When a daughter becomes a reader

Written by Shelley Plett Wednesday, 27 February 2008 07:38

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” —Anna Quindlen, “Enough Bookshelves,” New York Times, Aug. 7, 1991

My heart goes heavy when I hear my kids cry, whatever the cause might be. But as children grow in height marked on the door frame and in depth marked by emotions, the reasons for their meltdowns become denser, less obvious.

Crying, outbursts, tantrums. All staples in a house with kids under 12. Probably over 12 too, that’s for me to find out. But so far, it’s been very clear why these things were happening. They don’t want to go bed? Tantrum. They don’t want to get up? Fit. They don’t want to share their toys...

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Not interested, no thanks, no way…

Written by Shelley Plett Wednesday, 13 February 2008 09:28

A soft answer turneth away wrath, but not the door-to-door salesman. —Evan Esar

 

During my time working behind a storefront, I have seen and heard too much. Appreciative customers, irate customers, angry vendors, and apathetic manufacturers. I’ve received faxes for foreign stocks, health-care plans, cheap meds, time shares and free Bahamas vacations. I’ve taken phone calls from charities that may or may not be real, salesmen who give only their first names with no return number, who insist they need the CEO’s personal cell phone number. And my personal favorite, the phone calls that begin with a recorded, “Our representatives have a very important message, please hold….”

The joys of working in the business...

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At times, blood is thicker than hope

Written by Shelley Plett Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:50

“One cannot be grateful and unhappy at the same time.”

—Anonymous

 

A string of serendipitous moments in the past few months brought a fact to my attention. I’ve never been without hope. Because of how I was raised, where I was raised, and the people that have surrounded me my entire life, being alone is something I’ve never had to face. Odds are, I never will.

That’s great for me, I’m lucky. But there’s no lesson in lucky.

I’ve had no reason to consider what it would be like to be hope-less, left with nothing more than fate or luck to determine my outcome. And I’d never considered how easily that course could be changed if somebody stepped in.

That is, until a family member, who until recently has been...

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Gifts to remember…and hold on to

Written by Shelley Plett Thursday, 27 December 2007 06:18

“You can't always get what

you want. But if you try

sometimes, well, you just might find, you get what you need.”

—The Rolling Stones



And God said: “If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

It wasn’t actually God who said that. Unless you worship Morgan Freeman, who played God in the movie “Evan Almighty” and told this to Moses, or Steve Carell.

What better time than the...

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