Category: Stories

The Secret Ingredient

The Secret Ingredient My Italian Grandmother’s spaghetti sauce was a wonder to behold. After church on Sundays our family would always gather around for a huge dinner that was more a feast than a meal. For hours before the smell of the simmering sauce would fill the house and I would breathe in deep with delight. My Nana would slowly cook Italian sausages, meatballs, potatoes, and pieces of chicken in it too. Then she would boil enough spaghetti to feed a small army and slice the loaves of Italian bread she had baked earlier. When I finally sat down at...

Free Will

Oh, my God and hope My beloved above all others My king, whom I adore My everlasting love That Thou would create me With something Thou desireth That Thou, my Lord would treasure My gift above all others You gave me life and breath And all your glorious loving But none of these as precious As that most holy gift For Thou has given me Free will – of all thy creatures And with that I can give Myself and all my love All praise to You my glory Who has all and gives all to me That Thou would...

The Other Side

A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was leaving the room after paying a visit, and said, “Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.” Very quietly the doctor said, “I don’t know.” “You don’t know?” the man said. “You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?” The doctor was holding the handle of the door, on the other side of which came a sound of scratching and whining. As he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager...

He Grew the Tree

He Created the Tree He molded and built A small lonely hill, That He knew would be Called Calvary. Then He made the seed, That would grow to be thorns That would make His Son bleed. Then He made a green stem Gave it leaves and then Gave it sunshine and rain And sheltered it with moss. With tears in His eyes, God looked down in time Saw Him spat upon, Beaten and mocked. Still, He grew the tree, That He knew would be Used to make The old rugged cross. Nothing took His life. With love He gave it....

Remember Love

My Italian Grandmother was a wonderful woman. “Nanny” had a loving, vibrant soul that she carried around in a short, heavyset body. She had a passion for life that expressed itself in so many ways. It was in the hugs she gave, the meals she cooked, and the flowers she grew. It was even in the temper she lost from time to time. I think one of the reasons I was never taught Italian by my Dad was he was afraid I might learn the meaning of some of those words Nanny said when she was upset. Nanny raised four...