Adversity to Adventure

I often go out to schools to talk to children about walking in someone else's shoes, about my journey as an author, seeing another point of view and about looking at the Flip Side. I really love my job. As a former Elementary School Teacher, I am enjoying teaching children again and sharing my passion for writing and looking at the Flip Side.


After my presentations, the children are very excited about me as an author and how they relate to my stories. Many schools send me packets of letters from the children that touch me and make me laugh. I often receive an email or two from kids who really connected and feel the need to further communicate with me. Many will say that they want to be writers someday and share some personal experiences. I LOVE to receive letters from the children.

Last week I visited a school of near 400 kids. I had a great visit. When I shared that I was a twin, a young lady raised her hand to share that she is a twin as well and her brother was in the front row. I acknowledged what we had in common and moved on. Later that day, after I got home, I received an email from this young lady, "S. the Twin".

hi I have been looking at you're websites and on one there were no comments so I felt the need to write something so that's me S. the twin with the green headband my email is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

p.s. I LOVE WRITEING TOO BUT AS YOU CAN SEE I'M BAD AT SPELLING.

S.

I was delighted to hear from her. I wrote her back (and told her that her spelling wasn't as bad as she thinks) and I told her that I was so happy that she had written to me.

About a week later, I got another email from "S. the twin" (cute). It touched me right down to my smallest heart string. I shared it with my husband and later my family at our Easter dinner. It touched everyone. It was the epitome of what Flip Side Stories is all about and further what "Just Because" is all about. Let me share:

"thanks so much for emailing me it really means allot I actually love writing I have written tons of story's that i think you might like but I still love you're story's because of the message its suppose to send I think I might be good at writeing story's like that because when I was two my parents got divorced and my mom was the custodeal parent we went to salivation army for most of our clothes and we went to the good fellows this is because there were two two year-olds one four year-old and another 6 year-old and my poor mom was a stay at home mom who had just recently at the time gotten a job as a waitress but we never knew anything was ever wrong because she always said it's going to be an adventure just like when we lost our house and had to move thats what she said its going to be an adventure but we got through every thing we may not had everything we wanted but we sure did have lots of love and thats what it's all about. 
 love,S.                                                  
p.s. we did finally find out about the it's going to be an adventure my sister C."

She and her family are an example to be followed. She saw herself in the second family in "Just Because". She could relate and see the FLip Side of a difficult situation with the help of her brave mother. I can't thank her enough for sharing her story.

Because of her story, I have decided to create a place for kids to share their stories and their connections with Flip Side Stories. I will share their stories and how they saw the Flip Side of Adversity.

I will share this blog post with her.  If you would like to leave her a comment, she will see this. I am sure she would love to hear from you. Thank you.

The Night Before Christmas

So I was seeing what inspiration Randy Gage had for me today. He had a contest going to finish the classic Christmas poem The Night Before Christmas. I love to write poetry to challenge on. In about 15 minutes I finished my poem and here it is. The beginning is Randy's intro and mine is in green. 

The Night Before Christmas, 2011…by Randy Gage

The economy was tanking and things were a mess.
The newscasts were dark, and the mood was depressing.
Unemployment was rising, and things were distressing.

T’was the night before Christmas and all through the U.S.;

I put on my Chewbacca pajamas, climbed into my bed;
Slipped into the covers, and pulled them over my head.
Sleep escaped me, for my head it was aching;
I was riddled with doubts, for the future we were making.


When out on the lawn, arose such a hullabaloo;

Conclusion...by Amber Housey

When out on the lawn, arose such a hullabaloo;

I sprang from my bed when out of the blue,
I heard chatting and clicking, oh what a buzz
I ran to the window to see what it was.

The moon on the snow made clear what I saw.
I blinked and I squinted and looked out in awe.
When what to my wondering eyes did appear
All kinds of people from far and from near.

There on the lawn all gathered together
Were people not minding the cold winter weather.
Making their plans and creating their missions.
To make the world better, it was their visions.

I knew in a moment, they made it quite clear
They were the ones to spread the good cheer.
The writers, the authors, the bloggers came too.
The speakers, the marchers, the leaders, that’s who.

They stood on the doorsteps, they stood in the street.
They typed and they spoke of their feat of all feats.
To make the world better and fix it ourselves
Be kind to each other, we’ll be the elves.

So up through the wires, through speakers and phones,
They spread inspirations in all the times zones.
And then in a chime, on my Apple I heard.
A message popped up with chirp like a bird.

As I sat in my chair and opened my mail.
The message popped up and the wind filled my sail.
It was filled with such hope and jolly good cheer.
I wanted to know, I wanted to hear.

I read it out loud, I read it again and again.
Now I had a mission that I had to send.
I laughed while I wrote it, in spite of my doubt.
I wrote out my mission and then gave out a shout.

With a wink of my eye and twist of my head,
I knew in a moment, i’d nothing to dread.
Inspire the world to see what is good,
We can’t fix it all, I wish that we could.

Let’s work together to love one and all.
Help out our neighbor and beckon the call.
Nurture the world in this new year,
And love one another without any fear.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays to one and all from Flip Side Stories-where seeing another point of view makes a better you!http://www.facebook.com/flipsidestories

You're Not Thinking Hard Enough.

I spent the past couple of days doing some last minute scrambling to plan for a visit to a couple classrooms of kids. I have recently decided to join Storytellers Guild which places you into classrooms where you read to the children. I love kids. I love reading to kids. Makes sense to me.

Actually, I am taking over a position for another wonderful woman who has decided to do some other things and needed to let go of this volunteer activity. She asked me if I'd like to take over. Ooo, the pressure of following in someone's else's footsteps.

What's harder, walking in someone else's shoes or following someone else's shoes?

I am confident in my ability to work with children. No problem. I can gear up or gear down and I can fly by the seat of my pants in most situations with kids. Kids don't scare me. Adults do.

So, we met at the school for introductions and the passing of the torch. "Torch"ure, I should say. They LOVE her. "We'll miss you. Are you coming back? I might cry." Hey, I am sitting here.  What am I,  chopped liver?

And, I will say, Marianne is worthy of tears. She is an amazing person. She is peaceful and happy and creative (oh, sooo, delightfully creative). She would dress up for the kids and try to make them think it wasn't her. Beautiful. I might miss her and I never saw her do a reading.

So she says her goodbyes and there I am....chopped liver. Should have brought candy. phhfft.

It went well. Introductions, a lot about me, my family, my books and all that. A get to know me session. I read a couple of books. The kids were attentive and fun. But i felt a bit under scrutiny by the teachers. I hate that.

 I am not Marianne (though I'd love to adopt some of her qualities). As my Flip Side Story, A Day Without Ms. Hatting, teaches, "When Ms. Hatting is gone, it just can't be the same."  When Marianne is gone, it just can't be the same. It can be just as good.

Kids are resilient and open to most new situations. I didn't fear that. The adults, on the other hand, have a more difficult time with change. Change is ok. New things are ok if you don't compare them to the old too critically. As the old Brownie saying says, "Make new friends but keep the old."

Actually, it should say, make new friends but keep the current ones. Old isn't working for me these days.

Embrace new things but retain the old.

It is important to give people a chance. They may not live up to your expectations but be open to the unexpected.  Look for the good in people even if the bad is more prevalent.  You might find that you will learn something new about yourself through that person.

Do you see the cup half full or half empty? Do you see people half good or half bad?

One of my favorite saying is, "If you don't have anything nice to say, you aren't thinking hard enough."

Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you'll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it.
Ralph Marston 

Book Update

As hard as planning and waiting for an exciting upcoming vacation...

And we all lay around on vacation like that.

As hard as  waiting for your baby to be born...

As hard as getting to a bathroom in an emergency...

One of my FAVORITE books.

As hard as waiting for your kids to come home from college for a visit...

And they are bigger than you.

As hard as waiting to find out what happens in the end of a book or movie...

As hard as finding out if you got a job...

As hard as waiting to see if they accept your offer on a new house...

As hard as waiting for your kids to learn to pick up after themselves...

They never do, do they? Who am I kidding?

As hard as waiting to have a little free time after 8 years raising your beautiful babies...

It is just as hard to wait for my dream to come true. I feel as if I have been waiting forever for my book to be published. In fact, I suppose I have. I have dreamed of having one of my dozens of stories I've written put on a bookshelf for kids to read. Now, it is in the hands of a publisher and still I wait.

We've done the editing. We've done illustrating. We've done the layout. We've done the scanning. It is the scanning that is the setback now. The illustrator, the amazing Denise Clemmensen, has the images again for adjustments so the printing will be perfect. http://www.deniseclemmensen.com 

It is almost easier to have a baby. At least there is a deadline. And, worse case scenario, it comes earlier (which all my babes did). I feel like puking at times. I cry. I laugh. I get irritated. And, I just want to get this damn thing out!

I am still waiting patiently impatiently. As soon, as Denise is done, it will go back to scan, then to layout, then to pdf for endorsements, then layout again, then printer. 

Good things come to those who wait. Though gray hair isn't good. 

Just Because by Amber J Housey  Illustrated by Denise Clemmensen 

Coming Soon in a season near or far from you!