Amy Newmark's Blog - Posts Tagged "love"

Traci Langston viewed herself as shy and insecure, but her mother taught her a valuable lesson anyway: “The worst they can say is ‘no.’” Traci has learned to ask for what she wants, whether it’s something as simple as a better table in a restaurant, or as big as auditioning for a part in a play. This philosophy has led Traci to ask men out on dates, get prices lowered on things she’s buying, and even get a new job. Why? According to Tracy, “Because I asked. Because my mom was right.”

She was so frazzled she didn’t even know she was hungry, so when Abbie Dunlap’s mother swooped in to help her daughter with her newborn, that was one of the first problems she solved. She also sent her exhausted daughter to bed and stayed up all night with the baby. “Despite me being twenty-seven years old, my mom took care of me. I did not ask her to; she just did it. She didn’t sleep so that I could,” says a grateful Abbie.

Miranda Lamb was a difficult teenager, telling her mother that she hated her dozens of times. She didn’t think she needed her mother at all, and she moved out at age eighteen even though her mother told her she wasn’t ready. A few months later, Miranda called her mom late one night, crying and feeling helpless. Her mother merely said, “I’ll be right there.” Later that night, Miranda said “I love you” to her mother for the very first time.

These are but three of the 101 stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Mom Knows Best , which we call a “gift to moms, grandmothers, stepmothers, mothers-in-law, or honorary mothers, with stories that will make them laugh, tear up, nod their heads in recognition, and most importantly—know they’re appreciated.” That appreciation is important, because mothers spend years imparting unsolicited advice and often don’t hear much gratitude until their children are grown. It is a wonderful way for children of all ages to let their mothers and grandmothers know how much they are loved, how important their influence has been, and how much their children rely on them for comfort, too. It’s also a terrific way to admit to Mom that no matter what, we always end up agreeing that she’s right… and that we’re going to emulate her!

Amy Newmark

Being a mother is the most difficult and the most rewarding job there is. It’s a lifetime career that starts the moment you know you’re expecting.

Sometimes, moms wonder if they’re getting through. Are they making a difference? Do their kids appreciate them? The answer is “yes,” as illustrated by the 101 stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Mom Knows Best: 101 Stories of Love, Gratitude & Wisdom

Here is a quick look at two things grown children say they understand and appreciate about the women who helped them as kids and as adults, certain to be inspirational to mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, mothers-in-law, and honorary mothers everywhere:

Mothers are often our most important role models.
Weston Collins’ mother told him magical, creative stories every night, all the product of her fertile imagination. When he asked her where he could find stories like that, she explained that hers weren’t found in any books, but that he could write his own. She died when he was only nine, but her influence persisted. Today, Weston is a science fiction writer, with many books to his credit. “Now the world can share story time with my mom,” he says.

No matter how much we protest, we will end up acting like our mothers.
“I had the best intentions not to turn into my mother,” says Randi Mazzella. The embarrassing way her mother was dressed when she picked her up at school, the “stupid” rules she enforced, the music she listened to—Randi was going to be different. Until she found herself doing all the same things as her mom, because that’s what works. “I found out that turning into your mother is sometimes inevitable,” admits Randi. “So, yes, I’ve turned into my mother, and my kids are darn lucky I have.”

Happy Mother's Day!


Amy Newmark

We learn so much from our feline friends, and along the way they keep us company, provide unconditional love, and share in the ups and downs of our lives.

What do we learn from them? Everything! Our cats make us better people. If we rescued them, they rescue us back. If we’re sad, they comfort us. If we need to have more fun, they show us how.

Here are two of my favorite stories from Chicken Soup for the Soul - Life Lessons From The Cat and the lessons learned from our feline friends!

Sometimes you have to love and let go.
E.E. King spent a lot of time at her aunt and uncle’s house, and played with their new cat, T, all summer. But when winter came around, T acted shocked. That cat hated snow and cold. The next summer, they played together again… until T disappeared on August 29th. The family searched everywhere, but the cat was gone—until he mysteriously reappeared on April 12th as if nothing had happened. He disappeared again the next August 29th, and again reappeared on April 12th, and he did the same thing for the next two years. The fifth time that August 29th came around, the family was ready. They followed T to a neighbor’s house where a silver trailer was parked. It turned out that T was hitching a ride to Florida every August, wintering there with the neighbors, and then returning to his first family in April. Everyone agreed that the cat should continue to have his summer family and his winter family.

Remember it takes two to make a fight.
Susan Yanguas adopted two kittens, sisters, because she didn’t have the heart to split them up. The two sisters were very different in coloring and disposition, and unfortunately they also developed quite a case of sibling rivalry. They were always squabbling and provoking each other. Susan found herself saying, “Why can’t you two just get along? You’re sisters!” And then she realized she sounded just like her mother. Susan started observing the cats’ fights and realized how much she and her sister acted the same way. She also watched how the cats made up with each other. Susan comments, “While I can’t say I now enjoy a perfectly harmonious relationship with my sister, adopting these two siblings has showcased the dynamics of antagonistic personalities for me. I’m reminded daily that it takes two to have an argument.”


Amy Newmark

Did you know that September is Happy Cat Month?

At Chicken Soup for the Soul we tend to celebrate cats all year long! And why not — cats make us better people. They are our protectors, our role models, and our best friends!

Here are two of my favorite stories from our book, Chicken Soup for the Soul - Life Lessons From The Cat , with the lessons we can learn from our cats!

Accept it when something is meant to be
In the story "Journey of Love" Andi Lehman tested as allergic to pets, so her family had to give away their dog, cat, and guinea pig. Andi was devastated by the loss of her cat Grungy, who they had adopted six years earlier while stationed with the U.S. Navy in Turkey. That cat had survived many near-death accidents and travel adventures as they moved around the world with the Navy. Grungy was given to a young couple two islands away in the Florida Keys, but two weeks later, the wife called to tell them Grungy had gotten away. Months went by, and Andi mourned for her lost cat. And then one day, she stepped outside their Key West home and almost tripped over a matted, filthy, skinny cat. It was Grungy, who had walked ten miles to get home, traversing two bridges between the islands while he was at it. He was welcomed home permanently, with the only proviso that he sleep on the screened porch due to Andi’s allergies.

Taking care of yourself should come first
In her story "Speed Bump" Veronica Bowman wasn’t sure she wanted another cat, but she couldn’t stop checking one photo on the local shelter’s website. Finally, after two weeks of resisting, she and her husband went to see the cat in person. They fell in love. Veronica hadn’t thought she had time for a cat, because she had health problems and too many obligations. But that cat worked wonders. Instead of causing more stress for Veronica, the cat forced her to slow down. Now Veronica was brushing the cat’s fur every day and spending quiet time with her. Veronica concedes, “I was mistaken in thinking I didn’t need another cat. I needed help in getting my out-of-control days under control. I needed motivation to slow down and stop pushing my body beyond its limits.”


Amy Newmark

National Grandparents Day is September 8, 2019 — it's a perfect opportunity to show your grandparents how much they mean to you!

The collection of stories in our book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Grandparents explores the unconditional love and magical connection we have with our grandparents.

It's a nice way to show them how much you appreciate all the joy, wisdom and love they bring into your life!


Amy Newmark

Forgiveness is one of the best tools we have at our disposal to create a better life for ourselves. It really is an amazing tool... you can transform your life in just one one second — just by deciding to put the past in the past, where it belongs!

In our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Forgiveness Fix we have a collection of stories that show you how to look beyond the hurt and use the power of forgiveness to move forward.

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book that show how you can use forgiveness to create a better life for yourself:

Let family back in
In "There for Each Other" Lauren Magliaro describes how her father and his younger brother were estranged for many years, not even talking to each other when they attended family functions. But when Lauren’s father was hospitalized with a life-threatening brain aneurysm, his brother showed up to help the family, and whatever had transpired between them was put in the past. Lauren’s father recovered, and the two brothers enjoyed twenty more years together until Lauren’s uncle tragically died at age 58. Lauren says, “Though devastated at the loss of his brother, my dad was there for my uncle’s wife and three grown sons, the same way my uncle had been there for me and my mom two decades earlier. I miss my uncle every day, especially seeing him and my father together. They always reminded me of the importance of forgiveness, and that all things are possible with love.”


Make sure you understand what lay behind a hurtful action.
One of the best ways to find forgiveness is to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and try to understand his or her motivation and circumstances. It took years, but in her story, "No Fault," Christy Heitger-Ewing eventually got over her feeling of abandonment after her mother’s suicide—by recognizing her mother’s mental illness. She began attending a support group and came to realize that her mother was in agonizing emotional pain and that it wasn’t her fault that she died. As Christy sees it, “She didn’t choose to become inflicted by a chemical imbalance that messed up her brain any more than a cancer patient signs on to have cancer cells ravage her body.” Christy was able to stop feeling hurt and instead feel gratitude for the forty-six years that she had with her mother.


Amy Newmark

I love this time of year... the lights, the decorations, and the music... but most of all I love spending time with family and friends.

Getting into the holiday spirit makes everyone feel good!

The 101 inspiring stories of holiday love and wonder in our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, is sure to jumpstart your holiday spirit!

Here is a preview of two of my favorite stories that show how our writers experienced the joy and wonder of the holiday season:

Learn how to count your blessings.
In the story "Christmas Oranges" Erinn C was always a bit disappointed when she got to the bottom of her Christmas stocking and found an orange. After all, it was taking up room that could have been filled with more candy. But when she was thirteen, she learned that her grandfather had grown up poor and an orange was a coveted treat that he only got to have once a year. Erinn’s mother was honoring her father by including that orange for her children, even though they lived with such plenty. Erinn understands now and says, “Now the orange at the bottom of the stocking is a reminder to be grateful for the beautiful Christmases that my parents gave me and for the hard work they did that ensured I could have an orange any day of the year.”

Everyone is family during the holidays.
In her story "The Broken-Wing Party" Phyllis McKinley was surrounded by friends and family who didn’t feel like celebrating Christmas. They were having health issues or grieving a recent loss or were separated from their families. Phyllis bought a scrawny, crooked little tree and invited her friends to a “broken wing” Christmas party. All the guests had something wrong in their lives at the time, and they were welcome to come in whatever mood they wanted, no Christmas cheer required. Of course, everyone had a great time after all, saying it was the best Christmas Eve ever. Phyllis says, “Sometimes, when we are unable to fly, it helps to just perch together, leaning our broken wings against the warmth of another person.”

Happy Holidays!

Amy Newmark

The holidays may be over but there's still one last gift to open — and it's something you can actually give yourself — it's the gift of forgiveness.

Yes... forgiveness. We all need that little reminder to look beyond the hurt and resentments and use the power of forgiveness to move forward.

Did you know that there are real health benefits to forgiveness? According to a study from the Mayo Clinic forgiveness can lead to a stronger immune system, lower blood pressure, improved mental health and less anxiety, stress and hostility.

That's why I love our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Forgiveness Fix. So many stories that show how forgiveness can help you mange your hurt and focus on what's really important.

Here is a preview of one of my favorite stories from the book about how it’s never too late to use the power of forgiveness:

In her story "Writing to My Dead Father" Noelle Sterne had locked away her feelings about her father for years, burying them under all the distractions of daily life. But then, years after his death, she took a personal-growth workshop in which the students were encouraged to write about an unresolved issue. Noelle decided to write to her father, letting out all her disappointment in a rush of words. As she wrote she realized how much her father had actually contributed to her life, and how he was a role model in many ways. And that’s when she was able to write that she loved him and forgave him for his cold silences and sarcastic putdowns. She recognized that he had been living a life that deeply disappointed him, a Juilliard-trained musician forced to work in unfulfilling administrative jobs instead of pursuing his passion. Noelle says, “I felt lighter than ever before. The armor of resentment and unexpressed sadness dissolved, yielding to long-buried love.”


Amy Newmark

Miracles happen every day to people from all walks of life. From medical miracles to answered prayers, to divine intervention, these stories will deepen your faith and give you hope — that good things do happen to good people.

In our book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Believe in Miracles , we have 101 true stories from ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences, their lives forever changed by a miracle.

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book that show you how to find the miracles in your life:

Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need.
In her story "The Rosary in Mom's Purse" Gloria Caviglia was trying to get her two children back to college, prepare her eighth-grade classroom for another year of teaching, and take care of her terminally ill mother. Hospice assured them that she was receiving the correct doses of medication but her mom was in terrible pain.

Gloria couldn’t understand why God would let her mother suffer this way. Nevertheless, she and her husband needed to leave to take one of their children to college, so off they went in her mother’s car. Her son had pointed out that her mother’s purse was in the car before they left, but for some reason Gloria decided to leave it there.

As they drove home after the drop-off, Gloria asked her husband to stop at the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY. There she found a shrub covered with rosaries in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Gloria wished she had a rosary with her, so that she could pray for her mother and leave it with the other ones. Then she remembered her mother’s purse in the trunk of the car. Her mother always kept religious items in there. Maybe there was a rosary.

Sure enough, there was a rosary and Gloria prayed with it, asking for her mother’s pain to be taken away so that she could die in peace. Gloria’s mom died three months later, to the surprise of the medical professionals never having needed pain meds again.

Look for signs from the people you’ve lost.
In Jan Bono's story "I Asked for a Sign" she and her fiancé were sitting on a rock at the beach, watching the sea turtles, and discussing a very difficult topic—his terminal disease. He asked Jan to make sure she brought some of his ashes to this spot on this beautiful tropical island. Jan promised but said she needed something from him too; she needed him to send her a sign from the other side, something so big and amazing and specific that she couldn’t miss it.

Two years later, Jan was back on that island with a small pouch of his ashes. “I’m here,” she said. “Now bring me some turtles.” Then she read him a long love letter and when she looked up there were two turtles right in front of her. They rolled on their sides, their fins lifting clear of the water as if they were saluting.

Moments later, a yellow butterfly came and circled just above Jan’s head before disappearing into the trees. Jan thought all she needed to make her day complete was a hummingbird even though hummingbirds were not indigenous to that island. Instead, seconds later, a red-crested cardinal fluttered to the sand at the end of her beach towel and paraded back and forth in front of her. Then the signs kept coming. On the way out of the parking lot, a car came out of nowhere and cut in front of her with a license plate that read “LCB.” That was the nickname her fiancé had called her—LCB for Little Cuddle Bear. Back at the hotel, she found four pennies in the parking lot between the car and the room.

The ultimate sign came when Jan visited one of the many art galleries near the hotel. They had a wall with an enormous photograph from the area. When Jan sat down to look at it, she couldn’t help but squeal, because it was a photo of the very rock she had sat on earlier that day when she released the ashes into the water. Jan had fulfilled her promise by bringing her love’s ashes back to this island, and he had come through for her—with numerous definitive signs.


Amy Newmark

It's so true... we never stop needing our moms. They always know the right thing to say and the right thing to do. And somehow, like magic, they do it all!

In our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Moms, you'll find 101 stories of gratitude, wisdom and miracles lovingly collected from the Chicken Soup for the Soul library.

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book where we see the magic of our moms:

Moms show us how to be of service to others.
In John Dorroh's story “Mom’s Secret Mission” John tells us that his mom would disappear every Christmas Eve for a few hours and he never knew why. It was only after her death that he learned where she had gone. A man wrote to him and explained that John’s mother had come to their house every Christmas Eve for the past seven years, dressed as Mrs. Claus and bringing gifts for the whole family.

Moms are always there when we need them.
Tiffany Mannino, in her story “Never Too Old to Want My Mommy,” recalls the day that she told her mother she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mother helped her through every step of her treatment and Tiffany says, “She was attending to my every need, both physically and emotionally, but who was attending to her needs?” She adds, “I know what my mother would say if I asked her that question. She would say, ‘That’s just what you do when you are a mother.’”


Amy Newmark