Happy Veterans Day to all who have protected our shores

THE MEETING
(from The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero short story collection)

is a fictionalized account of the true story of my parents' romance. 

They met during WW2 and were married 32 yrs before 'til death do us part'. 

Daddy was in the US Army and served
in multiple campaigns in Europe and Africa.

excerpt:

The Meeting

Charleston, South Carolina

1942

“Make sure you send me a letter as soon as you get there.” Jeannette stopped to dry her eyes. “You just know how I am going to miss you.”

“Oh honey, I‘ll write to you every day.” Melanie hugged the best friend she always shared everything with. Their mommas had taken them for walks in their baby carriages together. They were there for each other‘s first dates, they consoled each other when Melanie‘s big brother left to go fight the big war, and they stayed up late reading letters from Melanie‘s ill mother. “Oh I wish I didn‘t have to leave you.”

“You tell your momma to get well so you can bring her home again.”

“Last call for Greensboro.” The train engineer poked his head out to remind passengers to get their luggage loaded.

“Oh, I have to make sure my suitcase is on board.” Melanie gave Jeannette‘s hand a squeeze and then stepped towards the train.

“Make sure you wave to me before you leave.”

In another car an M.P. checked the cuffs of the prisoner he was transporting from Georgia.

“I‘m going to step off and have a smoke.” He was satisfied the prisoner wasn't going anywhere, especially since he was cuffed to the seat. The M.P. motioned to one of the other military personnel on board the car that he would be back in a few minutes.

It felt good to stretch his legs as he stepped down from the train onto the platform. He watched as two women tearfully hugged each other and found himself unable to stop staring at the woman left on the platform. She was beautiful. ...

The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero

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#MondayBlogs ~ This Memorial Day

My dad and my father-in-law both served proudly in World War 2, both men were injured and lived with pain and other war-related complications and I remain convinced that this led to an early demise for both (58 yrs & 55 yrs respectively) – BUT THEY CAME HOME. Aside from the fact that neither my husband nor I would be here if they hadn’t, our families were immeasurably fortunate. But how I do miss hearing their “War Stories”, even the ones I heard over and over and sometimes a little more embellished than the time before…

I grew up during the tumultuous Vietnam era and saw friends who lost loved ones so tragically and so young and there wasn’t much I could do to comfort them from the pain they were experiencing. It was a time of protests and in-country violence and loss. And there was definitely anger over the lack of military benefits that our veterans received upon their return and the harsh words that sometimes greeted them as they walked down our city streets. I was present at the NYC “Home With Honor” parade in 1973 and we applauded the returning veterans while we remembered those who couldn’t return. 

Violence was brought to our shores and we find our nation embroiled in battle again, whatever happened to the “War to End All Wars”?  We have so many brave men and women who are giving their all to protect us and sometimes we suffer their losses. Memorial Day, a U.S. holiday, is a day devoted to Remembering The Fallen. Display the American Flag, “On Memorial Day, flags are flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon only, and then raised quickly to full-staff”,  place flags on veterans’ graves, and attend ceremonies – above all NEVER FORGET the sacrifices made for us. 

A suggestion: Memorial Day is often filled with picnics and barbecues and plans for summer fun ~ if you are planning this festive ritual this year be sure to set a place for the one who will never return, Remember the Fallen.

He wears her down ~ Weekend Writing Warriors / #8sunday / 12/14/14

Hi! Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warrior round. Every week writers post 8 sentences on their blogs from a published or unpublished book. Then we "hop" around and leave comments on each other's snippets. Whether our work is already published or in progress, the helpful comments help us become stronger writers on our next WIP. We welcome EVERYONE's comments.

See more at the
WeWriWa blog

I'm continuing with snippets from The Meeting, a part of The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero, a short-story collection which exemplifies (I hope) the diversity of my writing.

Last week the handsome soldier was being rather... forward and making the gentle southern girl quite uncomfortable. She was raised to be polite and she politely tried to get rid of him, but he didn't seem to be listening.

This will be the last snippet from The Meeting, next week we'll move on to another story from The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero. BTW by the time this post goes live, I'll be partying at my son's wedding so I will start making the rounds of #WeWriWa snippets during the week.

“Hey, come on, I‘m just a lonely soldier, can‘t you take pity on me? Just your name, please?”

She paused, he was infuriating, “My name is Jeannette.”

“Hi Jeannette, glad to meet you.” He extended his hand which she, as politely as possible, ignored. “My name is Marc, do you live here in Charleston?”

“I thought you only wanted to know my name.”

“Maybe I was hoping to get to know you too.” 

 For more WeWriWa snippets, go to www.wewriwa.com

The Meeting

From a random meeting in the south during WW2 to a
marriage and love that lasts for an eternity.

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The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero is a single author collection of short stories featuring Introduction, Pussycat Tails, Holiday Happiness, Not Alone, I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door, Stormy Weather, A Mother’s Love, More Than a Friend, The Meeting, The Vacation and a special bonus section.

Chanukah begins next Tuesday evening, so in the interest of giving...

Download this FREE .pdf ebook now from PayLoadz
FREE!

PEOPLE DEAL WITH EMERGENCIES DIFFERENTLY, BUT NO MATTER HOW SERIOUS OR MINOR THE EVENT MAY SEEM TO SOMEONE ELSE, EACH PERSON WHO EXPERIENCES PAIN, FEAR OR LOSS FOR THEMSELVES OR A LOVED ONE IS DEALING WITH A TRUE CRISIS. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THIS BOOKLET WILL GIVE A LITTLE COMFORT WHEN IT COMES TO DEALING WITH AN EMERGENCY.

OEBD for the holidays

One of the more popular gifts being sent to servicemen and women of our coalition forces this holiday season is an e-book reader (Kindle, Sony, iPhone, Nook, Blackberry etc.) Here is the chance to fill those readers with lots of great reading material - and e-books from Smashwords are available to read on web browsers and laptops/netbooks as well.

When I first signed up for Operation E-Book Drop via Smashwords and author Ed Patterson I had six books - today I have nine books. Also increasing in numbers is the amount of authors who are participating in this wonderful program - on Oct 31, 2010, Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, said "Ed Patterson informs me over 500 indie authors are now participating in Operation Ebook Drop. Awesome! Congrats to all."

I am pleased to say that I am STILL a participating author in Operation E-Book Drop.

Servicemen and women of our Coalition Forces are away from home and putting themselves on the line for the rest of us. No matter what your political beliefs are, most of us agree that we need to support our men and women as we pray for their safe return.

All coalition military personnel deployed overseas who need multi-format ebooks are eligible. According to Ed, "If you're overseas and away from your home and loved ones, your dependence on reading might increase - and so we are gifting you ebooks for Kindle, Sony, iPhone, Blackberry etc."
For free ebooks, please email Ed at ed w pat @ att . net (remove the spaces)

What is Operation E-Book Drop?

Author Ed Patterson had an online conversation with a soldier stationed in Iraq who was having difficulty getting books to read on his Kindle - there isn't a whole lot to do for entertainment there. Ed sent the soldier a complete file of his books in Kindle format - and then the idea struck him that there might be other soldiers and other authors who would want to participate. Sure enough, lists started to form and books were being sent over the internet in various e-book formats.

Then the wonderful staff at Smashwords found out about this effort and decided to promote the program - Smashwords authors can use special coupon codes to send the members of the Coalition Forces so they can download books to their reading devices. Since Smashwords offers books in several ebook formats (including Kindle, Palm, .pdf and more), books are readable on all reading devices and even with a web browser.

Kimberlee at Vanilla Heart Publishing made sure that any VHP authors who wanted had the proper coupon codes to send...

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/chellecordero

~~~~~

Operation E-Book Drop

I am pleased to say that I am a participating author in Operation E-Book Drop.

Servicemen and women of our Coalition Forces are away from home and putting themselves on the line for the rest of us. No matter what your political beliefs are, most of us agree that we need to support our men and women as we pray for their safe return.

What is Operation E-Book Drop?

Author Ed Patterson had an online conversation with a soldier stationed in Iraq who was having difficulty getting books to read on his Kindle - there isn't a whole lot to do for entertainment there. Ed sent the soldier a complete file of his books in Kindle format - and then the idea struck him that there might be other soldiers and other authors who would want to participate. Sure enough, lists started to form and books were being sent over the internet in various e-book formats.

Then the wonderful staff at Smashwords found out about this effort and decided to promote the program - Smashwords authors can use special coupon codes to send the members of the Coalition Forces so they can download books to their reading devices. Since Smashwords offers books in several ebook formats (including Kindle, Palm, .pdf and more), books are readable on all reading devices and even with a web browser.

Kimberlee at Vanilla Heart Publishing made sure that any VHP authors who wanted had the proper coupon codes to send...

I signed up - it is a small service I can do for the men and women who are doing for us. I hope my books will give the soldiers a bit of a reprieve from reality.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/chellecordero

to get involved...