A Simple Reading Request.

I was asked if I would read a few of my short stories to the members of a local philanthropic chapter. I was delighted.

The chapter is part of the P.E.O, a philanthropic organization founded by seven students in 1869. Today the membership numbers nearly a quarter of a million chapters in the United States and Canada.

Their motto: Women Helping Women Reach for the Stars.

This local group raised money that morning by auctioning off lunches made by each member. The funds build their scholarship program for high school senior girls.

While they ate, I read. They laughed at the funny parts, nodded in the right places and clapped when I was done.

They gave me a thank you note, a gift card and my own lunch. Later I ate chicken salad, fruit soup, mango juice, granola bar and candy in a small, round apple basket.

A Greater Sense of Gratitude.

Today, my written note of thanks was awash in gratitude as I realized how much I need, we need, this PEO chapter of women and all those like it.

More Than a Note of Thanks.

Dear Nancy and Your Friends in P.E.O.:

Please accept my gratitude for giving me an opportunity to share my stories with you.

Getting published is a far more challenging endeavor than in the past, and there are moments when I believe being a taxi cab driver in NYC would be easier.

But putting together the right words in the best place and provoking emotion from a listener is incentive enough to keep working at it.

Nancy and her daughter are perfect hostesses. It didn’t take long to gobble up my special lunch basket, and I think I’ve found a new taste for fruit soup. Your other gifts of thanks were also welcomed.

We’re all hurting.

The world, our country, this city are hurting in many visible and invisible ways. The balance to heal those difficulties comes, in part, from your optimism and effort. 

Thank you for your energy and time.

May your year find you in good health and much joy.

Sincerely.