Hot Apple Cider
In 2008, I had the privilege of being the creator, co-editor, and publisher of a terrific book called Hot Apple Cider: Words to Stir the Heart and Warm the Soul.
This book includes articles, stories and poems from 30 Canadian authors who all write from a Christian faith perspective.
With over 12,000 book sold, Hot Apple Cider is now a Canadian bestseller. Another 30,000 copies have been given out through World Vision Canada's Girls Night Out program.
This is the opening to the first of two pieces that I wrote for this book:
The other guests at the birthday party appeared to be having a wonderful time. I was counting the minutes until I could go home and read a book or design more clothes for my paper dolls. As soon as we’d eaten the birthday cake, I said I had to leave early. Dressed in my best party dress and my white sandals, carrying a little basket of candy and trinkets, I fought to hold back the tears that started the moment I closed the door.
Our house was on the outskirts of town, and to reach it I had to cross a set of railway tracks. I stopped and walked along the rails. By now, I was sobbing in earnest, and I didn’t want my parents to see—didn’t want them to worry. I also was trying to figure out why I wasn’t like other people. For a moment, I thought it might be a huge relief if a train would come along and erase the pain.
It was 1955, and I was seven years old.
To read the rest of "The Diamond Ring," which won two awards from The Word Guild, or to learn more about Hot Apple Cider, go to hotapplecider.ca.
