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Dear Reader,
Congratulations to Rick Martin, this year's 1st runner-up in my annual Write a Dear Reader Contest. Every year I tell folks who want to enter the contest that all they need to do is tell a story. Write from your heart and it helps if you have a great first line. Indeed Rick followed the formula. What a delight to read his entry. I could tell you how Rick's story changed his life, but reading his words will do it so much better. I can tell you that this delightful man fell head over heels in love with his wife Kathleen when they both were in the fourth grade. "We were grade school sweethearts. I remember when I was in the 8th grade and we had a square dance, I was wishing Kathleen could be my partner."
And so she is now--for life. It was such a pleasure to talk with Rick. You'll enjoy his entry and be sure to look at the photo. It's beautiful.
Congratulations again, Rick Martin. Thanks so much for entering this year's contest...
When I was nine years old my mother taught me to knit. Being a boy of a short attention span I knit a nine-inch square and never knit again until about five years ago when I turned 55 and needed a quiet hobby that I could do while my wife slept.
You see I had developed an illness that caused extreme itching to the point where I would be awake scratching for periods lasting 48 hours or more. I would scratch myself until I bled and then finally fall asleep from exhaustion. So I turned to knitting in order to keep my hands busy doing something other than making myself bleed.
The doctors couldn't figure out what this illness was nor could they make the periods of itching stop. So I kept knitting--and itching. My skills at knitting kept improving while due to the itching, along with other chronic health issues, my health deteriorated ever more rapidly. My family feared I was dying.
Our daughter was dating, my health kept declining, and the doctors kept scratching their heads while performing more tests and trying different drugs. And all the while I kept knitting.
I feared that my beautiful daughter would wed and I wouldn't be there. I feared never walking her down an aisle. Our family had many open honest talks about what our future might be. I even talked to one of my long-time friends about his taking my place at her wedding. I told him the words I would want him to say in my stead. He agreed while I kept itching and knitting.
I began knitting a wedding veil for my daughter. I spent a year and four months knitting this veil out of very fine silk thread. I could only knit when my health was decent enough that I could sit up and concentrate as much as needed. I inserted 4,725 crystal beads along the way. Each of those beads represented a prayer that I prayed for my daughter and her future husband and family that I felt I'd never know.
I kept itching while doctors kept scratching their heads. And, I kept knitting.
My wife and I made a visit to a hospice. Our daughter and my wife would sit by my side and we'd talk, and cry, and pray. We had friends who came along side us helping with meals, doctor visits, and a myriad of other things. We didn't know what more to do.
My daughter met a young man and fell in love. My wife and I loved him also. I told my daughter that if I was not to live long enough to participate in her wedding that as she wore the veil it would represent my arms enveloping her with her father's love.
Finally there was a new diagnosis and with it a new batch of drugs. My health began a slow turn around. The veil was completed and it lay finished in a drawer for two years.
The young man my daughter had met proposed so my daughter picked up the veil and took it the bridal store to find the perfect dress to go with it. She held onto my arm as I walked her down the aisle and I said the words to her that I had prayed into the veil. She was married on August 10, 2013.
I'm now in better health than I've been in five years. I'm still knitting but no longer itching. The doctors are no longer scratching their heads either.
It is my prayer that if you are in a place of despair that my story might bring you hope--even while others look on and scratch their heads.
--Rick Martin
**To see photos of the beautiful veil, visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/DearReadercom/291327524280953
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
From the vacationing,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these titles deserve your attention:
(Fiction)
COUNTDOWN by Fern Michaels
(Fiction)
THE BIG CROWD by Kevin Baker
(Fiction)
ROPED IN by Lorelei James
(Fiction)
A PROMISE BY DAYLIGHT by Alison DeLaine
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
* This month's Penguin Classics book is SAGITTARIUS RISING by Cecil Lewis. Start reading now and don't forget to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin Totebag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqQ1AFE3FA73E7&c=CLASSICS
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