Happy Valentines Day from #OurAuthorGang

 Love is in the air

Every year on February 14th, Valentine's Day arrives to remind us to celebrate love and cherish our loved ones. Although we show our love in different ways every day, this day calls for something extra special.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! May this day overflow with all the love your heart can hold. Sending warm hugs and best wishes to you all!

Will You Be My Valentine?

A short story by Erika M Szabo

During recess, Ashley, the new girl in school with curly auburn hair and sparkling hazel eyes, sat alone on a wooden bench in the corner of the playground, deeply engrossed in her book. The playground was alive with the laughter and shouts of children. Brian and Scott stood near the bench, concealed by the wide trunk of a tree.

Brian, a lanky fourteen-year-old boy nervously fingered a Valentine's Day card. "I want to give it to her, but..." his voice wavered, uncertainty hanging in the air like a fragile thread.

"Save yourself the embarrassment," Scott, his confident classmate with tousled blond hair and a nervous glint in his eyes, exclaimed. "Nathan said he gave her a card, but she's just... She's so stuck-up. Look!" he pointed at the bench. "Nathan wasn't the only one giving her a card. There's stack of cards on the bench and she didn't even open."

His words hung in the cool breeze, leaving Brian puzzled. "What?" he asked, his voice tinged with surprise as his eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "She seems to be nice."

"Nathan said she just gave him a cold stare that made him feel pathetic," came the reply, each word painting a vivid picture of the icy exchange.

“Nathan is a brute,” Brian said. “Maybe he was rude to her.”

“Maybe,” Scott shrugged, looking down at his shoes and kicking a small rock. "This whole Valentine thing is so stupid, anyway."

"Yeah," Brian signed, stealing a glance at Ashley. He had a soft spot for her, a fondness that had grown over the weeks since he first saw her, but now his courage seemed to seep away. 

"I'm gonna go to the gym. You coming?" Scott asked.

"Nah, I'll be at the library until next class." 

Scott walked toward the entrance and disappeared through the glass door. Feeling deflated, Brian stood there for a minute and started walking too, though he couldn't resist stealing furtive glances back at Ashley who was still sitting on the bench, reading her book.

Should I? But what if she… but if I didn’t, I may never know. And I like her… a lot. Brian thought, trying to decide what to do. "Don't be a coward! You can do this!" he encouraged himself whispering under his breath. He started walking and every step as he approached the bench on legs that felt like jelly. His heart thudded in his chest, each beat echoing in his ears. "Hi Ashley," he managed to say, extending a carefully chosen Valentine's card with a trembling hand. "Will you..." his mutating voice cracked. Blushing, he cleared his throat and blurted, "Will you be my Valentine?"

Ashley glanced up from the pages of her book, her face lighting up with a warm, inviting smile that seemed to chase away the winter chill. "Happy Valentine's Day, Brian," she replied, her voice as gentle as the soft breeze. She closed her book with a gentle thud and gestured to the spot beside her on the bench, patting it lightly. "Would you like to sit with me?"

As Brian clumsily sat down, the stack of Valentine's cards scattered on the ground. The top one fell open and Brian's lips curled into a smirk. Valentine's is stupid, huh? He thought, reading Scott's name next to a hand-drawn red heart inside the card.

Enjoy the video and song created by Erika M Szabo

Happy Valentine's Day from the blog authors

In the soft glow of candlelight,

Love is blooming, everything feels right.

Hearts are beating like a sweet refrain,	Whispers of affection dance like summer rain.	From friends to lovers, near and far,
Tonight we celebrate who we truly are.	With every smile and every embrace,	It’s the magic of love that time can't erase.

Squint-eyed Woman

When a simple paint job goes wrong

By Erika M Szabo

I visited a friend, Marie, and noticed with surprise that everyone in her family was unusually polite and quiet. On my usual visits everyone was laughing, teasing each other and her ten years old son, Brian, was running around in one of his many hero costumes.

That day the tension was thick as honey in their home. We sat around the coffee table and had a light chat about everyday things. Brian sat close to his father on the couch and acted like a little angel. I felt the brewing tension ready to erupt, and I was frantically searching for an excuse to shorten my visit.

Marie sat across from me with a plotting cat expression and distant smile on her face. Once in a while she darted angry looks at her husband and son that lasted only for a fraction of a second.

When Marie went out to the kitchen to put on coffee, Brian whispered to his father, "Dad, we are in big trouble."

"I know, son! There is nothing more dangerous in the whole world than a squint-eyed woman . You never know if she's going to forgive you, or she's planning your slow and painful death, until she comes to her final decision."

"What happened? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Well, we painted the kitchen while Marie was at work and we got a little carried away. We had such a great time and we even cleaned up by the time she got home, but as soon as she saw it, the silent treatment began. I'm in big trouble." Peter sighed.

I stood up and went out to the kitchen. Marie silently looked at me with murderous look in her eyes, lifted her arm and pointed at the walls that was dark blue with big, yellow stars painted all over it.

Trying to hide a laugh I managed to say, "They meant well Marie, give them some credit for the effort."

"Oh, I will give it to them alright! They will pay for this for a long-long time. I specifically told them vanilla color, and look what they did! I'm gonna... Oh, I'm going to..." she yelled with daggers in her eyes.

"Okay girlfriend, we're going to the movies." Marie opened her mouth to protest, "Go get ready, no objection!" I ordered her firmly, so she turned and went upstairs.

In the living room I told Peter, "I know you meant well, you had your fun too, but now to the store you go to get the vanilla color paint. You will paint the walls and clean up the kitchen by the time we get home. Otherwise, you two will stay in the doghouse for a long time."

The boys looked at each other, they stood up and stormed out the front door.

Marie wasn't a good companion that night. I struggled to get her her mind off her kitchen wall but she just sat there quietly as if she was plotting the punishment of her husband. A few hours later when I drove her home, Peter and little Brian were anxiously waiting in the living room. Marie walked into the kitchen and I was right behind her.

The kitchen was spotless and the walls had a fresh coat of vanilla color paint. The next day, with Marie's approval, they painted Brian's room blue with yellow stars.

Fake It Till You Make It

Is it a good advice?

https://books2read.com/Fake-It

I wrote this short story remembering all the seemingly perfect families I've met in my life.
They show a picture perfect family life but hide the struggles, heartache, compromises, and sacrifices they made to get there.
People are not perfect and we all come with a baggage. We can live a happy life or a create a chaotic life. It all depends on the choices we make

Nancy arrives home from a long day at work. She kicks off her high heels and walks into the kitchen. Bruce lights the candles on the dinner table and embraces her in a warm hug. Her two girls, ages five and six, are running from the playroom to greet her. Their handsome seventeen-year-old boy looks up from his computer and smiles at her.

A beautiful picture, isn’t it? The man plays the role of the happy househusband and the wife is the breadwinner. Nothing is wrong with that. But, let’s just see how they got to this ideal picture of a happy home.

A short snippet from the book

Bruce remembered a conversation he had with his father a long time ago.

They were sitting at the kitchen table having a beer when he was just a teenager. He felt so grown up and important because his father let him drink a beer. He asked his father if he ever loved his mother. He had watched their relationship since he was a small child, and he couldn’t sense any devotion on his father’s part.

“She’s a dumb bitch. What’s there to love? But she’s a good mother and a good provider. I find my love elsewhere, son. The home is for security and comfort while I’m looking for a job,” he said, winking at Bruce. “She’s well trained if you know what I mean,” he continued.

Bruce wanted his father’s approval desperately. He was the role model for absentee fathers, but occasionally they had a moment together when he felt some closeness to him. All his life he believed that his mother and, as a matter of fact, every woman was just a meal ticket to an easy life. That’s what he saw, and that’s what he learned. He thought about relationships rationally: have fun with a girl but marry a steady woman on whom you can depend, as his father said. He had many girls to have fun with, and when he was in his early twenties, he began looking for a wife. He moved in and out of fleeting relationships, and he was surprised in the beginning that after four or five months, the women threw him out. They saw right through him and they refused to be used. He asked his father about it.

“Son, you have to be smart. You can’t just sit at home watching movies all day. Of course, they will find out you have no intention to work. You must ‘fake it till you make it’ Take a job, do it for a couple of weeks, and then get yourself fired. Find a way that makes it look like it wasn’t your fault. Then you’re okay for a couple of months; they will leave you in peace to look for another job,” his father advised him.

It worked for years, and he could stay in a relationship longer and longer.

My published fiction, children's books, and audiobooks:

https://www.authorerikamszabo.com

Christmas Gift

Christmas Gift

Christina Weigand

I am going to take a break from my author series for my next two posts. Christmas is in a few days and I don’t have a post scheduled for that day so today I will do my Christmas post.

At my age I have quite a few memories from Christmas’s past. Today I want to remember one in the not so distant past. It is from last Christmas. Between the kids and my husband and I moving around a lot in recent years, we had not had all the kids under one roof for a while. We always were short of at least one. We had gotten used to it, but it still a little sad not being able to gather as a family.

Now keep in mind, I have a son who lives in Vermont with his wife and two daughters.

 My other son lives in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, with his wife.

 And my oldest daughter lives in the state of Washington with her husband and two daughters.

 For a few years my  husband and I lived in Washington before moving back to Pennsylvania. So you can see being spread across the country as we are it can be difficult to get everyone together.

Since moving back to Pennsylvania we have established a pattern in which my son in Vermont comes to PA one year and the next year my husband and I travel to Vermont a few days after Christmas to do a second holiday with Scott and his family. With Nicholas living so close to us we manage to see him pretty much every Christmas. Katie in Washington is the one that is most difficult to see. This one really hurts because for seventeen years she was my only daughter in a house full of men so we had a special bond. Not being able to see her at Christmas was hard.

So we come to 2016, our year to go to Vermont. We Skype with Katie and her family in Washington. The conversation is fun and sad at the same time. One thing to come out of it: Katie and her family are going to come to Pennsylvania for Christmas 2017. The planning begins. The first thing we do is plan to host Christmas for both my husband’s and my family at our house. I forgot to mention: both my husband and myself are the oldest of eight, so when the families manage to get together it is a big deal.

So back to the planning, both my son and his family as well as my daughter and her family will be staying in my four bedroom house. Counting the three of us living there, the four coming from Vermont and the four from Washington adds up to eleven people under one roof for a week.

We pick up Katie and her family at the airport and Scott and his family drive down from Vermont a few days before Christmas. We get them settled just in time to have a small get together with my family on Christmas Eve. Nicholas is not able to make this one.

It is a nice quiet get together as my family is not as large as my husband’s. Even though we have the same amount of siblings, the sibling’s families are not as numerous.

So quiet: we share a meal, exchange gifts and go our separate ways. Al and I go to 10:00 p.m. mass and afterwards get some rest before the madness Christmas day will bring. While we are at mass my daughter and daughter -in-law start the cooking for tomorrow.

Christmas morning; Nicholas and his wife arrive and we open our gifts. Then it’s on to cleaning and more cooking.

 Afternoon arrives and my husband’s family starts to arrive. By the time they all arrive there are forty two people in my house and madness ensues, from gift exchange to eating to visiting. Definitely not the quiet party from Christmas Eve, but just as much fun.

Several hours later and a small meltdown from my introvert daughter (this is the youngest that still lives with us), the house is once again quiet as we sit and review the day’s activities.

In a couple of days Scott and his family leave and after another week Katie and her family leave. It is back to just the three of us.

The last month was  a whirlwind of family and activity. Now we take a little time to catch our breath and then tackle the upcoming year, which will be full of it’s own adventures. There were days when I couldn’t wait for everyone to leave, days when I just wanted to hide, but I wouldn’t trade the time spent with my kids for anything in the world. The best gift I received was having all my kids in one place, for all the madness of the holiday, but also for all those times when we got to be with each other in the quiet and peace of the season.

The next time we do this, the photo will be different, as our lives grow and change. People will be added others will grow and move on, but for one quiet moment in the flow of life we were all together, and until the next time, this was the best Christmas gift ever.

Christmas 2018 will be a little quieter with only one of my children visiting. We will go to my sisters for a small get together on Saturday and then will host a smaller version of my husband’s family Christmas day. On the 27^th we will drive to Vermont to spend New Years with Scott and his family.

May you all have a Blessed Christmas and may all your dreams come true.

COMMENTS

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Tricia Drammeh

1 month ago  -  Shared publicly

 

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Chris! Thank you for sharing your holiday memories with us.

 

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Ruth de Jauregui via Google+

1 month ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Chris Weigand​ shares Christmas memories and looks ahead to the holiday next week on #OurAuthorGang.

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Ruth de Jauregui

1 month ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Oh that is lovely!!

None of my kids will be with me this year. But I'll be with my sisters and brother at Mom's, so it will be good... (And I'm scheduled to work the day after Christmas, so it's OK.)

 

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Chris Weigand

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Thank you

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Joe Bonadonna

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This is a beautiful, sad, and joyous post, Chris. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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Joe Bonadonna via Google+

1 month ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Today on #OurAuthorGang, Chris Weigand​ offers us a touching post about her Christmases past and present.

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Chris Weigand shared this via Google+

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Toi Thomas via Google+

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Today, Christina Weigand shares her best Christmas Gift. #OurAuthorGang

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Eva Pasco

1 month ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Thank you for inviting us into your home and your heart for the holiday!

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Erika M Szabo via Google+

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Today Chris Weigand​ shares her Holiday family tradition

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