God Knows- In Memory of Gretel Warren

God has a way of doing his thing
And its just because he can.
We have a way of not understanding,
For we refuse to be strong.

God gives and he taketh,
So as it is written in his words.
For he alone knows our sorrow,
And with loves gives us strength for tomorrow.

Three years ago he said you had to leave,
Dear Lord give us a little more time please?
My dear children this I must do,
For I love her so.

Here we are today thinking how much you were loved,
You will always be one of Mom's special dove.
Know always you will be in our hearts,
Even death can't keep us apart.

Dedicated to Claire and Family from all of us.  We miss you Aunt Gretie. Gone but not forgotten.

Written by "Papats"

Birthday Queen

It was a day I will never forget. My brithday. I'm not sure about many people, but me I take my birthday seriously. Its my day, a day where I should be pampered, where all the attention should be focused on. I mean it only happens once a year right? So I have the right to wanna be Queen for a day.

This birthday was nothing different I was Queen for the day and I was looking forward to a night of salsa dancing with friends. The guest list was big and I was excited. Let me take that back, now don't get me wrong I was excited, but I was also a little sad, because of all my friends that were coming out to celebrate my special day there was one special person that wasn't gonna be there.  We had been talking for a bit, I won't say we were dating, but we had a great friendship developing with the potential of it going further and I wanted him to be there, but unfortunately for me being in Mexico and sipping on pina colda was a lot more fun. Now of course it wasn't my place to have a hissy fit and even if it were my place it wasn't in my DNA to put up one. So I let it go. This year the Queen would be without her King.

I dressed in a black fitted dress, sexy stiletto heels and worn my hair down with a part in the middle, not much of a girl who loves make up it was simple eye shadow and lipstick. I must say I looked hot!

The club was packed and merengue music filled the air, all my friends were there which was awesome and filling me up with liquor which was even much better! I was on the dance floor shaking what my mama gave me and having the time of my life, but still a part of me  felt empty my guy wasn't here.

Suddenly out of nowhere the smell of Swiss Army cologne filled my nostrils.

"Damn" I said to myself. "I must be really missing him." I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder I turned around quickly and right before my eyes was the sexist man I had ever seen in my life. His skin was rich brown chocolate, with designer glasses giving him that professor look. He was clean shaven and had a smile to die for. He was dressed in a black dress pants, with a black shirt and the hottest suede jacket. Denzel Washington had nothing on him.

"Surprise!" he said with a grin. I had to do a double take making sure the liquor wasn't playing tricks on me. I could feel my heart start to accelerate, and I started to feel a little warm I was in desperate need for a drink to quench my thirst and cool my body down. But there was no way in hell I was moving and besides I didn't to let on how happy I was to see him. I needed to play it cool or at least try to."Happy birthday, Babe." he was cool calm and collected. I jumped into his arms like it was no body's business and kissed him all over. Forget about keeping it cool, I could blame it on the alcohol later.

"I thought you're flight wasn't getting in until tomorrow morning?"

"That's what I told you."

"So you mean..."

"I had every intention of celebrating your birthday with and what better gift than to suprise you!"

I was surprised alright and also very taken aback and it was right there I knew that this man wasn't going to only be my friend, but this Queen finally had found her King.

I wrote today's post as part of the WOW-Women on Writing Blanket Tour for
Letter from Home by Kristina McMorris (www.kristinamcmorris.com). This debut
novel is the story of three young women during World War II and the identity
misunderstandings they and the men in their lives have. Ask yourself: Can a
soldier fall in love with a woman through letters? and What happens if the
woman writing the letters is different from the woman he met the might
before he shipped out, the woman he thought was writing the letters? Is it
still love or just a lie?

  Like many authors, Kristina has had a wild selection of "real jobs"
everything from wedding planner to actress to publicist. She finally added
novelist to the list after  Kristina got a peek at the letters her
grandfather wrote to his sweetheart(a.k.a. Grandma Jean)while he was serving
in the Navy during World War II. That got her wondering how much two people
could truly know each other just from letter writing and became the nugget
of her novel.

  In honor of her grandparents, and all the other families kept apart by
military service, Kristina is donating a portion of her book's profits to
United Through Reading, a nonprofit organization that video records deployed
U.S. military personnel reading bedtime stories to their children. You can
learn more about the program at http://www.unitedthroughreading.org/

  If you comment on today's post on this blog or any of the others
particpating in Everybody's Talking About Surprises, you'll be entered to
win a special surprise prize! It includes an personalized copy of Letters
from Home, a Big Band CD, Victory Garden seeds, and more.  To read
Kristina's post about surprises and a list of other blogs participating in
Everybody's Talking about Surprises visit The Muffin.(we'll forward you the
link to the listing on the Muffin)

Letting a story go...for now

I am going nuts! For about the last month I've been trying to write this short story for my writing assignment and everytime I think I got it, I realize I don't. It took me God knows how long just to figure out how I wanted to begin and now that I have the beginning I can't seem to grasp the middle. I do have the end, but the middle is the meat of the story and without it it's just two pieces of bread with nothing in between!

I'm at the point where I feel that at this time I need to put this one aside and think about writing something else. Does it make me feel like a failure? Most def! I hate backing down from a story that's giving me such a challenge, but I think for my own sanity right now it's the best thing for me to do. Maybe this is not the story I'm suppose to be submitting at this time and I'm alright with that for now.

My deadline to hand in my assignment is March 21st. That's 10 days away and I have to start all over again. Do I think I could make it happen? I guess we'll just have to see :) Wish me luck folks!

I'll keep you posted.