NPO for “Lyli” April 19, 2010

Title: Lyli
Author: Bethany Watson
Genre: YA, fantasy
Audience: Teenagers

Characters
Lyli: Being the 12-year-old daughter of the sun god, Aurum, and a mortal woman, Lyli is hated by all the deities except her father. She was banished from her father’s presence when she was an infant, and since her mother died in childbirth, she has lived on her own ever since. She lived in the woods, learning the languages of all the animals and plants, and learning the arts of the forest. She has never met a human who did not fear her, and she doesn’t understand why they are all so afraid. Living on her own and being raised by trees, animals and flowers caused Lyli to be a very unusual person. Having never felt anger, she does not understand it, and having never cried, she doesn’t know how to. Despite this, she knows things that the hermits and sorcerers spend ages trying to learn, like the language of the clouds. She is a very strong and purposeful girl.

Wanderer: Wanderer is one of a race called the heartless, a race of humans who have no emotions. His father was a mutant heartless, who, despite being a heartless, felt emotions, fell in love with a human, and got married. When Wanderer’s mother got pregnant, she was sure her baby wouldn’t be a heartless, but when he was born and didn’t cry, she knew that her worst fears were true. Wanderer’s father felt so terrible for passing on his race to him son that he killed himself, and his wife sent her son out onto the ocean in a basket without naming him, and died of a broken heart. Wanderer washed up on an island and was found by a mother wolf who took him in and raised him with her litter of pups. But when, 12 years later, the wolf mother died, the island became trapped in time because no one was there to love and care for it. Wanderer could not love, so he simply stayed, being a 12 year old boy, for a thousand years.

Ryder: When Ryder was a boy, he was bitten by a werewolf, and ever since then, every full moon, he undergoes a terrible transformation, and becomes a wolf. Even though he did not impose a threat, since he kept his human mind as a wolf, he feared that one day, he would attack someone, so when he was sixteen, he left the town, and joined a crew, and sailed away. On his voyage, his barge was attacked by pirates, and the ship went down. Ryder clung to a plank, and fell unconscious. When he awoke, he was on an island, in the dead of night. He decided to wait till morning, the go inland and try to find help, but morning never came. He was trapped on an island of eternal night, and a magical barrier held him captive.

Point of View
This story it told in third person

Setting
This story mostly takes place on the island of night. It is in a fantasy world, in what is essentially medieval times.

Plot Outline
Lyli is forced to leave her land by the people who fear her, and she sails away until he finds the island that needs love to move through time, and as no one has felt love on the island in a thousand years, it has been trapped in time. She finds Wanderer, and agrees to take him with her as she sails on, trying to find the courts of the gods and plead her case. They go on, and in the dead of night, find an island. They go ashore and meet Ryder, a 25-year-old man, who pleads with them to help him defeat the darkness. This is no ordinary darkness, it is eternal, and evil. Once you comes to the island, you cannot leave, and the darkness takes the worst in you and makes it take you over. Ryder is finding it more and more difficult to keep his mind, and horribly, he is finding it increasingly difficult to change back into a human. Lyli decides to use her sun stone to defeat the darkness. Sun stones are stones from the pavement of the gods, and Lyli is the only mortal in possession of one, and she uses it to communicate with her father, but she discovers that it needs sunlight to function, and she cannot call upon her father to banish the darkness. After a long while, Wanderer’s worst side begins to come out, his emotions, which Lyli thinks is wonderful, but worries Ryder, as he thinks emotions might weaken Wanderer, and when the dark creatures rally to attack this girl and her friends, and Lyli must learn to use her own light to conquer the night.

Conflict
Man vs Man: The gods fight over what to do with Lyli
Man vs himself: this is seen in both Wanderer and Ryder. Ryder who fears himself and is constantly battling the wolf inside. Wanderer who fights against the emotions that he so does not understand, but is so curious about.
Man vs beast: When Ryder loses his mind for a brief moment and attacks Lyli, and Wanderer jumps to protect her in a moment of emotion.

Theme
Good will always win over evil, and light will conquer dark.

Literary Devices
Image: There is imagery used often in this book, as Lyli notices things like smells and sounds and the way things look and feel
Characterization: the story describes each characters appearance and actions in detail
Flashback: there is at least one flashback reminding Wanderer of all his times of emotions and at least one flashback reminding Lyli of all the times he saved her.
Prologue: theres a prologue describing the situations of both Lyli and Wanderer’s births.
Bildungsroman: Both Lyli and Wanderer grow and form themselves throughout the story

Just a bit of information… April 19, 2010

Hi All! Im just letting you know that I changed my novel completely, and I am starting over from scratch again. Im going to have to work hard (obviously) to catch up to where im supposed to be, so wish me luck :)

Chapter one: Autumn March 9, 2010

It’s strange how every year, without fail, the leaves on the trees change.  They start out all the same, all green, but then one by one they turn the colors of autumn.  It was just the same this year, the year two kinds of autumn were born: the autumn the world brings to pass every year, and Autumn Free.

* * *

Autumn’s blue eyes opened, and she peeled her forehead off the window.  Her red hair was tangled and sticking to her face, and she had a print on her forehead from the window.   She glanced at the clock, which was glaring at her in angry red numbers that said it was seven in the morning.

The sun was just peeking over the tops of the oak trees, painting the sky a vibrant shade of pink.  The leaves on the trees, already orange, turned blood red in the sunrise.

Autumn slid off the window seat, smiling and yawning at the same time.  This was a special sunrise.  It was the sunrise of Autumn’s sixteenth birthday.

Just as Autumn was wondering if she was the only one awake, the door flew open, and her older brother burst into the room, singing and dancing as he came, “Happy birthday to you!  Happy birthday to you!  Happy birthday dear Autumn!  Happy birthday to you!”  He pinned Autumn to the wall and began tickling her.

Gideon was an interesting brother, he was really cool and all the girls liked him, and his ability to make people laugh was endless.

Autumn was gasping for breath and laughing, trying to throw Gideon, who was two years older and much, much bigger, off of her.

Gideon finally stopped and let Autumn get her breath back.

“So, how’s the birthday girl?” he asked, rumpling her already messy scarlet hair.

“I’m great, how’s the un-birthday boy?”

“I’m great too.”  Gideon flopped down on the floor and sighed.  He looked nothing like Autumn, with his green eyes, brown hair (it was extremely talented hair tht was able to stick up in the back in the mornings, no matter how short Gideon cut it.) and straight, Roman nose.

“You’d better get dressed, little missy.  You don’t want Luke and Blossom showing up with you still in your pajamas.”

Luke and Blossom Pinomaki were Autumn’s two best friends.  They were a year apart, but they looked enough alike to be twins.  Both had blonde hair, the same profile, and the same round, intelligent eyes, even though Luke’s were brown and Blossom’s were green.

“Luke and Blossom are coming over?” Autumn asked, happily tossing shirts into her brother’s lap, from where he would absent-mindedly pick them up and toss them on top of Autumn’s drum set.

“Mhmm.  Apparently Luke tried to make you a birthday cake yesterday… What is this?”

“Oh poor Mrs. Pinomaki, I hope she made Luke clean up after himself, and I hope he didn’t make anything explode like last time, and that, dear Gideon, would be a leg-warmer.”

“Oh.  I was thinking you had tried to sew a puppet or something…”  He stuck his arm through the leg-warmer and folded the ends around his fingers, making something similar to a sock puppet.  He began speaking in a high, falsetto voice.  “Hi!  My name’s leggy!  I live in Autumn’s closet, which she really needs to clean, and-“

Laughing, Autumn chased Gideon from the room with a t-shirt, and just before she slammed the door in his face, the leg-warmer/puppet, still on his hand,

said “Bye bye!”

Laughing to herself about her bizarre brother, Autumn got dressed.  Having red hair really limited her choice of clothing color.  She couldn’t wear red or orange, because it looked so dreadful with her hair, and pink was even worse, but blue looked nice.

Autumn made her way downstairs, just in time to see Luke and Blossom coming up her front steps.  She flung open the door and was promptly confronted with another loud chorus of happy birthday, as well as hugging and more hair-rumpling.

Autumn expected Luke and Blossom to come inside, but instead they pulled her outside.  “We have somewhere we want to take you.”  Blossom explained, smiling in her shy way.

Autumn consented to having her hands duct taped behind her back and a blindfold being put over her eyes, and finally a pillowcase over her head.  Luke then picked her up around the waist, and threw her in the back seat of Luke’s old Junker.

They drove for maybe ten minutes, and the road got bumpier and bumpier.  Autumn had an idea where they were, since the only place this close with this bumpy or a road was the forest park.  She knew the forest quite well, after having been living here for almost her entire life, but she didn’t have a good enough sense of direction to know where they were.

A little while later, after much gear-shifting and jolting, the car rolled to a stop.  The back door opened, and Luke pulled Autumn out of the car, and Blossom pulled off the pillowcase and the blindfold while Luke cut the duct tape off.

The place was beautiful.   Autumn had been right to guess that they were in the forest.  There were oak trees and pine trees all around, and leaves covered the ground, which dipped down to a gargling river.  Morning light filtered through the leaves, a bright golden color, and spread out across the grass was a picnic blanket, with breakfast food covering it.  Right in the center was a big cake, with “Autumn Sky Free” written in yellow, in Blossoms beautiful handwriting.  All around the edges there were yellow and pink roses, real ones, devoid of thorns, bent together in a weaving sort of pattern.

Autumn laughed with delight “Did you make this?”

Luke smiled, brushing a strand of blonde hair from his face. “I helped with the frosting, but Blossom did the baking.”

“Luke put the roses on.”  Blossom said smiling.

“It’s beautiful.”  Autumn hugged both of her friends, feeling more appreciated than she could ever remember feeling.

* * *

“It is incredible how many odd looks one gets when one goes through a store, dripping wet, with pink and yellow roses in ones hair.”

“They’re all just jealous.”  Autumn said, handing a couple shirts to Luke, who, like her and Blossom, was soaked from the river, and who had all the roses from Autumn’s birthday cake in his hair.

“Oh I’m sure they are.  Didn’t you see that guy with all the tattoos and the earring?  He glared at me like ‘How dare you look cooler than me?’”

Blossom’s laugh rang out from inside the dressing room “You should go to D.C. like that, Luke.”

“Oh I plan to.”

Autumn smiled.  Right at that exact second, her life seemed to be perfect.  She thought ‘I hope it stays like this  forever.’

Little did she know that this would be the last day of happiness that she would know for a very long time.

Chapter summary

It’s Autumn’s Sixteenth birthday, and she and her friends have the best day ever.  Autumn marvels at how wonderful her life is.  Little does she know that she is heading straight into a time where there will be almost no happiness.

Ups and Downs March 9, 2010

Cameron threw the book across the room, and listened to the satisfying thump as it hit the wall.

“That was the stupidest… Ugh!” She picked up her phone to call Lesley, her dark hair swinging and her brown eyes blazing as they always did when she was upset.

*       *       *

Lesley’s phone began buzzing.  She pulled it out of her pocket, and saw that it was Cameron.

She flipped it open, “Cam!” She said.

Cameron’s voice came through the receiver, “Hey Lesley. I finished that book you gave me.”

“Autumn Sky?”

“Yeah.”

“Wasn’t it incredible?  Did Luke remind you of Brandon at all?”

“Um, no not really. I did think Blossom was a bit like you, but I didn’t like it.  Not that I didn’t like Blossom, I just don’t like the book.”

*       *       *

“You didn’t like it?” Lesley sounded disappointed.  Cameron shook her head and then remembered Lesley couldn’t see her and said, “No, I really didn’t.”

“Why not?  I thought it was kind of cool how it had like a moral sort of without being like a fable, and the writing style was actually pretty okay if you think about it.”

“The author seemed Emo, like she was just trying to depress me.  I mean it didn’t even all resolve at the end, if you think about it!  She still has all those legal issues and her dad is still not living with her and her mom is still upset, nothing changes!” Cameron was tugging her sleeves, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder.

“Well I know but that’s the point.  Ok, no that’s not the point, but the point is that no matter what happens you should never give up hope.  It was a hopeful ending.”

“How was that a hopeful ending?”

*       *       *

Lesley sighed patiently, tucking a strand of short, blonde hair behind her ear.  Cameron was a smart girl but sometimes…

“Cam, it was hopeful because she had a new perspective on things.  She had figured out how to turn her life around, and she was working on changing her situation.  She had Luke and Blossom at her back and she knew the truth.”

“And just what is the truth?”

“That no matter what you should never give up hope, I already said that.”

“Oh.  Well that’s true, but there were some things in the writing that bothered me.  Like the fact that the author has obviously never had a near-death-by-drowning experience.”

“You have a point there.  But I wasn’t focusing so much on the writing as the meaning behind it.  And you have to admit, when it came to describing using the five senses, it was pretty good.”

*       *       *

Cameron rolled her eyes.  “Yeah, but a lot of books do that.  Besides, the fact that Autumn and Blossom were still friends even after all those years and all that changing, that’s totally unrealistic.  I mean, people can be friends for a long period of time, but not if they are as different as Blossom and Autumn.”

“We’re pretty different,”

“Yeah but not that different.  And for another thing, the author made some of the characters be too perfect, like, basically flawless.  Take Luke for example, he’s Mr.  Luke Perfect, and all the girls like him, and sure, guys seem like that a lot of the time, but they never really are, every guy has flaws, so does every girl.”

“Blossom was the flawless one, not Luke, since Luke did in fact have flaws.  But I noticed that, what your saying.  I think you might be right, and that the author put people in too perfect a light.  That could have been better.  But could the emotion have been much better? Think about it?  Could it?”

Cameron paused.  There had been some very strong, emotional parts in the story, parts that had made her run to the bathroom for a tissue box, that was true. “I guess your right, that was some good writing.”

*       *       *

“The author is an actor, and she knows how to show lots of emotion without just saying ‘So-and-so was mad’ or whatever.”

“Hmm.  Interesting.”

“And, Cam, about the ending, think about it, was it really so bad?  Honestly think about it and think about the road that lays ahead for Autumn.”

*       *       *

Cameron thought.  It was true Autumn would have a very difficult time ahead of her, but Lesley did have an excellent point, that Autumn now had hope and something to live for.  Cameron knew what it was like to have nothing to live for, and she realized that hope was, in fact, a wonderful thing.

“Ok Les,  guess you might be right, it wasn’t THAT bad.  I’m not putting ‘Autumn Sky’ on my favorites shelf, but I wont but it in the trash can either, ok?”

*       *       *

Lesley grinned.  “You have yourself a deal.”  She picked up her copy of ‘Autumn Sky’ and looked at the cover.   It had a girl with red hair and blue eyes looking up at the leaves and the sky above her, and blonde girl hugging her on the left, and a blonde boy with his arm around her on the right.

There was a knock on the door, and Brandon walked in. He saw Lesley on the phone and mouthed “time for dinner”

“Hey Cameron I have to go.  But I’ll talk to you later!”

“Ok, later Les.”

“Later Cam.”

“What book is that?” Brandon asked, coming over to investigate.

“It’s called Autumn Sky.  Want to borrow it?  You can if you like.”

Brandon shrugged.  “Sure.”

Novel project Outline March 1, 2010

Title: Autumn Sky

Author: Bethany Watson

Genre: YA fiction

Audience: Teenagers

Characters

Autumn Sky Free: Autumn in the main character in this story.  She is a sixteen-year-old girl living in small town Virginia.  She has reddish hair and Blue eyes the color of the sky, that she lines with dark eyeliner.  She is a spunky girl who loves running in the woods, singing techno music, and big dogs.  She enjoys making music videos, and being on stage.  She seems practically fearless to those around her, and all the guys wish she was their girlfriend, but she’s totally not interested in a relationship.  She is never seen without Luke and Blossom.

Blossom Pinomaki: Blossom is Autumn’s best friend and they are as different as night and day.  Everyone says some day they will fight and never speak to each other again, but they have been friends since they were seven, and it hasn’t happened yet.  Blossom has long blonde hair and gentle green eyes, and she enjoys playing acoustic guitar, and singing, and reading.  She is very quiet, and rather shy.  She wears pink and blue almost every day, as well as sparkly eye shadow.

Luke Pinomaki:  17-year-old Luke finishes off the trio perfectly by adding a touch of boy attitude to Autumn’s spunk and Blossom’s sweetness.  Luke is a blonde, like Blossom, and he has piercing blue eyes with long, dark lashes.  He plays electric guitar, and loves his baby sister Blossom more than anything.  Luke has always kind of liked Autumn, but he never admits it, even to himself,

because he feels weird liking his best friend, and besides he knows Autumn would be weirded out by his liking her, so he keeps his thought to himself.

Point of View

This story is told in third person, but generally from Autumn’s point of view.  The reader does however g

et insights into Blossom’s and Luke’s minds from time to time.

Setting

This story takes place in modern day, in Virginia, at both night time and day time.

Plot Outline

Autumn and her friends’ lives seem absolutely perfect… and in fact Autumn’s life seems almost too perfect. Then, all of a sudden, everything comes crashing down when Autumn discovers that her dad has been cheating on her mom.  Her parents are suddenly involved in a lot of legal activity, and Autumn fears she may never see her dad again.  In

this difficult time, Autumn tries to run away from home, and tries to kill herself.  She is found, half drowned, by Luke who saves her life and then, with the help of his sister Blossom, saves her broken heart.  In the end, Autumn realizes that no matter what, life is a precious gift from God, and that it should not be tossed away on a whim.  Autumn comes to the decision that she will do everything in her power to help her failing family, and in turn, her spiritually failing father.

Conflict

One major conflict seen in this story is the conflict Autumn feels within herself as she wonders whether she can ever truly love her father again, or whether she will hate him for what he did.

A second conflict seen in this story is Autumn’s struggle for life.  In a way, she wants to just disappear and not have to deal with any of this anymore, and also she wants to be there for her mom.

Another, smaller conflict is that of Luke, trying to decide how he feels about Autumn.

Theme

True friendship and pure love can help heal any wound, and it’s never to late to change.

Literary Devices

Allusion: The places referenced in the story are real p

laces, taken from the place where I grew up: small town Virginia.

Conflict: see above

Imagery: imagery is used often in this story.  (i.e. when Autumn comes close to drowning, imagery is used to describe the water)

Setting: there are some very definite references to the 21^st century and some very definite references to my little town.

!Watson!

AlBhAbEt SeNtEnCeS February 26, 2010

This is my ABC sentence , and i know Xenophobic and Zealous have nothing to do with each other but hey one was X and one was Z so it works :)

A bug crawls deftly, ever fearful, guiding his insectine joints, keeping low, making no obvious prints, quietly running, silently treading, upside-down, very worried, xenophobic yet zealous.

And I realize that i repeat several letters in here, much to my dismay :( but at least not as many as I did when I first wrote it :)

Elizabeth Ghisk, Cory Quix, and I got Jim P. a VW bug.

!Watson!

Five stories.. February 26, 2010

East-Edith Pattou
In this story, Rose goes away with a white bear to save her sister’s life, but in so doing, Rose endangers her own life. Rose is willing to give up everything she has to save the ones she loves. This story is a retelling of both Beauty and the beast and East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and it shows how love truly can conquer all, even death.

Princess Academy-Shannon Hale
When Miri’s friend, Britt, is captured, Miri sacrifices herself to save her, putting herself in Britt’s place. When it seems that all hope is lost, Miri uses her only weapons left to her: her mind and her voice. She escapes through wit alone, and her bravery saves the life of not only Britt, but her entire kingdom. This story is a wonderful example of how one girl, even a girl too small to work in a quarry, can change the world.

The Lightning thief-Rick Riordan
When Percy Jackson is sent on a quest to retrieve the most dangerous weapon in the world, the lightning bolt, he is unsure of himself, not knowing what he is capable of. As his journey goes on, he discovers that no blade can match the power he has within himself. He learns what he truly wants, what he can achieve, and most of all, who he really is. This is a story of finding internal strength and learning to rely on ones self, and become who you’re supposed to be.

The Goose Girl-Shannon Hale
Ani is sent off to marry an unknown prince, and is betrayed by her power hungry, supposed friend. In a desperate struggle for her life, princess Ani is forced to pull her self down to the lowest possible rank, that of a goose girl. She learns what it’s like to be a peasant, living on the streets. She learns the value of hard work, a square meal, and a good night’s sleep, and along the way she discovers what love is. Ani is forced to rely wholly on the truth, praying it will be enough. Suddenly it becomes just enough when not only hope and life, but love is at stake, and with a friend behind her, and the truth at her back, Ani is able to save what matters most, and she saves an entire nation in the process. This is an amazing story because it shows how when you have the wrong reasons for something, your not going to get it, but when you want it for the right reasons, suddenly the path clears.

Heartbeat- Sharon Creech

Annie’s mother is expecting a baby, and Annie is amazed at how there can be a little person, inside her mother, growing everyday, a boy who will someday be a man but who is now just a group of cells. When Annie first hears her baby brother’s heartbeat, before he is born, she wonders at the beauty of an innocent being, not even born yet. But when the time comes, the baby does not breathe. Air is pumped into his body and Annie prays that he will live. Finally, tears come to the midwife’s eyes as the baby begins to breathe, and Annie feels again the little miracle’s heartbeat. This book tells of the miracle of life, and the wonder of a birth. It shows how amazing a baby, innocent and pure, can be and what a blessing a baby is.

<3 Watson <3

Beauty and The Beast February 24, 2010

Title: Beauty and the Beast
Author: (is believed to be) Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Gallon de Villeneuve
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Children

Characters:
Belle: A bright, beautiful girl with a love for roses and literature. She grows up without a mother, in a cottage with her widower father. She has a very loving disposition, and is the heroine of the story.
Father: A man getting on in years, who loves his daughter more than anything in the world.
The Beast: A prince under a spell who has lost the ability to love, and become an animal. In the beginning of the story he is the bad guy, since he captures belle’s father and holds him ransom until Belle comes to take his place. In the end, however, he changes and becomes a true prince charming.

This story is told from both Belle’s point of view and the Beast’s, and it takes place in pre-French revolution times, in France.

Plot Summary: Belle’s Father goes on a journey and finds an enchanted castle. He picks a rose for Belle and is captured by a beast for picking the forbidden roses, and Belle comes to the castle to take her father’s place as a captive. Over time the ferocious beast grows more gentle and kind until he is a wonderful person, and Belle falls in love with him, breaking the evil enchantment over him and his castle, and turning him into a handsome prince. Belle and the prince (ex-beast) are married and they live happily ever after.

Conflict: Most of the conflict in this story is internal, and we only see it through the thoughts of the characters. Someone inside this story who didn’t have insight into people’s thoughts would have no idea of most of the conflict going on.
The main conflict seen in this story is the conflict that is within the beast. He has the constant battle of the beast versus the prince going on inside him, both trying to dominate.
Another conflict is the conflict Belle feels as she begins to fall in love with the beast. She does not want to love someone she believes is a monster, but as tie goes on, she begins to see he is so much more than that, and the battle within begins.
External conflict is seen when the beast captures Belle’s father and throws him in
the dungeon. This is a minor conflict, and it only last a few minutes, but there is a man-to-man struggle.

The theme of this story is love. Love is what causes Belle to go to save her father, and love is what save’s the beast’s life.

Literary device 1: Anthropomorphism. The castle is enchanted and the table sets itself and the objects move about on their own. (not that they have faces as in the Disney movie, but they do walk and move about.)
Literary device 2: Bildungsroman. The beast, the protagonist, undergoes an enormous change.
Literary device 3: Characterization. The writer gives a vivid description of both Belle and the beast, and gives insights into both character’s thoughts, helping them to become more well-rounded.

My overall opinion of this story is that it has a very good lesson to it. A lot of times people mistranslate love of think that lust is love. Pure, Innocent love is a wonderful thing and this story shows it very well.

My Adventure’s Face February 2, 2010

My dress was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen, it shone, blindingly white, as I walked down the isle towards my future.  I knew I should be happy, so why did I feel fear?  I felt as though someone had pierced me with a poisonous needle, or drugged me with the wrong pills.  I just felt sick, blood pounded in my ears and I felt like my head was stuffed with cotton swabs where my brain should have been.

I walked past my mother.  She sat in her wheelchair, smelling of a sterile hospital room, and disinfectant.  The cap on her head, and the wire going into her hand told of the cancer, and the failed surgery.  I felt so numb, like I’d overdosed on anesthesia.  Just looking at my mom set of blaring alarms in my head, like the siren of an ambulance.  What was I doing?  I was still just a child, and incomplete child.  The X-rays had even shown that I wasn’t done growing!  Death was upon my mother and I was leaving her.  I remembered her words to me: “Medicine can’t help me now, nor can any doctor, but your happiness with make me complete.”

She wanted me to be happy.

I wanted to be happy.  I looked up, and saw HIM.  He stood there, smiling at me.  Suddenly I felt like I was melting.  It would all be ok, his eyes told me so.  As I took his hand, he whispered, “You don’t have to do this.  But I want you to know that I love you.”

I looked back at my mother, smiling at me with tears in her eyes.  I knew she would kill me if I didn’t do what my heart desired, and she might not be around much longer if I waited.  It was in God’s hands.  I loved my mother, and she loved me, but she had told me to move on and have an adventure of my own.  Squeezing his hand, I looked my adventure in the face.  And when asked that life changing question, I said “I do.”

Starry nights (CW15) January 21, 2010

This is a story of how the cares and things of the world can bring us further from God. If we fill up our lives with what is only good, we will miss out on what in vital.

There once was a young girl who lived out in the country. This girl loved the stars which she saw every night, spread out far above her in the heavens. The stars loved the girl just as much, if not more, and they looked forward to being with her and playing every night.
One night, as the sun went down, the stars began to look for the girl, but she never came. They saw nothing but moving vans and boxes.
“Oh, that’s all right!” the stars thought to themselves, “she’s only moving. We shall see her again in her new home.”
The girl was indeed moving, from the quiet country, to the big city. When she arrived, she was thrilled with all there was to do, and that night, after her long, busy day, she didn’t even once glance up at the sky before bed.
So it went on, with the girl getting older a

nd losing herself in things like makeup and social events. The stars became very lonely.
Many years passed, and one night, the moving

vans came again, and took away the girl, this time

with her husband and their child. They moved back out to the country, back where light pollution did not blot out the night sky.

That night, the girl’s little one tugged her outside and pointed up at the sky.

“Look, mommy!” the little one cried, staring up with wondrous eyes.

The girl looked up and her own

eyes filled with tears.

“All these years, I’d forgotten how beautiful the night sky looks from out here.” Never again did the girl forget the stars, and as time passed, the stars, and the girl with her little one, were happy.

~Watson