Morning Coffee Beans - Short Stories From The Heart

Featured Short Story

What a wonderful time of the year! Color is everywhere, and everything has color, especially during these beautiful Autumn and Fall days. The variety of colors are endless, and it fills our world with beauty.

What would the world be without color? As an educational writer, that's the question I sent to an elementary school recently. The answers ranged from no changing leaves, no beautiful flowers, no rainbows, and no jelly beans! What an awful thought!

"I think that the world would be depressing because you wouldn't see the beauty of our world. Color plays an important part in our lives and the nature around us. For example, the colors of some animals attract mates, while the colors of other animals help them to protect themselves. Think about how the white coat of a polar bear blends with the snow. Chameleons can change their color to match the things around them This causes their enemies to have a hard time finding them."— John

"So many animals would die," she writes. "Birds and bugs wouldn't be able to see the flowers to pollinate or eat. Color helps us communicate. In sports, differently colored uniforms identify which team a player belongs to."&...

My Latest Featured Stories

Breast Cancer Awareness

If you find a lump in your breast or underarm area, you should see your doctor right away. The good news is that most lumps are noncancerous. Sometimes they will go away on their own, which is why your doctor may schedule a return visit for three to six months.

However, sometimes the lump or change in breast tissue may be cancer. It is very important that you go to your follow up visit. If, at any time, you feel like you need a second opinion, you should probably get one. My friend, Jill, did and she is alive today 21 years later....

Trail Walking

When morning came I felt the trail calling me and daring me to come see what was different each day. Sometimes the voice came from inside me and other times it came from my husband telling me we needed to get going.

Either way, I got up, got dressed, put on my shoes, a jacket that could be tied around my waist when the sun began to warm my back, some food and water in my pocket, and off we'd go.

We were living in West Virginia at the time. The trail was one long stretch one way until we reached half the amount of our walking ti...

How to Move Forward in Life

Streams are plentiful in East Tennessee. They trickle down the sides of mountains, run beside the shaded rural roads, and flow joyfully into the rivers. If you sit quietly in a wooded area, you can hear the water spilling over rocks that have become smooth due to the water’s consistency.

Occasionally something huge, like a rock or fallen tree, will trap the busy water and stop it from flowing. It can’t go around, it can’t go over, or under its obstacle. The water feeding the little stream feels the sudden halt and de...

Dangers in the garden

"Please God, don't let my Papa die this week. That's all I got to say. Amen." That was my 9-year-old grandson's prayer when he had to go home early because my husband was admitted to the hospital.

It started late one night a few weeks ago when I woke up and heard my husband stumbling through the dark hallway. I got up quickly and went to him. He didn't seem to know where he was, and when I tried to help him I realized his skin was hot and didn't seem to know who I was.

I took his temperature. It was 100.2, and by the time I go...

A Child and a Flower

The little town where we lived outside of Augusta, Georgia was very small. There was an elementary school, a flower shop, a bank, a minute market and a family owned restaurant and, of course, many churches. We knew just about everyone in the community, and everyone knew our youngest son.

He was a friendly child, with whitish, blonde hair, who was always zipping around the neighborhood on his red bicycle. First thing every morning during the summer he would get dressed and off he would go for his morning ride. In his travels he often ...

Capturing the Moments

We were getting ready to leave our daughter’s house after the holidays. I walked into the room as my daughter and husband were talking to each other. She was seated at the piano, and he was standing tall and lovingly beside her.

The window light from behind them was soft and very complimentary. It was such an endearing scene, and I thought I would get one more great photo before we left.

My husband started to walk away, and I said, “Stop, let me take a photo!” Each of them looked at me and, at the same ti...

You’re Almost There….

"When it was over, I lay spent and exhausted on the cold, hard earth…never to be ranked with the average and mediocre..." This is a quote from one of our late presidents, my daughter sent me when I was toiling with one of life's many problems. She continued with, "In essence…I am a winner, and I will not say it's over until I have given everything. Until there is nothing left in me to give. That makes me special and unique." I keep this close to me and read it when I am struggling or just want to feel the strength of my children....

Please Read Me a Story

One of the best memories I have from my childhood is the time my mother read to me. When it was cold outside, we sat on the couch late at night with the fire blazing in the fireplace. I leaned against her shoulder and watched the lines on her face disappear as she used her voice to mimic the characters in the book.

She laughed and pretended to cry to make the story come to life, and sometimes in those moments, she looked younger to me. It was our particular time together to read and talk about books.

It could have b...

Blinders

Have you ever been tempted to take a ride in one of the guided horse carriages? It seems so romantic and peaceful trotting through the city or a quiet park.

I think about how difficult it would be for a horse, taken from a pasture, to be placed in a noisy city to be told where they should go. That is why the owners use blinders.

Blinders are leather flaps on the bridle that keeps the horse from seeing to the sides. It helps the animal to focus and stay on course.

Blinders were used on farm horses and mules to pull plows...

Laughter

My daughter reminded me one morning of the importance of laughter in our lives. She was sitting on the floor playing and laughing out loud with her six-month-old daughter.

I listened as her laughter and my granddaughter's giggles filled all the space around me. She said she wanted to feel this kind of joy always and see the world through her child’s merry eyes.

We talked about the carefree laughter of childhood before we had bills to pay and so many responsibilities.

I asked my daughter, "So wha...

The Power of Touch

It is hard to go to sleep at night when you are angry with your spouse, especially if you are trying to stay on your side of the bed. I’ve tried it occasionally.

Recently, I had an idea for a column about touch–the importance of feeling human touch. The idea came to me while I was having a massage to help relieve some very tense muscles in my neck.

I was lying on my stomach with my face resting downward in a doughnut hole pillow. My shoulders began to relax as skilled hands targeted the mus...

Fishing On The Fly

I watched with interest as my husband worked on his casting technique with his new fly rod. Fly-fishing has always been an appealing sport to me because it requires more activity than just standing and waiting for a fish to pull your floater underwater.

I was assigned to watch over the other four fishing poles he had brought with us. They were baited with live shrimp and had bright green, orange and yellow floaters bobbing on top of the water. I wanted to try my hand at casting the line too, but it was his pole and I figured I would ...

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Uniting against the Coronavirus

"It’s time to shake off this sadness, and recover your spirit," said Miguel de Unamuno in the poem, Throw Yourself Like a Seed.

These may be the words we need right now to stop analyzing whether it's true or not, stop complaining about our discomfort and come together as a family, as neighbors, as communities and as a nation to get through a difficult time in our world.

This morning I listened to sermons all over the country being streamed live to lift up and encourage us, and it didn't feel bad at all not to be i...

Eye Contact

My friend laughed when I told her how persistent my dad was about making eye contact when speaking to or listening to someone.

I hated it when he would say, “Look at me when I’m speaking to you.” The rule wasn’t just when he needed my attention. It was when anyone was talking to me.

“You know, Deana, when babies are born, making eye contact with them is their first connection with the people who love them.”

She’s right. Eye gaze is one of the most exciting milestones babi...

Take time to enjoy mornings

One morning I was getting the children ready for school. It was the usual too busy morning with the kids running around trying to find their socks and school books. I was late for work, and the bus was due soon. I felt my job as a mom was to make sure everyone was nicely dressed, fed, and thoroughly prepared for the day ahead.

I'm not even sure what I was making for breakfast. I just know it was fast. The children were unusually slothful this particular morning, not moving as quickly as I thought they should. This was making me irrita...

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The first time my husband received a cross over hearing aid, he was astonished when we stepped outside the doctor’s office. “Do you hear that,” he asks. “What?” I asked. “The wind,” he said. “I can hear the sound of the wind.”

Most people take hearing for granted until they lose it. My husband is deaf in his left ear due to a severe injury he sustained as a child. He lost much of the hearing in his right ear when he served in Viet Nam.

A crossover hearing aid is a hearing a...

Armed Forces Day in May

When we lived in Harlingen, Texas I loved visiting the Armed Forces Appreciation Day at the Texas Air Museum. The last time I was there it was hot, Texas hot! I thought I might go in, look around, and say hello to my friends, John and Jeanette Houston, and then leave. But I ended up staying three hours, and I hardly noticed how hot it was because of all the interesting things I saw and learned. Volunteers were serving food, cleaning up, listening and telling stories, and heartily involved in recreating history for the Independence Day celeb...

One Thing At a Time

When my husband asks, “Are you trying to bake that cake, again!” I know it is my cue to slow down and concentrate on one thing at a time. It is a gentle reminder that started between us many years ago when our children were small and our life was extremely full of people and activities.

Right before guests would arrive for dinner, regardless of what a wonderful meal I had prepared, I would inevitably decide to add something else, which often made the moments before their arrival stressful.

Trying to do too m...

Featured Short Story

What would the world be without color?

My Latest Featured Stories

Breast Cancer Awareness

Trail Walking

How to Move Forward in Life

Dangers in the garden

A Child and a Flower

Capturing the Moments

You’re Almost There….

Please Read Me a Story

Blinders

Laughter

The Power of Touch

Fishing On The Fly

Trending Stories

Uniting against the Coronavirus

Eye Contact

Take time to enjoy mornings

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Armed Forces Day in May

One Thing At a Time

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