When I first heard the term, "If you want to be happy, give something away," my first, knee jerk reaction was .... it would make a person happier to keep it instead of giving it away. You'll have to understand that I was about 8 years old, and my Grandmother shared this story at Thanksgiving during our family Thanksgiving program. It became a family story that we would use for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but for many years, I really didn't quite understand the concept of giving away.
Years passed, and I grew up, got married and began having children of my own. I wanted to instill in my children, traditions and especially holiday traditions. When Thanksgiving rolled around, I drew on my childhood memories of my Grandmother telling the story of how an old man made the entire town happy by giving something away, and by doing so, it made him happy as well as all the people who caught his vision and passed on the giving.
For years and years, I had thought that someone should write this story into a book, so finally in 2013, I took the message from my Grandmothers story, and elaborated on it, and wrote a Family/Children's book called, "If you want to be happy give something away". A publisher snapped it up and the rest was history. Unfortunately for me, the publisher went out of business, and that was the end of that. Everyone who read the book expressed that they thought the message was great and how they were going to incorporate it into their own family traditions.
This little book inspired this blog you are reading right now, and I want to share the rest of the story. My story, like I said is an elaboration of an old English Story that my grandmother had clipped out of some magazine in her childhood. There is a lot more history behind the story, that I won't elaborate on but as a grown-up, I came to love it just like my Grandmother. Its all about living a life and growing to understand just how happy serving others or giving away things, can make.
Since writing this book, I have come up with what would be a fabulous Hallmark movie or even a Downtown Abby type British Drama, that would really interest those of us who like to step back in time, to where things were much different, and where the aristocracy reigned. Its fun to look into the homes of the romantics where the women wore long flowing dresses, and had maids to clean their homes, and even attendants to dress them and do their hair. A time of hosting grand occasions, balls, and marrying into Aristocratic families. Anyway, my book is set in that time period, and it
tells the whole story of the main character as a child, born into a wealthy and titled family, yet because he was born with a physical disability, he was ignored, even by his own mother, and eventually his brother gained the birthright that should have been his. He survived, tolerated his childhood however his life wasn't the happiest until he had grown into a young man. He was in need of a new suit of clothes, so went into the village tailor's shoppe and noticed the tailors daughter working behind the partially drawn curtain.. This moment was what turned around his miserable and unhappy life. She was who set him on a course that lead up to the events in my book. This was his beginning of a new life of learning the true source of happiness, which he wasn't privileged even comprehend, living in his family home.
There's a lot more to this story, and I have the whole story, even the title... I just need to find someone who is interested to make it into a movie or mini series.
My life has been molded by giving parents. Parents who didn't have much but what they had they gave. My mother gave her children music, talent, and taught each of us, important life skills. My father worked hard to provide for our family, and we never knew how humble we were because we were rich in the things that mattered the most. Every year for Thanksgiving, my father would take the money he had saved up and buy 10 Turkeys to give away to widows, and families who needed them. We didn't know that we needed them because there was always a 24+ lb turkey dressed and baked, sitting on our Thanksgiving Table along with all the fixings. The same for Christmas, we weren't without. We were happy and I know that my mother and Father were happy too, for all they were able to give to those who were in more need than we were.
My father died in 2001, and my mother died just this past year of 2018, just after Thanksgiving. Little did we know that their frugal living provided an unexpected inheritance that they were able to pass on to their children. It wasn't insignificant for them, but beyond that, the best inheritance they passed on was the gift of happiness, and knowing from how happiness is gained. It's not from the getting but from the giving. I could go on and on, but will close with, "If you want to be happy, give something away."
For years and years, I had thought that someone should write this story into a book, so finally in 2013, I took the message from my Grandmothers story, and elaborated on it, and wrote a Family/Children's book called, "If you want to be happy give something away". A publisher snapped it up and the rest was history. Unfortunately for me, the publisher went out of business, and that was the end of that. Everyone who read the book expressed that they thought the message was great and how they were going to incorporate it into their own family traditions.
This little book inspired this blog you are reading right now, and I want to share the rest of the story. My story, like I said is an elaboration of an old English Story that my grandmother had clipped out of some magazine in her childhood. There is a lot more history behind the story, that I won't elaborate on but as a grown-up, I came to love it just like my Grandmother. Its all about living a life and growing to understand just how happy serving others or giving away things, can make.
Since writing this book, I have come up with what would be a fabulous Hallmark movie or even a Downtown Abby type British Drama, that would really interest those of us who like to step back in time, to where things were much different, and where the aristocracy reigned. Its fun to look into the homes of the romantics where the women wore long flowing dresses, and had maids to clean their homes, and even attendants to dress them and do their hair. A time of hosting grand occasions, balls, and marrying into Aristocratic families. Anyway, my book is set in that time period, and it
tells the whole story of the main character as a child, born into a wealthy and titled family, yet because he was born with a physical disability, he was ignored, even by his own mother, and eventually his brother gained the birthright that should have been his. He survived, tolerated his childhood however his life wasn't the happiest until he had grown into a young man. He was in need of a new suit of clothes, so went into the village tailor's shoppe and noticed the tailors daughter working behind the partially drawn curtain.. This moment was what turned around his miserable and unhappy life. She was who set him on a course that lead up to the events in my book. This was his beginning of a new life of learning the true source of happiness, which he wasn't privileged even comprehend, living in his family home.
There's a lot more to this story, and I have the whole story, even the title... I just need to find someone who is interested to make it into a movie or mini series.
My life has been molded by giving parents. Parents who didn't have much but what they had they gave. My mother gave her children music, talent, and taught each of us, important life skills. My father worked hard to provide for our family, and we never knew how humble we were because we were rich in the things that mattered the most. Every year for Thanksgiving, my father would take the money he had saved up and buy 10 Turkeys to give away to widows, and families who needed them. We didn't know that we needed them because there was always a 24+ lb turkey dressed and baked, sitting on our Thanksgiving Table along with all the fixings. The same for Christmas, we weren't without. We were happy and I know that my mother and Father were happy too, for all they were able to give to those who were in more need than we were.
My father died in 2001, and my mother died just this past year of 2018, just after Thanksgiving. Little did we know that their frugal living provided an unexpected inheritance that they were able to pass on to their children. It wasn't insignificant for them, but beyond that, the best inheritance they passed on was the gift of happiness, and knowing from how happiness is gained. It's not from the getting but from the giving. I could go on and on, but will close with, "If you want to be happy, give something away."
