Chicken Soup for the Parent’s Soul reminds us to be grateful for every small, ordinary moment we spend with our families.
What is the real meaning of gratitude? The dictionary says to be grateful is to be "appreciative of benefits received." How inadequate. Any parent knows gratitude can never be summed up in a few concise words. It must be felt, experienced, embraced. Gratitude is what washes over you when your daughter proudly brings you a perfect red maple leaf . . . when your son hands you the tiny bundle that is your first grandchild . . . when your complex, maddening, wonderful extended family gathers around a turkey feast with all the trimmings. This Thanksgiving, take a moment to realize your family is the only definition of gratitude you’ll ever need. If this doesn’t ring true, you just haven’t been paying attention.
A new book on the market, Chicken Soup For The Parent’s Soul serves as a gentle reminder that parenthood is the most worthwhile, fulfilling, demanding and yes, gratitude-inspiring role of our lives. This collection of stories and poems includes contributions from single parents, stepparents, foster parents, adoptive parents and parents of two-parent families with biological children.
Each story explores the rich and diverse range of family experiences. A single mother gets a second chance to save her drug-addicted daughter. A famous actor helps his equally famous, dying father to say "I love you." A woman helps her son row across the Atlantic. Children teach their parents to believe in miracles. Throughout these stories—both ordinary and extraordinary—flow the universal themes of wonder and learning and love that are part & parcel of being a family.
One story, perhaps more than any other, illuminates the importance of appreciating those small, every day moments of happiness. Written by Marguerite Annen and titled "The Day My Daughter Died," it details a family’s last, unremarkable day together before a child’s death in a car accident. It’s a story of meals enjoyed together, housework shared, a Christmas tree decorated, an impromptu Monopoly game. The writer concludes: "A prayer has been hanging in our family room for years. It reads:
Bless our home,
Father that we
cherish the bread
before there is none,
discover each other
before we leave,
and enjoy each
other for what
we are while
we have time.*
The day my daughter died, I learned what it meant."
(*Prayer by Richard Wuong. 1981 Abbey Press, St. Meinrad, Indiana.)
Click here to order your copy now, or read on for some sample stories from this exciting new book! MORE>>