Monday, March 25, 2019

A New Day

It IS a New Day. Spring has arrived. Officially. On the calendar and, my granddaughter tells me, spring has even arrived in the Cascades of Washington. Of course, in Texas we have a lot of spring off and on through the winter. But, now we have more sunshine and soon we Texans will complain loud and long about the intense heat.

BUT, Today IS another day that the LORD has made. And I have made a decision that I WILL REJOICE and BE GLAD in EACH NEW DAY.

A New Beginning. Praying new prayers in my old rocking chair.

Because I do have new days filled with blessings in spite of the trials, I am starting new posts on my old blog.  I want to share joy and healing and God's incredible love.

Since there is always a back story, I will share here the prologue and the epilogue from my book that I published last month. It is a collection of short stories I had written over many years, and I was invited to present it at a book signing at Emerald Oaks Retirement Community on February 27, 2019... two days AFTER my 82nd birthday. But, hey, sometimes late is okay.  The two short pieces posted below will keep the record straight both for those of you who are new to this written journey of new blessings as well as for long time readers who may have missed some of the gritty, daily details.


                                                 

                                                          CLIMATES for LOVE
                                         Short Stories of Love and Laughter
                                                                  by
                                                  Liz Hoyt Herbert Eberle

Page 5:

FIRST:
A Few Words of Truth

    For those of you who have read my work through the years, some
of these stories will be familiar, although I promise a new twit, here
and there.
   For new readers, of any age, I can only say, "Welcome. Thank
you for taking a chance to enter my make-believe world."
   For readers who are young, my fiction may seem 'strange.' I
prefer to think of it as, well ... 'old fashioned.' There are no dragons,
dinosaurs, or magic machines, but I hope you find some of the stories
refreshing, or even comforting. If you discover something vaguely
familiar, I hope you have courage to open the treasure chest of your
own old stories. It will be my thrill to pass the pen to young friends,
who will weave stories for yet another generation.
   To all of you who wander through these pages, I hope you find a
surprise rainbow, a ray of sunshine, or a windy blessing. 


Page 105:


VII. A NOTE FROM LIZ
19.  After the Storms 

    This little book has been in the works since 2012, when my
husband, Gus, and I made a plan: I would take a break from all
writing, even my family memoirs, and compile a book of my already
written fiction. My ‘storybook’ would debut on my 78th birthday,
February 2015. Yes, roadblocks notoriously interrupt plans.
   As we resolved my own surprise health issues, I saw changes in my
husband’s health showing that our time together would be cut short. I 
shoved my books into the file drawer, and became caregiver. All my
writing stopped, except for medical charts, schedules, and procedure
manuals. But, we had five, sweet years together, focusing on each
other, with our families, making memories, and sharing good times.
   Six months after I lost my husband, and still wrapped in that
blinding fog of grief, my daughter, Melinda, and I traded the quiet and
good life in our country home, for apartment living in the loud city of
San Antonio. We were totally and completely lost. For a while.
   Life in our new home at Emerald Oaks took over. Strangers
reached out to us and quickly became friends; we learned our way
around; and we settled into our strange, new world. 
   You, new friends, are the ones who, unknowingly and lovingly,
pushed me into reviving my book of fiction.
   My hope is that you enjoyed meeting these very old friends of
mine, totally make-believe though they be. Your willingness to jump
into my head and my heart touches me—deeply.
   It is true that all of the stories in Climates for Love, were penned,
and all the characters named, many long years before our Emerald
Oaks Retirement was a place on the map … or even on Google.
   Friends at Emerald: We do weave silly and beautiful stories
together, and you will always be in my heart . . . . even though I
promise that you will never, ever show up in any of my fiction!
   Thank you for being the sunshine in my life.


Now, we are ready to begin again, to count new blessings, to pray together, and to share God's love in a new beginning. 



This is the day which the LORD has made,
I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

See you in a few days.

Liz