Chicken Soup for Every Mom's Soul (35 page)

Then I made the quilt.

I must have been in my Suzy Homemaker stage of motherhood, before career responsibilities later fast-tracked our lives. That one lazy summer—the same summer when we made dandelion wine and learned to waterski on canoe paddles—I took the pile of old jeans, too beat up to be handed down one more time, and a scrap of crimson calico and made a patchwork quilt for the couch.

These were special jeans I just hadn’t been able to let go of. Jeans with memories. Some were stained with droplets of khaki-grey paint from the year we had tried to match the cabin color to the surrounding pine-tree trunks—and the munchkins had all insisted on helping us paint. Some jeans had silly patches on them that had once seemed funny but were now embarrassing: “Don’t swim in lumpy water.” Some had been accidentally tie-dyed with too much bleach and were now beyond fashionably funky even for kindergartners. But I still loved them all.

With the old Singer that had come with the cabin and the old pinking shears, over many quiet nights after the children were in bed, I cut and pieced together those squares that had meaning for me. Randi’s back pocket; Mike’s torn knee piece from the time he fell off his bike on the gravel; Kelly’s embroidered old favorites that had backed into a wet paintbrush; Eric’s favorite hippie jeans, ruined for school forever by the oil stain near the crotch.

The quilt, when it finally came together, was perfect. The patches were worn and soft, like old jeans always are. But impervious. The sand flicked off in the mornings with a quick flap against the porch rail, and any dampness the quilt might have acquired was burned off by the sun before it was needed again late in the day. For almost twenty years the quilt hung waiting each summer afternoon for cold, wet kids to come cuddling.

Of course, the children grew. The quilt was big, but it would only cover one teen adequately. And even though they professed to hate each other for a while and would share nothing else under the sun, I’d catch them on occasion, two, even three big kids, squeezed together watching a rerun, warming up beneath the quilt for half an hour, turf wars forgotten.

But families change. Ours did. A divorce happened, the children’s father got the cabin, and years later it was sold, all furnishings included.

I had long since moved on and made my peace with the cabin’s loss. The lifestyle we had there was indelible and everlasting, and so there was no loss, not really, not with such good memories. I wondered about the fate of the quilt, but only as you wonder nostalgically about a dear old friend you’ve lost touch with.

Fast-forward to Mother’s Day this year. Two thousand miles to the south, another indestructible leather couch holds a huddle of children. The Baja beach where I now live is nothing but sand waiting to cling to everything. Wet bathing suits are now salty from the Pacific, not just damp from the fresh inland waters of Wisconsin. Little pieces of seaweed instead of pine needles stick to feet. But the lifestyle is much the same. And now grandchildren snuggle on the couch, warming up for a few moments while watching SpongeBob—wrapped in the quilt.

Where did it come from?

My children missed it. One of them drove four hundred miles to see if it was still there, at the cabin someone else now owns, to ask if they could have it back, and to bring it home.

It was a surprise, my gift this Mother’s Day. And on the crimson calico squares, between the denim, one of them had written, in black Magic Marker that will stay forever:

     
Dear Mom,

You will never know
how much I
remember and treasure
all that you did
and all that
you taught me
as I grew up.

     
I love you forever.

The signature is on a favorite denim square with a little dancing frog stitched on—a frog that once frolicked on the jeans of a six-year-old. Of course it has a paint stain.

Paula McDonald

More Chicken Soup?

Many of the stories and poems you have read in this book were submitted by readers like you who had read earlier
Chicken Soup for the Soul
books. We publish at least five or six
Chicken Soup for the Soul
books every year. We invite you to contribute a story to one of these future volumes.

Stories may be up to twelve hundred words and must uplift or inspire. You may submit an original piece, something you have read or your favorite quotation on your refrigerator door.

To obtain a copy of our submission guidelines and a listing of upcoming
Chicken Soup
books, please write, fax or check our Web site.

Please send your submissions to:

Chicken Soup for the Soul
Web site:
www.chickensoupforthesoul.com
P.O. Box 30880, Santa Barbara, CA 93130
fax: 805-563-2945

We will be sure that both you and the author are credited for your submission.

For information about speaking engagements, other books, audiotapes, workshops and training programs, please contact any of our authors directly.

Supporting Mothers and
Children Around the World

In the spirit of supporting mothers and children of the world, the publisher and coauthors of
Chicken Soup for
Every Mom’s Soul
will donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to:

Free the Children
233 Carlton Street
Toronto, Ontario M5A2L2
Canada
Phone: 416-925-5894
Web site:
www.freethechildren.com

Free the Children is an international children’s charity founded in 1995 by the international child rights activist, Craig Kielburger, when he was twelve years old. Today, Free the Children is the largest youth empowerment organization having impacted the lives of millions of youth around the world. Their mission is to free children from poverty and exploitation and the idea that they are powerless to affect positive change in the world, and to improve their lives and those of their peers. Free the Children was nominated for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Here are some highlights of Free the Children’s remarkable record of achievement:

• Provided direct leadership training and spoke to youth groups comprising over 1.25 million young people across North America and around the world.

• Built over 400 primary schools in 15 developing

countries, providing education to over 35,000 children every single day.

• Distributed over 200,000 school and health kits to children in need.

• Shipped over $8 million worth of medical supplies and built primary health care centers directly impacting the lives of over 500,000 people in 40 countries.

• Empowered poor women to be economically self-sufficient by providing them with productive resources, such as milking animals, small machines and arable land, allowing them to remove their children from dangerous working conditions and send them to school.

Please contact them directly for more information. We invite you to join us in supporting this extraordinary organization.

Who Is Jack Canfield?

Jack Canfield is one of America’s leading experts in the development of human potential and personal effectiveness. He is both a dynamic, entertaining speaker and a highly sought-after trainer. Jack has a wonderful ability to inform and inspire audiences toward increased levels of self-esteem and peak performance. Jack most recently released a book for success entitled
The Success Principles: How
to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.

He is the author and narrator of several bestselling audio- and videocassette programs, including
Self-Esteem and Peak Performance,
How to Build High Self-Esteem, Self-Esteem in the Classroom
and
Chicken
Soup for the Soul—Live.
He is regularly seen on television shows such as
Good Morning America, 20/20
and
NBC Nightly News.
Jack has coauthored numerous books, including the
Chicken Soup for the Soul
series,
Dare to Win
and
The Aladdin Factor
(all with Mark Victor Hansen),
100 Ways to Build Self-Concept in the Classroom
(with Harold C. Wells),
Heart at Work
(with Jacqueline Miller) and
The Power of Focus
(with Les Hewitt and Mark Victor Hansen).

Jack is a regularly featured speaker for professional associations, school districts, government agencies, churches, hospitals, sales organizations and corporations. His clients have included the American Dental Association, the American Management Association, AT&T, Campbell’s Soup, Clairol, Domino’s Pizza, GE, Hartford Insurance, ITT, Johnson & Johnson, the Million Dollar Roundtable, NCR, New England Telephone, Re/Max, Scott Paper, TRW and Virgin Records. Jack has taught on the faculty of Income Builders International, a school for entrepreneurs.

Jack conducts an annual seven-day training called Breakthrough to Success. It attracts entrepreneurs, educators, counselors, parenting trainers, corporate trainers, professional speakers, ministers and others interested in improving their lives and lives of others.

For free gifts from Jack and information on all his material and availability go to:

www.jackcanfield.com
Self-Esteem Seminars
P.O. Box 30880
Santa Barbara, CA 93130
phone: 805-563-2935 • fax: 805-563-2945

Who Is Mark Victor Hansen?

In the area of human potential, no one is more respected than Mark Victor Hansen. For more than thirty years, Mark has focused solely on helping people from all walks of life reshape their personal vision of what’s possible. His powerful messages of possibility, opportunity and action have created powerful change in thousands of organizations and millions of individuals worldwide.

He is a sought-after keynote speaker, bestselling author and marketing maven. Mark’s credentials include a lifetime of entrepreneurial success and an extensive academic background. He is a prolific writer with many bestselling books, such as
The One Minute
Millionaire, The Power of Focus, The Aladdin Factor
and
Dare to Win,
in addition to the
Chicken Soup for the Soul
series. Mark has made a profound influence through his library of audios, videos and articles in the areas of big thinking, sales achievement, wealth building, publishing success, and personal and professional development.

Mark is the founder of the MEGA Seminar Series. MEGA Book Marketing University and Building Your MEGA Speaking Empire are annual conferences where Mark coaches and teaches new and aspiring authors, speakers and experts on building lucrative publishing and speaking careers. Other MEGA events include MEGA Marketing Magic and My MEGA Life.

He has appeared on television (
Oprah,
CNN and
The Today Show
), in print (
Time, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, New York Times
and
Entrepreneur
) and on countless radio interviews, assuring our planet’s people that, “You can easily create the life you deserve.”

As a philanthropist and humanitarian, Mark works tirelessly for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, March of Dimes, Childhelp USA and many others. He is the recipient of numerous awards that honor his entrepreneurial spirit, philanthropic heart and business acumen. He is a lifetime member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, an organization that honored Mark with the prestigious Horatio Alger Award for his extraordinary life achievements.

Mark Victor Hansen is an enthusiastic crusader of what’s possible and is driven to make the world a better place.

Mark Victor Hansen & Associates, Inc.
P.O. Box 7665
Newport Beach, CA 92658
phone: 949-764-2640
fax: 949-722-6912
Visit Mark online at:
www.markvictorhansen.com

Who Is Heather McNamara?

What began for Heather as a part-time freelancing job in 1995 turned into a full-time job as editorial director for Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises in 1996. She coauthored
Chicken Soup for the
Unsinkable Soul
and
Chicken Soup for the Sister’s Soul
.

“I feel so fortunate to have a job that brings joy to so many people,” Heather says. Her love of literature grew from her third-grade teacher Mrs. Lutsinger, who read to the children every day after lunch.

Today Heather owns her own home in a rural outpost of the San Fernando Valley, where she enjoys the panoramic view of the valley, her garden and her four dogs—all adopted strays. Her oldest dog, an abandoned “junkyard” dog, continues to patrol her yard, despite the fact that “he is blind in one eye and doesn’t hear so well. But he still has a good sniffer,” Heather proclaims.

Heather and her husband Rick are expecting their first child in July 2005.

You can reach Heather at:

Self-Esteem Seminars
P.O. Box 30880
Santa Barbara, CA 93130
phone: 818-833-1954

Who Is Marci Shimoff?

Marci Shimoff is coauthor of the
New York Times
bestsellers
Chicken
Soup for the Woman’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul I
and
II
,
A
Second Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul,
and
Chicken Soup for the
Single’s Soul.
She is a top-rated professional speaker who, for the last eighteen years, has inspired thousands of people with her message of personal and professional growth. Since 1994 she has specialized in delivering
Chicken Soup for the Soul
keynote speeches to audiences around the world.