In The Garden of

    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