  Romance/Love
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While I realize that not all those who may be reading this are in the USA, I do appreciate that every country has a special day to commemorate those who have died defending their country. I salute the fallen who have given their lives defending the freedoms and ideals that their countrymen hold dear.
There are a lot of quotes this week....forgive me for not being able to leave even one of these out.
"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."~Thomas Jefferson
On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation! ~Thomas William Parsons
Is't death to fall for Freedom's right?
He's dead alone who lacks her light!
~Thomas Campbell
They are dead; but they live in each Patriot's breast,
And their names are engraven on honor's bright crest.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier's tomb, and beauty weeps the brave. ~Joseph Drake
Perform, then, this one act of remembrance before this Day passes - Remember there is an army of defense and advance that never dies and never surrenders, but is increasingly recruited from the eternal sources of the American spirit and from the generations of American youth. ~W.J. Cameron
The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree. ~Thomas Campbell
Decoration Day is the most beautiful of our national holidays.... The grim cannon have turned into palm branches, and the shell and shrapnel into peach blossoms. ~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Better than honor and glory, and History's iron pen,
Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men.
~Richard Watson Gilder
We who are left how shall we look again
Happily on the sun or feel the rain
Without remembering how they who went
Ungrudgingly and spent
Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain?
~Wilfred Wilson Gibson
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. ~Joseph Campbell
Their silent wounds have speech
More eloquent than men;
Their tones can deeper reach
Than human voice or pen.
~William Woodman
And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
~Lee Greenwood
I am fyn and I am proud to bring you this week's newsletter. |
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More 'Stories from the Convenience Store.' Knowing my next newsletter would fall during the week between the now 'official' Memorial Day and the original memorial or, as it was called when I was growing up, Decoration Day, I decided to talk to some of the more elderly folks coming in my store to see if they would share some stories with me. Knowing that ideas for writing can be found anywhere and everywhere, I thought I might come up with some ideas for characters and/or stories. Why this for the Romance newsletter? Why not? Romance is everywhere...you just need to know how to look for it!
Marian remembers going to decorate the graves of WW1 Veterans when she was just a girl. She remembers being eleven and spending all day in the sun planting flowers on the graves of two of her uncles who died in WW1, and on those of her great-uncle and great-grandfather who died in the Civil War. She remembers also planting flowers on her Uncle Alfy's grave. He died during the Spanish American War. She and her great grandchildren came in for Icees after decorating those same graves and more with American Flags. She says that next year one of the younger family members may have to decorate the graves as she (at 83) is just getting too old for all that kneeling and bending.
Clarence and Mary met at a USO dance during WWII. He was leaving from Detroit to go overseas. They hadn't danced together until the very last dance of the evening. Although Mary had been asked to dance numerous times, she demurred, all the while hoping that the tall, skinny soldier with the big, brown eyes would ask her dance. As the evening wore down and the young man had done nothing more than look across the room at her, Mary decided to put propriety aside and ask him to dance. The rest, says Clarence, is history. As he boarded a bus, Mary shouted out her address. By some miracle, he remembered it and soon letters began arriving from England. But then the letters stopped coming. She, however, just kept writing to him. After almost eight months of no mail at all, Clarence was a short distance off the beach in France when his mail caught up with him. All 178 pieces of mail from Mary came in his own separate mailbag! 'I decided, then and there, that if I made it home, this was the only woman for me!' he says giving his wife a squeeze.
A gentle man I know only from the vehicle he drives and the fact that every day he buys a pack of non-filter Camels said he was part of the reason that Michigan now has 'Ex-POW' plates for vehicles. He told me how angry he gets when people don't stand and salute the flag when it passes by in parades. 'It physically hurts!' he said, 'to realize how many people just don't care...don't appreciate that the fact they can stand there at all is due to all the soldiers who fought for their freedoms.' He then told me it made him too mad and life was too precious to waste being angry, as he got in his truck and left.
William will be riding in the VFW Caravan in this year's parade, rather than marching-which he'd far rather do. But 'these old legs just can't carry me the way they once did.' He proudly told me that his uniform 'still fits.' His wife comments that, 'You mean you can still squeeze into it!' They smile in each other's eyes. She meanwhile is a member of the Michigan Military Moms (and Grands and Great-Grands.) She has three grandsons in Iraq and one in our local cemetery. 'I am just so proud of all four of them. ' 'Durned straight, we're proud of 'em,' beams William. 'Fine boys, all of 'em.'
Danny is fifty-something, long, LONG haired and fought in Vietnam. He drinks Mountain Dew and smokes Marlboro Reds. He's an avid Paintball player, makes his living as a painter and has two prosthetic legs. He's marching in the parade. 'Damn straight I am. Lots of folks didn't bother to fuss over us when we came back, but at the end of this year's parade we are welcoming back a Michigan contingent from Iraq. And I will be there to clap them home!' Way to go, Danny.
Many people weren't sure what 'Decoration Day was. 'An old fashioned Memorial Day?' was one reply from a tween-ager. Unfortunately for most of 'the kids' the answer to the question: 'What is Memorial Day?' was a variation on 'the beginning of summer.' So sad, really.
The parade is tomorrow (as I write this.) I will be there as will my daughter just out of the US Navy and back from her tour of duty in the Gulf aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. We will stand and salute every flag. We will cheer all the veterans. We shall wave our flags. Happily, in this small one-stop-light town, so will almost everyone else.
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heartofahawk writes:Great newsletter! This topic fascinates me as well. I have angst about telling people I write *gulp* "Romance". Most imagine bodice ripping is involved!
~~~and of course, sometimes there is...but hopefully folks will realize it is much, much, MUCH more than that! And, personally, i find it one of the more difficult genres to write well.
Helen McNicol  comments:A very good newsletter! As an avid romance writer I think the modern romance has come a long way from stereotypical plots which drive men screaming from the room. I gave my first attempt at novel writing (romance of course) to a good friend, who read front to back then gave to her husband to read. Being a staunch kiwi male who would never admit to picking up a romance novel, he thoroughly enjoyed it.
~~~How cool is that!!?! WTG!
Stan Stanley said:Interesting writers saying they couldnt find time to read, I believe writers need to read, to learn, to replenish what you use in your daily writing, to grow and not stagnate.
my own personal take.
~~~I SO agree with you! Personally, I'd go nuts if I couldn't read. I usually have several going at once! One in the bedroom, one in the car, one at (yikes) work etc.
I got lots of feedback still from the short questionnaire I created. Still leaning to the majority of answers being from females who read romance and males who don't. One respondent still equates romance with 'Harlequin' paperbacks. Another thought the typical female heroines were vapid, weak and shallow. Romance novels have grown so much over the past 30 years or so. I urge...no I challenge you to pick one up and read it....let me know what you think! And I am talking a regular romance, not the current version of a 'dime novel,' but a real romance. |
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Romance/Love: May 28, 2008 Issue [#2411]
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