Hi, Gang! It's late on a Sunday night - actually, very
early on a Monday morning. I'll keep this short. I have to work
tomorrow.

I had an idea for a story today, but it just wasn't working for me.
Instead, I went to my list of story ideas. This one seemed right.
It spoke tome. Now I hope it speaks to you.

Before or after the story, please enjoy a few wonderful links.
From my friend Phread: http://mothersdayforpeace.com
It's beautiful.

From a friend I've never met (Bob Perks, I'm not stealing your line)
Keith runs a wonderful site. Find his link below. Today
he sent the following:
I trust you enjoy and value watching this inspirational image .
To view this image you may need to allow download of the file
on your internet browser, once completed - allow about 45 seconds
for this image to download and open.
http://www.itsinthemail.com.au/sendlink.asp?HitID=1180874134828&StID=3871&SID=9&EmID=2066330&Link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.agiftofinspiration.com.au%2Ffiles%2FMagnificant_Photos_and_Quotes_-_Volume_No_1.pps
I hope it works. The last quote is from Keith himself.

Now for today's story.

It Took Control

In the corner of our backyard, against the fence, is a huge
forsythia bush. A maple tree rose through its center and towered
over it. They made an impressive team. Birds used them for shelter
when they came to eat at our feeders.

A sliver of grapevine was placed carefully in the dark earth
on our neighbor's side of the fence. It took root. One year it
topped the fence and climbed along its edge. A few years later,
it reached the forsythia bush, and slowly engulfed it. The vine
climbed the bush and reached the maple.

The maple, the forsythia, and the grapevine became a mass
of green. When storms rolled in off the Atlantic Ocean, the tree,
the bush and the vine moved as one. They were a green mass of
leaves, swaying in the wind. We called it "The Green Monster."

One year, I went to Google© satellite and punched up our
address. Our home was easily identified by the mass of green
in the corner of our yard. The grape vine swallowed the two trees.
It used them like an addiction

*******************************

A storm formed in the south Atlantic. For several days, we
experienced heat and humidity in the north. The storm moved in
our direction. The winds began to pick up. Rain began to fall.
The combination of maple, forsythia, and the grapevine swayed as
one. The maple, under the weight of its burden, bent. There was
a loud snap. Its trunk could bare the burden no more. The tree
lay in a tangle on the lawn. Its leaves began to shrivel from
the lack of life blood. It was over.

Georgia, my first wife, had a grapevine - alcohol. She lived
with it for a long time. It engulfed her. Its weight became too
much. It weighed her down. She shriveled and died.

There are grapevines weighing many people down. Is it drink?
Nicotine? Drugs? Georgia should have trimmed that vine a long
time ago. She waited too long. It's too late now. The tree is
down. It took control.


Michael T. Smith

If you enjoy a story, feel free to pass it on to your friends.

My only request is that you include the link for your friends to

join our family.

To join our family, go to:

http://subs. zinester.com/ 86758/

REMOVE THE SPACES TO GET TO THE SITE. SPAM BLOCKERS ARE

HURTING EZINES. DON'T LET THEM PREVENT YOU FROM READING

GREAT STORIES.


As promised, here is a list of great inspirational sites.

I subscribe to all of them. You will love these sites.


Run by my friend Carol, Storytime Tapestry at:

http://archives.zinester.com/98907/

Here's a new one that crosssed my path today:
Linda Della Donna
Freelance Writer
www.littleredmailbox.com
www.griefcase.blogspot.com
www.storybone.blogspot.com
"...and sometime when I wasn't looking, I got a new life."

By my good friend Keith in Australia:
http://www.agiftofinspiration.com.au/

My friend Phil runs http://www.peoplestuff.com.au/
Phil's awesome and brutally honest

Zev, yes another friend, runs http://empoweringmessages.com/stories/

Heart Catchers is a wonderful site. www.DianeDeanWhite.com

www.Heartwarmers.com and www.petwarmers.com are two

wonderful story sites.

http://hodu.com/

http://www.mydailyinsights.com/

www.ripplemaker.com

http://www.sermonillustrator.org

http://www.SkyWriting.Net

Here's a newly discovered one I like:

http://www.archive.zinester.com/9516

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WarmFuzzyStories/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WithInSight/

If you, or anyone you know needs prayers for health concerns,
struggles,etc visit www.janetperezeckles.com
Janet's prayer group will respond.

That's all I can think of right now. If I come up with

more, I'll add them.

Enjoy!!!


I love your comments, Send them to msmith4@nj.rr.com.

I'll include some in every post.

Now for some comments on my last few stories:

I so enjoyed reading about the two of you meeting and
the wedding pictures, even though I must admit it did
make my eyes "leak"!! That will be one I will save in
"My Special Folder. Thank you so very much.

As one who has failed at two marriages - one 30 years
and one 4 years in length - I hope some day I can say
that my "soul mate" has come into my life....but I am
glad that I can lean on the Lord for His encouragement
and at times comfort.

Always read your emails - don't respond very often, but
keep up the good work.
Always,
Beth

***********************

Hi, Gang.

    Happy Thursday to all of you. I just got in from my
local writing group, where I received great advice to
improve my "Don't Jump The Track" story.

    I wanted to write something good about my father,
but to be honest, I don't have a lot of good memories
of him.

    Tonights story is a reworked version of a story
I wrote a few years ago. It's not a happy story, but it
is true.

    If you enjoy a story, feel free to pass it on to
your friends. I only ask that you leave the link
at the bottom for them to join us.

    NOTE: IF YOU WISH TO STOP RECEIVING MY STORIES, PLEASE
USE THE UNSUBSCRIBE LINK BELOW. PLEASE DO NOT MARK ME AS SPAM.
MY STORIES ARE ONLY SENT TO THOSE WHO SUBSCRIBE TO MY EZINE.

    I Love your comments.
    Send them to: msmith4@nj.rr.com

    If anyone is interested in greeting cards, Ginny
belongs to a group of artists. They've teamed together
to market their products. Check them out at:
http://www.etsygreetings.blogspot.com

    Ginny's cards and other crafts are at:
http://www.ginginsgoodies.etsy.com

    Be sure to check out my collection of inspirational
   
sites at the end. There's something for everyone.

    Now for today's story.

                  Right From Wrong

    I was the youngest of three boys. We lived in a four-room
house with our parents. Dad liked to say we had four rooms and
a path. He referred to the well-worn trail to our outhouse. We
didn't have hot-running water. We heated water in pots on an
oil stove, poured it into a bucket, grabbed a facecloth and towel
and washed in the privacy of our rooms. We washed our hair in
the kitchen sink

    We were poor.

    Dad had a job, but he spent most of the money on alcohol.
There were many nights when I would wake to loud voices. I'd
lay still and listen, aware it was Thursday night, and like every
Thursday, Dad had come home drunk. Thursday was payday for my
father. After work, he and his co-workers went to the tavern and
drink. It was the start of four days of hell. On Friday, he'd go
to work hung over and return in the evening drunk again. For the
rest of the weekend, he'd drink with his buddies.

    He came home drunk one evening, got out of the car, lost his
balance, staggered twenty feet, and smashed his head into the
front porch. He was that drunk and somehow driven home.

    Dad was nasty when he drank - not violent, just mean. He'd
yell at us for the smallest thing. Even though we tried not to
disturb him, he'd lash out with complaints about our behavior.
There was no pleasing the man. Four days of the week we cowered
from him.

    I know more about him now, and can even understand his
bitterness toward the world. He was born out of wedlock, and
spent many years in a Catholic orphanage. The abuse he received
there - I don't want to think.

    As the school week wound down, my stress increased. I knew
the weekend was coming. The drinking and arguing were near.

    How did Mum tolerate him? It's mystery to me. She had no
where to go. Where would she be able to support three boys on
her own. She stayed for us. My biggest fear? She'd give up, walk
out, and leave us with our father.

    I was in the first grade and sitting in my classroom one
morning. We had large windows. I could see my house and the store
across the street from it. We had a small bus service. It came
twice a day and took people to the city and back.

    The bus pulled up. A lady with a red jacket boarded. My mom
had a red jacket! I started to cry in front of my classmates.
Mom was leaving!

    The teacher calmed me. "Michael, your Mum wouldn't leave you.
She loves you."

    I wasn't convinced. The lunch bell rang. I rushed home and
found Mum making my lunch. I ran up, clutched her around the
waist and cried.

    Mum did everything for Dad. She made his lunches, cleaned,
cooked, and took care of us. Dad did little. He worked and in
the evening he sat.

    If I needed his help, I refused to ask for it. If I asked,
I knew he would get angry at me for interrupting his TV time. 
When he came home from work, he expected his dinner waiting and
complain about the lunch made for him that day.

    I was afraid to ask him for anything.

    The chain on my bike was loose and would fall off the sprocket.
It took me forever to figure out how to tighten it myself, but
I did it.

    I learned to do things myself - the hard way.

    My brothers grew older, got their driver's license, and were
blamed for every mark, dent, or scratch on the car. I got my
license and refused to drive Dad's car. I was not going to be
blamed for anything that happened. I walked or biked and gave Dad no
excuse to yell at me.

    Christmas was bad. He'd be drunk on Christmas day and have
no patience for smalls boys enjoying new toys. There would be
more fighting than laughter from my parents. When my brothers
and I were older and slept late in on Christmas morning, Dad
would come to our room - drunk as usual - and wake us. He
expected us to be the kids he ignored. We'd groan and tell to
go sleep it off. He wanted to make up for what he missed out
on when we were younger, but the damage was done.

    One night, when I was a teenager, he was sitting at the
kitchen table - drunk. The look in his eyes was a warning. They
were red and evil. "Why don't you go to bed? " He snarled.

    I knew best. I went to bed.

    I tried to sleep, but I heard the distinct sound of his
shotgun being loaded. I snuck from my room and saw him going
out the door with his gun.

    I rushed up and grabbed the barrel, "Dad! No! Let me have
the gun. Go to bed."

    "Son, let me do it." he said. "I'm no good."

    "Dad, please! Go to bed."

    He loosened his grip on the gun, allowed me to take it
from his hands, and staggered to the bedroom.

    I learned a lot of things from my Dad. I learned how not
to treat my wife. I learned to make my own lunch and not expect
my wife to make it. I learned it's wrong for a man not to
complain about cooking and cleaning., cooking and cleaning are
a team efforts, and to give my children love and attention.

    Dad didn't teach by example. He did it by making me aware
of what is wrong. His drinking caused a lot trouble, but all
three of his boys became better people because of his wrong.

    Dad passed away in the early '90's. Mom, a strong and
beautiful woman, was freed from his abuse. My brothers and
I said, "Now Mum is free to enjoy her life."

    I don't hate my Dad. He was my dad. He gave me life. I
can't hate him for that. However, I'm disappointed he never
experienced the good things a family can provide.

    Dad, I love you. One day we will be able to meet again.
I will hug you and forgive you.

        Michael T. Smith

     If you enjoy a story, feel free to pass it on to your friends.
   
My only request is that you include the link for your friends to

join our family.

To join our family, go to:

http://subs.zinester.com/86758/

    As promised, here is a list of great inspirational sites.

I subscribe to all of them. You will love these sites.

    A good friend of mine has a new book out. You should check
this out. Carol's been through rough times. She tells it all
in her latest book.

Carol Roach
M.Ed, B.A.
Publisher: Storytime Tapestry
Author: Angels Watching Over Me:http://www.lulu.com/content/644485
Picking up the Pieces: A Woman's Journey: www.publishamerica.com

To join Carol's story site, go to Storytime Tapestry at:
http://archives.zinester.com/98907/

Here's a good one by Linda Della Donna
Freelance Writer
www.littleredmailbox.com
www.griefcase.blogspot.com
www.storybone.blogspot.com
"...and sometime when I wasn't looking, I got a new life."

By my good friend Keith in Australia:
http://www.agiftofinspiration.com.au/

My friend Phil runs http://www.peoplestuff.com.au/
Phil's awesome and brutally honest

Zev, yes another friend, runs http://empoweringmessages.com/stories/

Heart Catchers is a wonderful site.  www.DianeDeanWhite.com

www.Heartwarmers.com and www.petwarmers.com are two

wonderful story sites.

http://hodu.com/

http://www.mydailyinsights.com/

www.ripplemaker.com

http://www.sermonillustrator.org

http://www.SkyWriting.Net

Here's a newly discovered one I like:

http://www.archive.zinester.com/9516

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WarmFuzzyStories/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WithInSight/

If you, or anyone you know needs prayers for health concerns,
struggles,etc visit www.janetperezeckles.com
Janet's prayer group will respond.

That's all I can think of right now. If I come up with

more, I'll add them.

Enjoy!!!

I love your comments, Send them to msmith4@nj.rr.com.

I'll include some in every post.

Now for some comments on my last few stories:

From my good friend and inspirationalist in AU

Great story - great message buddy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There's no future in looking back along that track of life!
Love and cheers from a now sunny Oz - a beautiful day Mike

Lucky Phil

A link to Phil's page is in the list above.

    I'm in awe tonight, Gang!

    First, our family is close to 1300 strong. I thrilled and
scared at the same time. Many people have joined our family
to read great stories. It's my job to produce them.

    Welcome to all our new members.
   
    Most of our new members joined, because they read a story
of mine about grief - Life is a Bag of Frozen Peas.

    While responding to one of the readers, I coined a new
line. That line became the story I'm posting tonight.

    Before tonight's story, I have something special to
share with you. I'm sure a lot of you are American Idol
fans. The show originated in Britain. They have a show there
called, "Britain's Got Talent."

    Some of you may have seen this already, but I welcome you to
enjoy it again. A very humble man won the contest. His voice is the
next master. I've watched these videos over-and-over.
A star is born.

   You will not believe this voice. Those of you familiar
with the show, know that Simon is one tough nut. Watch his face in
these three vidoes. Paul got to him.

    Paul Potts is a star!
   
    This is Paul's audition:
   
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
   

    This is Paul's semifinal preformance:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=b3LgpI-bAk4&mode=related&search=

    Here is Paul's winning preformance:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_5W4t_CBzg&NR=1

    If you enjoy a story, feel free to pass it on to
your friends. I only ask that you leave the link
at the bottom for them to join us.

    NOTE: IF YOU WISH TO STOP RECEIVING MY STORIES, PLEASE
USE THE UNSUBSCRIBE LINK BELOW. PLEASE DO NOT MARK ME AS SPAM.
MY STORIES ARE ONLY SENT TO THOSE WHO SUBSCRIBE TO MY EZINE.

    I Love your comments.
    Send them to: msmith4@nj.rr.com

    If anyone is interested in greeting cards, Ginny
belongs to a group of artists. They've teamed together
to market their products. Check them out at:
http://www.etsygreetings.blogspot.com

    Ginny's cards and other crafts are at:
http://www.ginginsgoodies.etsy.com

    Be sure to check out my collection of inspirational
   
sites at the end. There's something for everyone.

    Now for today's story.

                     In The Garden of Grief

    I walked through the garden. A cool breeze lifted dried leaves
and spun them around my feet. The last of the leaf lettuce were clumps
of black and wilted leaves. A few zucchinis clung to life, but were too
small to pick. They'd never reach their peak.

    Tomato plants hung limp from their hangers.  The potato patch
was a barren wasteland. They'd been dug up and stored weeks ago. The
carrots, not big enough to pull up, would soon follow the tomatoes.

    A pumpkin reflected the sunlight. Its orange skin glowed. Behind
it, a sunflower, once strong and tall, drooped close to the ground. Birds
fed off the seeds it worked so hard to produce.

    I turned. Dust lifted from my feet. The dry soil, denied of rain,
lifted in the air and floated away. The peas and beans were gone. We'd
cooked and put them in jars a few weeks ago. The plants that remained,
struggled to survive.

    I was in a garden of death.

    A spark of color caught my eye. In the back corner of my garden,
a hardy marigold reached to the sky. It was small, but it was sturdy.
Death circled this little flower. It ignored it. The marigold was not
done. It still filled the world with color - with love.

    The garden became my life. I wandered through the dust. In October,
2003, my flower, my wife, wilted and died. The dust of life lifted from
my feet and drifted away in the breeze.

    In the back of the garden, I saw the marigold. Its mate succumbed
to the seasons as mine did. Her mate was gone. The seasons took her
love away, but she was strong.

    I picked it and held it in my hands. The marigold was Ginny. She
became my new wife - my new life.

    In the garden of grief, love can bloom again.

Michael T. Smith

     If you enjoy a story, feel free to pass it on to your friends.
   
My only request is that you include the link for your friends to

join our family.

To join our family, go to:

http://subs.zinester.com/86758/

    As promised, here is a list of great inspirational sites.

I subscribe to all of them. You will love these sites.

    A good friend of mine has a new book out. You should check
this out. Carol's been through rough times. She tells it all
in her latest book.

Carol Roach
M.Ed, B.A.
Publisher: Storytime Tapestry
Author: Angels Watching Over Me:http://www.lulu.com/content/644485
Picking up the Pieces: A Woman's Journey: www.publishamerica.com

To join Carol's story site, go to Storytime Tapestry at:
http://archives.zinester.com/98907/

Here's a good one by Linda Della Donna
Freelance Writer
www.littleredmailbox.com
www.griefcase.blogspot.com
www.storybone.blogspot.com
"...and sometime when I wasn't looking, I got a new life."

By my good friend Keith in Australia:
http://www.agiftofinspiration.com.au/

My friend Phil runs http://www.peoplestuff.com.au/
Phil's awesome and brutally honest

Zev, yes another friend, runs http://empoweringmessages.com/stories/

Heart Catchers is a wonderful site.  www.DianeDeanWhite.com

www.Heartwarmers.com and www.petwarmers.com are two

wonderful story sites.

http://hodu.com/

http://www.mydailyinsights.com/

www.ripplemaker.com

http://www.sermonillustrator.org

http://www.SkyWriting.Net

Here's a newly discovered one I like:

http://www.archive.zinester.com/9516

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WarmFuzzyStories/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WithInSight/

If you, or anyone you know needs prayers for health concerns,
struggles,etc visit www.janetperezeckles.com
Janet's prayer group will respond.

That's all I can think of right now. If I come up with

more, I'll add them.

Enjoy!!!

I love your comments, Send them to msmith4@nj.rr.com.

I'll include some in every post.

Now for some comments on my last few stories:

    Mike,
   I am sort of new to your 'story-letters' as I have
only been receiving them a little over two or three months.
I enjoy each and everyone of the stories that you choose
to put in each posting of 'Hearts and Humor" and didn't
realize until this last week how much I miss the "Hearts and
Humor" newsletters when your work or other things keep
you from being able to write and send them out.  Normally I
only check my emails while I am at work on Tuesdays - Thursdays
since I work as a Computer Lab Monitor at my local community
college and have a lot of free time in between helping students
when they need it.  So when I didn't see the usual "Hearts and
Humor" in my email through this last week, I wondered if
something happened, and hoped that nothing bad happened.

    Now to the point of my sending this reply on "Hoo Hoo Fraks". 
Children - especially Josh's age range of 2-5 - are the center of
my heart.  I recently received my Associates for Early Childhood
\Education and am praying about where and when to open a
preschool that will help today's children learn all the things
they will need to know to survive in today's world; mentally,
physically, emotionally and spiritually.  As I mentioned e
arlier, I am normally not working on Friday's, but was given
the opportunity to work today, so I gladly took that chance. 
Friday's are quite slow and usually very quiet around our
small community campus, except for today.  I had the wonderful
\(albeit most would not agree it was so wonderful) privilege
of hearing a very happy and very loudly shrieking child of
maybe two, enjoying being alive.  With the way the building
echo's it almost sounded as if I was in the buildings in zoo's
that are set aside for the primates, and a Shrieking Monkey
was enjoying life instead of a little child.  A short few minutes
later the mother of this child brought him and another older
girl into my computer lab to work on some school work. 
(Thankfully the mother did not scold the child while she was
here for being loud and enjoying life.)  I quickly went and got
the box of toys that we keep at the front desk for children to
occupy themselves while their parents are working or studying. 
After I had set it down for the two children to play with, I had
another enjoyable privilege of hearing the little boy talking
and chattering in "Toddler-ese" about a doll that he chose out
of the rest of the toys to play with.  It is their own special
language they use that really pulls my heartstrings and brings
joy and happiness to my days; so when I read "Hoo Hoos and Fraks"
shortly after the mother and these two children left, happy
tears started filling my eyes.  Reading it, I felt like I was
right there on the train watching and hearing Josh's excitement. 

Thank you for the little blessings that you bring with each and
every "Hearts and Humor" posting.

 God bless, Julie