* (sound of whip?) I have her to thank for all the loveliness that is my blog and website. She is the mother to 6 children, a devoted wife and a homeschooler. Yes, she's busy.  My husband is forever telling me I should send her chocolate. He knows us. ; ) Okay, without further nonsense from me. Here's Crystal.

I am not a cook. Not by a long shot. So what I'm sharing today is not a delicious recipe. Thanksgiving might be all about the food, but trust me when I say that you do not want me to give you a recipe. It's just as likely that I'll leave out the most important ingredient as it is that I can set a tea bag on fire (True story!). However, I will share with you what means the most to me during this time of year.

Alabama is magnificent during the fall. It's warm, vibrant, and there is almost always a breeze that sets the temperature just right for open windows. Taking a walk might as well be a trip to the best spa in the country. It provides a feeling of serenity and reflection, and it sticks with you like a heart warming memory does.

I don't have many memories from my childhood. There was a time when this made me incredibly sad, but since I started building my own family, nearly ten years ago, that doesn't happen anymore. Rather, the fact that I don't have memories makes creating them for my children all the more important. And what better time to build memories and new traditions than during Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving, fall, memories … for me they all go hand in hand. While I love building new memories throughout the entire year, there is something about this season that intensifies the meaning. There is nothing I adore more than creating memories for my children. When life tries to crush their spirit, it's going to be those memories that will remind them, not only of who will be there for them, but of the laughter and joy life gives.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving traditions.

Real life conversation:

My husband: "What was that sigh for?"

Me: "I have to write my thanksgiving blog and I don't know what to write about."

My husband: "Um, Thanksgiving."

Me: "No really, what should I write about?"

MH: "Dry turkey...I hate dry turkey."

Me: "Have I ever made you dry turkey?"

MH: "No, but you wait so long and it's so disappointing when it's dry."

Then he goes on and on about food... so I'm thinking maybe I should blog about food.

Or decorating! I love decorating for Thanksgiving! The colors and textures are brilliant...

Really there are so many things I could blog about that I'm stymied by the possibilities. I even asked my children what they liked best about Thanksgiving. I expected answers such as pie and cookies but the unifying answer was spending time with family. 

So I started thinking about family....and traditions. And how traditions change over the years.

Every holiday tradition I have, all my favorite memories, revolve around my grandma. She was the most amazing woman you could ever meet and I treasure everything she taught me.

My earliest memories of Thanksgiving were of my grandma in the kitchen, painstakingly going over the bird, removing any pin feathers. She'd soak the turkey in salt water the night before to remove any impurities in the meat. I don't know if it worked; you don't question grandma. She cooked from 4 am till 1 pm or so. As soon as I could hold a knife or a potato peeler, I was in the kitchen with her. 

As the years passed, I cooked more of the meal and she became the consultant, sitting at the kitchen table and taste-approving everything.  The first Thanksgiving after my grandfather died, I pulled the turkey out of the oven and stared at it with tears in my eyes. Who would carve it now? Eventually, my uncle stepped up with a knife. He's carved it ever since.

Over the years there have been a few changes in our traditions. I don't put that turkey in until 8 am or so...and that way, I also get to watch a little of the game. I also made it a little bit of a potluck. Each family member brings a side dish. We like sweets. Every year we have about 12 pies. Also, I don't let anyone fill up a plate and run off to the TV. We sit down at a table like civilized people. Okay, so I put the table in the living room so we can still watch the game, but it's the principle that counts. One must compromise.

Two years ago, my grandma passed away. That first year, we did something completely different: Mexican food for Thanksgiving. No one was ready to face tradition without the one who created them.

So although I love turkey and all the fixings, it's not just the food, not just decorations or the football games that makes Thanksgiving special. It's gathering together, preparing a meal together, fighting, making up and getting sick on pie. It's reminiscing over shared memories and making new ones that holds us together, makes us a family and together, we pass the traditions down to the next generation. My kids are right. It's about family. And that is my favorite part of Thanksgiving.