Story Library

Autumn

Backstory

I’ve missed sharing with you on Sunday mornings. So today, with the changing seasons in mind, this story is sent from the Consider This archives.

Click to listen or follow below to read.

Autumn

As I write this for you, the mountains are still gleaming green, as they have, all summer. It’s September, but the tones of autumn have not yet touched the leaves.

Soon, they will lose their summer strength and then EXPLODE with the colors of fall. Such a special time, here in the valley. Here in the Shenandoah Valley, folks will travel from afar to witness it for the few special days when nature offers this feast of color and spins the air with the fresh fall smell.

Before we know it, the leaves will have fallen and the cold will take over. Sharp breezes and stinging winds and rain and snow. There will be winter days of dazzling, ice-covered beauty and days of danger and inconvenience as snow interferes with daily comings and goings.

And just when we’ve had enough, those tiny croci will stick their heads up, sometimes from under the snow, with their promise of springtime. And suddenly, before you know it, the world comes to life again in full spring glory.

What a miracle. And it happens, year in and year out. It sweeps through holidays and vacations and visits and events. I never get tired of the progression. I love it, look forward to it, plan for it. Because we can always be assured, it will happen again, ready or not.

P.S.

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” Early American poet, Anne Bradstreet

[Show #630]

Best Mother’s Day Gift

Backstory

We adult children set out each year to find a special Mother’s Day gift for the woman who gave us life. As your mom aged, you’ve probably kept up with her interests and increased needs. But you may have missed the best tip about what Mother’s Day Gift most pleases senior moms. Read about it here.

Best Mother’s Day Gift

Mother’s Day is the biggest greeting card holiday of the year. Adult children throughout the land spend precious time considering what card and gift to give to the woman who gave them life.

Purchases will include nightgowns and sweaters and jewelry. Restaurants will be full of moms being celebrated by their families. Florists’ and card merchants’ cash registers will sing.

But as your mom ages, the Mother’s Day gift she may need from you, more than anything else, is the gift of your time. During the quiet time together, she can recall all the moments that gave you both joy as you were growing up. You can tell her how proud you are of the kind of mother she was. She can tell you what pride your choices in life have given her.

Figure out how you can give your mom the gift of your time. Plan a weekend away, just the two of you. Give her tickets to a play, with you as her companion.

Take her to a concert or a bingo, or a wrestling match. Whatever she likes to …whether it’s one of YOUR favorite pastimes or not.

Give her a gift certificate to a gym – and then go with her to exercise.

The THINGS you buy are appreciated, but the real value is the memories you give. It applies on Mother’s Day – and all year round.

P.S. We could not let Mother’s Day go by without saying hello. Enjoy your favorite Consider This stories anytime at https://considerthisradioshow.com.

[Show #291]

Heartfelt Letter from Annette

Good morning! Feels so good to be here with you again like so many Sundays before. Thank you so much for tuning in so often.

Now sit here next to me. I have one last story to tell you – about how Consider This came about.

As a kid growing up in coal country PA, I was always curious. Everywhere I looked, there was a story to be told. If I couldn’t find it, I’d make it up!

As a grown-up in the business world, I wound up at the speaker’s lectern – all business-oriented. Audiences might forget the company mission statement, but they always remembered my stories.

THE RADIO SHOW

Stories became a radio show when a sponsor wanted to inspire positivity, faith in the future, and kindness in a mean world. For the next 17 years, Consider This with Annette Petrick was introduced by Announcer Alan Earhart and broadcast Monday through Friday over local radio stations.

The website https://considerthisradioshow.com/ has hundreds of the radio shows – early 90-second podcasts – stored as blog posts.

THE SUNDAY STORY

The next part is where you came in. Wanting to reach beyond the radio audience, we started sending one story by email each Sunday morning. Responses were immediate incentives for writing more stories. People said they saw themselves in what they heard. They recognized issues with which they were struggling. They liked the solutions, ideas or at least humor affiliated with mutual concerns and failures overcome.

“You bring sentiments to the forefront that help the listener reflect on their own situation”…
”Family, friends, and kindness are values you highlight and help us to reconsider… “Your stories remind me of what is really important in this fast-moving life”….
Linda wrote in 2016 – “Never stop your narratives and always feel free to repeat a message time and time again – your messages mean something to me as well as to others you may never hear from.”

We created a CD of multiple shows that appealed to hardcore loyalist listeners.

Dozens of Christmas tales are featured in Tiny Little Stories of Christmas Joy, Love and Wonder produced in 2018.

As the years went by, stories took on a more mature feel. Aging was addressed and welcomed. Losing friends was dealt with. I began dabbling in aging-in-place concepts.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, we urged mature adults to calm family disputes over which new facts were right or wrong, that could otherwise turn into life-long feuds.

TRANSFORMATIVE 2024

So that brings us to Sunday, January 7, 2924. As this my eighth life decade began, enthusiasm and curiosity prevail but we slowed down a bit and switched priorities. Hence the decision to wind up the Sunday stories.

2024 will be a transitional time with some self-love stuff and energy directed closer to home.

Bill and I have both had our share of business travel, luxury cruises, and wonders of the world. Our preference now is to spend quality time with those we cherish. The list is long – including you. Let’s meet halfway between your house and ours and just hang out.

I happily admit to still being smitten with this husband of mine, and he is with me. Leads to cozy evenings generating smiles and lots of hand-holding. And we don’t have to fly anywhere to get there.

Somehow we have to figure out how to be with each of my three adult kids and their families. At the Canadian border and up in Jersey, they’re much too far to pop in. Oh, how I wish we could do that.

As nine grandchildren and two great-grandkids grow up, we’ll watch their progress with full attention – if only from around the edges.

KEEPING IN TOUCH

So how shall you and I keep in touch? I’d love to hear from you. Email Annette@Considerthis.com and I’ll get back to you.

Don’t be surprised if I pop up somewhere along the line with a new story or a newsletter or photobomb.

I’ll be around town – maybe at Woodstock Café or Route 11 Diner (great chili). I’ll be the one giving thanks, offering compliments, being kind, and emanating joy. And every now and then, writing and recording some words that may be worth reading or listening to.

If you come to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, I’ll invite you to sit here next to me. I’ve got a story to tell you.

Annette Petrick for Consider This

Final Sunday Consider This Story

I have loved our time together on
Sunday mornings for
the past 15 years,
especially when you shared feelings in response.
One cycle is ending, but a new one is beginning –
and I hope you will be there with me too.  

Coming next week – 
2024 – Consider This – 2024
and a heartfelt letter to you.

Annette Petrick, Writer and Storyteller

The Christmas Pageant

Backstory

This Christmas story is absolutely true. Daughters Cheryl and Lisa and son Michael acted out the skit. We have the photos that captured it. All Cheri’s ideas were based on the Christmas teachings that had touched her heart. Their actions touched ours. Listen in or read the text, please.

Christmas Pageant

It was our first Christmas in our first real house. The children were 7, 4, and 3 – quite a handful, and so full of the Christmas spirit.

The oldest had learned in school about giving gifts from the heart. She wisely brought home the message that gifts need not be the biggest or the most expensive, to show love. She wanted to give her mom and dad a Christmas gift from the heart. She convinced her little sister and brother to put on a Christmas pageant for us, as our gift.

As the oldest, she played the key role of the virgin Mary, dressed in one of my frilly white nightgowns. Her sister, complete with aluminum foil halo, was an angel holding a wooden spoon, no doubt representing something angelic. Their toddler brother was a shepherd dressed in brown towel tied at the waist with a jump rope. A doll wrapped in white towels represented the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes.

They were so little; and yet they understood the true significance of the day and played it out so lovingly for their dad and me.

All grown up now, they have taught the true meaning of Christmas to their children as well. We all still sing Happy Birthday Jesus on Christmas Day, celebrating Him as the reason for the season.

What a joy are memories of significant Christmases past that still bring smiles to our lips and tears to our eyes.

[Show #467]

Scent of Christmas

Backstory

I love walking into a home when there’s a delightful whiff of cooking and baking coming from the kitchen. It tells me that someone is treating me special and I am welcome here. It doesn’t work if you’re serving cookies from the box on the shelf. But when they are freshly baked, and the scent of anise, chocolate, and pralines is still in the air, wow what a treat!

Scent of Christmas

Christmas has a field day with your olfactory receptors. The scents of the holidays are everywhere, and your nose knows! These are special fragrances and aromas that don’t exist, at any other time of year.

What are your favorites? The scent of pine trees and pine wreaths makes it feel like the forest has been brought into your house. I love it.

The smell of fresh-baked cookies . . . or even better, cookies as they ARE baking.

In my family, treasured recipes have been passed down for generations. Some of them are just too involved to undertake. Others would be too expensive.

My mom made something called Christmas rocks. They were baked around Thanksgiving and allowed to ferment until Christmas. They contained four different kinds of liquor and more nuts, raisins, and currants than could fit my budget today.

But I can still remember the pungent and enticing aroma when Mom opened that tin of Christmas rocks after its gestation period. Whew!

The roasted turkey is high on the list of holiday essences and may even be trumped by the smell of special recipe stuffings made with cornbread or oysters or minced chicken livers mixed with the other ingredients. Oh, and wonderful winter root vegetables.

So, long before you get to eat the holiday goodies, enjoy just smelling them and all the memories they recount.

P.S.

You know what other winter scent I love? The smell of cold. When you go outside after the first heavy snowfall and no one is out cleaning up yet. That crisp, clear air is wonderful and smells delightful. Gone too fast, but there for a moment of pleasure.

[Show #548]