Chicken Soup for the Soul - Christmas Magic by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781935096542
Publisher: Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC
Published: 2010-08-29T18:30:00+00:00

Just Tell Us You Love Us

Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.

~G.B. Stern

Most of my life I’ve been the type of person who listened to the opinion of others and if they said something couldn’t be done, I accepted their decision and went about what I needed to get done that day. That was before an event that happened last year just before Christmas. At the time I was standing at the counter in a gift shop signing a copy of my latest book, Christmas in the Maritimes, when I overheard a lady say, “I’m sending this to my nephew in Afghanistan and I know he’ll love it. When he’s finished, he’ll pass it around to the other Maritimers in his unit.”

“Other Maritimers in his unit,” her words kept repeating themselves over and over in my mind. Gradually an idea began to take shape. I shared my idea with a friend but she said, “You’d have to raise the money. You’d have to know where to ship the books. You’d... forget it, there’s no way!” But this time I wasn’t about to take “no” for an answer. The news last year was full of stories about the conditions our troops were serving under and I thought if this little book would mean something to the members serving our country, then I was going to at least try to find a way to send some copies to them.

My first step was to write to Roger Cyr, a friend who had been in the air force before his retirement. I asked him if he thought the book would be welcomed. He wrote back right away encouraging me to pursue this idea. He also said, “I spent four years in Europe during the Cold War serving with our NATO troops plus a tour as a peacekeeper in Africa (Congo). One of the things we treasured the most was a Canadian newspaper or a word from home.”

The more I thought on it, the more I was convinced stories from home would be such a morale booster. I began investigating the possibilities and started by making phone calls, doing web searches and writing e-mails. However, the results from my inquiries only served to add to my earlier doubts. It was fast becoming evident that it wasn’t a workable project. My major stumbling block was the fact that I’d never done anything like this before, so I was unfamiliar with all the rules and considerations involved in sending something to our troops. I discovered parcels could only be sent if you knew the specific name and address of the unit and the name and number of the person receiving the gift. My friend was right. This idea might have been a good idea but it was fast becoming a dream that would never be fulfilled.

Somewhere along the way I read an article about another Elaine who was able to help the troops through her project “Operation Wish.” She didn’t listen to the “no’s” and her story encouraged me to press on.

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