Metropolis Reality Forums - An email I had to share

Sponsored by: The Fans!

Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register.
Nov 25^th, 2024, 4:31am

Upcoming Premiere Dates:
Survivor 23, Season premiere
Thursday, September 14 (8:00-9:30 PM, ET/PT) on CBS

Metropolis Reality Forums Ť An email I had to share ť

   Metropolis Reality Forums
   Community
   The Grapevine (Moderators: Heather, Bumper, Isle_be_back)
   An email I had to share

Previous topic | New Topic | Next topic »

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic

Author

Topic: An email I had to share (Read 167 times)

lakelady
Moderator
ForumsNet Member

Posts: 11251

An email I had to share
« on: Dec 10^th, 2003, 5:52pm »

Quote

Modify

An Adventure With Grandma

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was
just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to
visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There
is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled
to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me.
I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the
truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed
with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. I knew they
were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be
true.
Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between
bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No
Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it.
That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes
me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go."
"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished
my second world-famous, cinnamon bun.
"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one
store in town that had a little bit of just about every-
thing. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me
ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. 'Take this
money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs
it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and
walked out of Kerby's.
I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with
my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by
myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people
scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few
moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-
dollar
bill,
wondering what to buy, and who on earth to
buy it for.
I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my
neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my
church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly
thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and
messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's
grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew
that because he never went out or recess during the winter.
His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he
had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't
have a cough, and he didn't have a coat. I fingered the
ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby
Decker a coat!
I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It
looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a
Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter
asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes," I replied shyly. "It's .... for Bobby." The nice lady smiled at
me. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag
and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas
paper and ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and
Grandma tucked it in her Bible) and write, "To Bobby, From
Santa Claus" on it -- Grandma said that Santa always
insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's
house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever
officially one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and
she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his
front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa
Claus," she whispered, "get going."
I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the
present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back
to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited
breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open.
Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.
Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent
shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.
That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa
Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous.
Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.
I still have the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95.

IP Logged

MzWings
ForumsNet Member

Praying for FN members/family health & happiness

Gender:

Posts: 0

Re: An email I had to share
« Reply #1 on: Dec 10^th, 2003, 6:43pm »

Quote

Modify

Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!

Thanks for that little story - I hadn't seen it before. Very lovely, lakelady! Cry

IP Logged

"Senility Prayer"...God grant me...
The senility to forget the people I never liked
The good fortune to run into the ones that I do
And the eyesight to tell the difference."

QuantumT
ForumsNet Member

Gender:

Posts: 580

Re: An email I had to share
« Reply #2 on: Dec 10^th, 2003, 7:02pm »

Quote

Modify

Thanks for sharing Lake! Cool

IP Logged

Surprisingly, I was not startled to find a wee Abraham Lincoln sitting right there on my shoulder. We looked at each other for just a moment. Then he

luci
ForumsNet Member

Gender:

Posts: 12045

Re: An email I had to share
« Reply #3 on: Dec 10^th, 2003, 10:20pm »

Quote

Modify

Good story, I'd forgotten about this one. Cry

IP Logged

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and
can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Re: An email I had to share
« Reply #4 on: Dec 11^th, 2003, 2:14pm »

Quote

Modify

BOWIE, Maryland (AP) -- More than 28,000 foster children have received the note, a duffel bag and the cuddly friend.

"I want you to always know that you are loved, especially by me," the letter says. "And always remember to be positive, polite and never give up. Love Your Friend, Makenzie."

The writer is 13-year-old Makenzie Snyder, who has been sending duffel bags and stuffed animals to foster children since she was 7. Her mission: comfort neglected children who often are shuttled between temporary homes.

"I like to cheer up foster kids who have no real family," the Bowie girl says. "They are important, but no one cares for them. They are mostly forgotten."

Makenzie recently won a national award from the Caring Institute, which was founded in 1985 to honor and promote public service. Some other award recipients this year were Nebraska Congressman Tom Osborne and retired Vice Adm. William Lawrence, a former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy.

For Makenzie, the idea to help foster children came to her when she was 7. She and her two older brothers had won an essay contest on the topic "How to Change the World." Makenzie had been working with her brothers to raise money for firefighters since she was 4.

The prize was a trip to Paris to take part in the World Children's Summit. There, Makenzie met two children who had been wards of the state. She soon learned that many foster children end up with nothing but a garbage bag to carry their belongings to temporary homes.

So she decided to collect duffel bags to send through social workers.

"Then I thought about how I love to cuddle with a stuffed animal when I'm sad or lonely or missing my family, if they went away on a trip," Makenzie said in a recent interview from her backyard office, which is now filled with thousands of stuffed animals.

She called her project Children to Children and started out shopping at yard sales throughout Maryland for the items she needed. But that took time.

It wasn't long before the Freddie Mac Foundation heard about Makenzie.

Makenzie soon found herself sitting at a large conference table with Freddie Mac officials, answering questions about her project. They liked it, and gave her $15,000. The Washington Council of Governments kept the books for her and helped coordinate with regional foster care agencies.

Shawn Flaherty, a spokeswoman for Freddie Mac who recalled meeting Makenzie when she came to the office in 1999, described her as "very poised for someone so little."

"She's just a neat girl who is beyond her years in terms of being able to see a problem and start addressing it," Flaherty said.

Since then, Makenzie has raised about $50,000 in contributions. Makenzie also has collected thousands of duffel bags and stuffed animals from donors, including talk show hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah Winfrey.

Home Depot and Southern Management Companies built her backyard office. That's where she stores a large zoo of stuffed animals and prepares the bags, sometimes with the help of friends and family who take an assembly line approach.

Makenzie estimates she has reached about 28,000 children in six years. There are an estimated 530,000 foster children in the United States.

Makenzie occasionally runs into supply lulls. While she usually has plenty of stuffed animals, Makenzie said her supply of duffel bags has ebbed recently. When she received her Caring Institute award, a donor gave her $5,000. At $10 a bag, that will bring her supply to 500 -- a nice boost.

"But it would be really cool if someone would match that, so I could get 500 more," she said.

Ginny Grunley, a court appointed special advocate for foster children in Montgomery County, said Makenzie has excelled at a project that is desperately needed.

"A lot of times these kids don't have anything new to their name so it really makes them feel good," Grunley said.

Makenzie doesn't get to meet the children, because of confidentiality rules. Still, she said her project makes her feel good that she's helping others.

"I actually want to do it forever, until I help all the 530,000 foster care children in the whole United States," Makenzie said.

IP Logged

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic


Previous topic \| New Topic \| Next topic »