The Thorny Stem Keep the blossom Alive By Julianna Rowe aka, Diane Ogden

The Thorny Stem

I often work out of my car, so listening to Audio Books has replaced negative politics and talk radio. The last book was a true story by Richard Paul Evans called "Finding Noel." It wasn't hostile, but I cried while driving around the city for four hours while listening to that book. Well, one hour of it, anyway. Richard's Mother died. No one could find him; therefore, he missed her funeral. That was just the beginning of this four-hour story. Richard decided to end his life after losing his scholarship, his job, his fiance of four years, and then his Mother when a young girl came upon him in the middle of a snowstorm. Yes, he fell in love with her. Her name was Macy, and her Mother died when she was 6. The Father was a drug addict. Therefore, she was separated from her baby sister Noel, age 4. The prominent family adopted Noel, and somebody beat Macy constantly at her new home. Macy ran away, and a woman named Jo saved Macy from a shelter on Thanksgiving years later. (Sure, right, Thanksgiving!)

Richard talked Macy into finding her long-lost sister after he was hired to play guitar at the Java Junction, where she worked. To cut this short, Jo adopted Macy even tho she was an adult.  Jo died of Cancer....Noel found Macy.....they had each been given a Christmas Ornament from their natural Mother before she died, with Noel written on it. Noel accidentally broke hers while in college and found a letter from her real Mother inside telling Noel the truth that her adoptive family refused to do. The girls figured their dead Mother made the ornament break. I believe that. Richard found out his Father wasn't his Father while visiting his Mother's grave. Stu, the stand-in "Father," showed Richard a gravestone that belonged to his real Father and the man his Mother had loved all her life. He was killed in Vietnam and was an avid guitar player. (Go figure)

And that is why Stu never treated Richard very well. Ah Ha! Well, all ended happily....Macy and Richard married and had three children. What's my point?

My dream was to help children who needed love by adopting them. So I did that for a few years. In fact, both of my precious foster girls graduated, have had children, and are doing well.  People don't realize what these children go through, but I seem to understand.

At the end of Richard's book, he says we "fixate on the blossoms.....when it is the thorny stem that keeps the blossom alive." It keeps the plant alive only to get a few blossoms throughout its life. I say we are the same as the rose. We must learn to appreciate the everyday thorns because without them there is no life and no blossoms, ever.

Don't ya hate it when people try to give you a fast rundown of a book they just read!  Me too!

photo from NatashaP at www.flickr.com