Chocolate for a Woman's Soul 77 Stories to Feed Your Spirit and Warm Your Heart

by Allenbaugh, Kay

• ISBN13: 9780684832173
• ISBN10: 0684832178
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-05-06
• Publisher: Touchstone

Summary

Treat yourself to 77 true stories that celebrate life and capture the essence of what it means to be a woman. Like chocolate, these stories soothe, satisfy, and delight -- better yet, they're good for you! Written by and for women, here are heartfelt insights on commitment, compassion, work, marriage, friendship, motherhood, love, courage, spirituality, passion, and dozens of other topics. Contributors share their most personal experiences -- funny, poignant, powerful, and uplifting -- as they inspire you to jump-start your own life, discover your talents and vocations, overcome old fears, find love, and let your dreams take flight. Like a box of chocolates, this book can be enjoyed in one sitting, or you can pick out treats at random and savor them one at a time. Whether you want a good laugh or need a good cry, the perfect "chocolate story" is right here, waiting for you!

Author Biography

Kay Allenbaugh is a freelance writer and publicist. She lives with her husband, Eric, in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Table of Contents

Introduction	15	(19)
I Finding Love in All the Right Places
How to Find Your Perfect Mate	19	(3)
Kay Allenbaugh
Sleepless in San Francisco	22	(3)
Penelope Pietras
The Second Time Around	25	(3)
Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell
No Signature Required	28	(3)
Irene B. Levitt
Five-Dollar Psychic	31	(3)
Jan Hibbard
The Completion	34	(2)
Alex Merrin
Black Belt in Dating	36	(3)
Connie Merritt
Soul Mates	39	(6)
Patricia Forbes Giacomini
II Divine Assistance
Flight #603	45	(2)
Donna Hartley
Let Me Know	47	(2)
Shirley Elkin
The Sweat Lodge	49	(2)
Kay Allenbaugh
What Do You Need?	51	(3)
Diann Roche
Not Guilty	54	(3)
Mary Omwake
Co-Creating the Future	57	(2)
Barbara Marx Hubbard
A Forever Friend	59	(6)
Marlene L. King
III A Woman's Intuition
Letter of Love	65	(2)
Susan Miles
Gifts of the Heart	67	(3)
Sheryl Nicholson
No Simple Solution	70	(3)
Burky Achilles
Flower Power	73	(1)
Rosita Perez
Angel on Patrol	74	(2)
Kay Allenbaugh
The Power of Visualization	76	(2)
Danielle Marie
Grandma Knows Best	78	(1)
Maggie Bedrosian
Master Plan	79	(4)
Gladys Lawler
IV Soaring Through Barriers
Joe's Picture	83	(2)
Phyllis Mabry
Into the Cave	85	(3)
Edwene Gaines
The Perfect Wedding	88	(2)
Penelope Pietras
Close Encounters	90	(3)
Kimberly Jacobsen
A Jewel from Mrs. Goldberg	93	(3)
Ursula Bacon
Mom's Special	96	(2)
Day Connie Hill
Reaching Beyond	98	(3)
Suzy Sutton
V The Courage to Move On
Beyond Twin Peaks	101	(4)
Emory Austin
Riding the River of Abundance	105	(2)
Kathlyn Hendricks
Ann's Story	107	(4)
Ann V. Graber
The World Upside Down	111	(3)
Edith Eva Eger
Thanks for the Miracle, Sis	114	(3)
Jann Mitchell
It's Never Too Late	117	(3)
Mildred Cohn
Will You Be Healed?	120	(5)
Mary Manin Morrissey
VI Crossroads
Better Than a Stocking Stuffer	125	(3)
Lola D. Gillebaard
The Interview	128	(2)
Shelly Marks
And I Almost Didn't Go	130	(3)
Joanna Slan
Stranded at the Truck Stop	133	(2)
Donna Hartley
High-Tech Wisdom	135	(2)
Lynne Goldklang
Little Glass Angel	137	(2)
Mary Jane Mapes
Cool Blades on the Boardwalk	139	(4)
Pam Gross
VII Going the Distance
Raggedy Ann and Me	143	(2)
Christine B. Evans
A Legacy of Love	145	(3)
Joan Borysenko
Guts and Glory	148	(3)
Carolyn Fox
My Love Affair with Vladimir	151	(2)
Sharon Hyll
Sometimes You Can Go Back	153	(2)
Mary Murray Shelton
No Mistakes Here	155	(1)
Anita Cheek Milner
You'll Be an Artist When You Grow Up	156	(5)
Kathy Lamancusa
VIII Go with Your Passion
The Dreamer	161	(2)
April Kemp
Paddling Upstream	163	(2)
Harriet Roth
The Magic of Anger	165	(2)
Eleanor S. Field
An Influential Lunch Date	167	(3)
Marguerite Murer
Shut Up and Dance	170	(2)
Mari Pat Varga
Someday	172	(5)
Kay duPont
IX A New Way of Being
You Don't Have to Come Home from Work Exhausted!	177	(3)
Ann McGee-Cooper
From Under the Boot Heel	180	(3)
Wendy Natkong
Firewalk---Warming My ``Soul''	183	(3)
Fran Fisher
Doorway of Destiny	186	(3)
Jody Miller Stevenson
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not?	189	(2)
Christine B. Evans
What Do You Want to Do with the Rest of Your Life?	191	(3)
Linda Blackman
``Official'' Hugs	194	(5)
Mary Omwake
X Tenderness and Compassion
Breaking Free	199	(5)
Barbara Rogoff
Grace	204	(1)
Jennifer James
Dedicated to Nealy	205	(3)
Susan P
Hot Dog! Thou Art!	208	(4)
Jean Houston
Tootsie Roll Ritual	212	(2)
Mary LoVerde
Waste Not, Want Not	214	(4)
Linda Ross Swanson
Intensive Caring	218	(5)
Patty Rosen
XI Learning to Laugh at Ourselves
The Last of the Big, Big Spenders	223	(3)
Joanna Slan
Coats That Don't Fit	226	(3)
Patsy Dooley
Fifty Is Nifty	229	(1)
Anita Cheek Milner
A Wise Old Sage	230	(2)
Jacqueline Gillis Elliott
Preserving Miz Wells	232	(2)
Hope Mihalap
Head Majorette	234	(1)
Candis Fancher
More Chocolate Stories?	235	(1)
Contributors	236	(15)
Acknowledgments	251	(2)
Permissions Acknowledgments	253

Excerpts

Sleepless in San Francisco

by Penelope Pietras

By age thirty-four, I was living most of my girlhood dreams. I had a quaint apartment in San Francisco, an interesting job, and great friends. But there was one thing I'd dreamed of that still eluded me -- finding someone to love and marry.I didn't have boyfriends in high school. And in college, it often fell on my roommates to fix me up with blind dates for important weekends. Even in my twenties, long after the asthma, pimples, and fat were gone -- when I was actually quite pretty and accomplished -- I still didn't see myself as someone another person would want to share a life with. Chalk it up to childhood traumas, big and small. A multitude of things had chipped away at my self-esteem.

Of course, I wasn't aware of the inner beliefs that were keeping true love out of my reach. Now and then someone came along with enough glib charm to put me at ease, and I'd fall head over heels. But these were usually brief romances, brightening my hopes, then dimming them.

Once I launched my career and began working side by side with a lot of fascinating males, I began to really enjoy men as friends. But my love life still consisted mostly of short-term, loose connections with lonely spells in between.

I rarely let myself dream about the big "M" word anymore. This was the commitment-phobic early eighties, when a monogamous relationship that would last through Christmas seemed like too much to ask. ThenNewsweekcame out with the man-shortage article that said a career woman in her thirties had about as much chance of getting married as getting killed by terrorists.

The news was perversely comforting. With simple demographics to blame, I stopped wondering what was wrong with me and started grappling with the idea that I might remain single.

I settled for another tenuous relationship, this time with a man I'd met on vacation in Mexico. Jon was a political aide in San Francisco, a weekend pilot, introspective, good-looking, and fun.

He made it clear that he didn't want me to get serious. Thoughts of a house, kids, and a lawn mower made his skin crawl. Actually, he hoped to be working overseas within a year. It saddens me now to recall how easily I assured him that I had no expectations of a long-term commitment. We continued to see each other off and on, like two planets in orbit, sometimes close but never completely in each other's worlds.

On my birthday, however, Jon was there with lovely gifts of clothes and jewelry, taking me out for dinner and dancing. It seemed to me that we were closer than we'd ever been, and I started to wonder if things might work out after all. Then the next day, he bluntly announced that he was bringing another woman to a party we both planned to attend the following weekend.

I usually cry when I'm angry, but that day my fury was like dry ice as I asked him to leave my apartment. My anger stayed hard and frozen inside me for weeks, even when he called to make amends. He told me that a job had come through -- a yearlong assignment in Africa. He wanted things to be right between us before he left, so wouldn't I please have dinner with him.

"No way," I said, surprised that my resolve wasn't melting. "If I let myself feel close to you again, I'll spend another year waiting with hope and doubt and I can't afford to do that. Besides, I expect to be married by the time you get back!" Married! Where had that come from? Jon couldn't have been more stunned than I was by my proclamation. But he left the country, and while he was gone, miracles happened to me.

Everywhere I went, it seemed I met another attractive man who wanted my phone number. Some of them I met at parties, others came up to me politely on the train, even on the street. These were men who seemed almost old-fashioned in their manners, attentiveness, and regard for me. For the first time in my life, my calendar was crammed with "real dates." One of the men was David, a neighbor in my apartment complex.

An hour into our first date, I felt I'd known David for years. We discovered we shared many hobbies and interests. Before the day was through, we'd already planned our next outing. Soon I was finding flowers at my door and romantic cards in the mail while he was away on business trips. I'd never known a man who was so sweetly persistent, so blatancy smitten, so dependable and generous. Of course I fell in love with him.

Jon returned to San Francisco, bewildered to find me engrossed in wedding plans. I don't know what's happened to him since, but David and I have been married for six happy years.

People used to tell me when I was single chat I'd find love when I was "ready." I'd thought I was ready all along, but now I know I wasn't -- not until that day on the phone when I loved myself enough to claim what I truly wanted and deserved.

Copyright © 1997 by Kay Allenbaugh

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Excerpted from Chocolate for a Womans Soul: 77 Stories Feed Your Spirit and Warm Your Heart by Kay Allenbaugh
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.