Chicken Soup for the Country Soul

by Jack Canfield

  “When my father, a very proud and quiet man, was dying of cancer a few months ago, he found it very difficult to tell his family how he felt and what he was thinking. So, he asked our mother to bring his tape of ‘I Will Always Love You’ to the hospital. Each time we kids would come over, he would play it.

  If I should stay

  I would only be in your way.

  So I’ll go,

  But I know

  I’ll think of you each step of the way.

  And I will always love you,

  I will always love you.

  “The words seemed to be perfect for what he wanted to say, not only to us kids but to Mother as well.”

  Bitter-sweet memories,

  That is all I am taking with me.

  Good-bye. Pleased on’t you cry,

  ’Cause we both know I’m not what you

  need.

  But I will always love you.

  “We also played the tape, your version, at the funeral.”

  I hope life treats you kind,

  And I hope you have all you dream of.

  I wish you joy and happiness;

  But above all this, I wish you love.

  “So God bless you, Dolly Parton.”

  And I will always love you, I will always

  love you.

  Yes, I will always love you, I will always

  love you.

  Everyone standing around, including myself, was crying like children at such a sweet and sad story. I hugged her and thanked her also for touching my life.

  When I got to the plane, I bowed my head and thanked God for giving me the talent to touch people with my gift.

  Dolly Parton

  I Will Always Love You. Reprinted by permission of Dolly Parton. ©1998 Dolly Parton.

  Healing Music

  On May 8, 1994, our sixteen-year-old son, Joshua, died. At first, my wife, Marlis, and I thought he had the flu, but when he didn’t improve after a few days, we took him to our local hospital. The following morning, Josh was taken by medevac helicopter to a larger hospital. . . . but he died anyway. The doctors think he had Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but the tests were not conclusive.

  I wasn’t with Josh when he died. He asked for me very late that night—after he was airlifted—but I had a fractured ankle and couldn’t endure standing on it for hours at a time. Instead, my daughter, Sarah, and I had planned to make the trip early the following morning. My wife and her mother were at the hospital with Joshua. That night, while I was on the telephone with my wife, the doctor brought her the news—that our Josh was in a bad way and the process that was killing him couldn’t be stopped.

  I demanded to have the phone put up to Joshua’s ear and held there. Then I said my good-byes and told him how much I loved him and how proud I was to be his father. Afterward, my wife and I stayed together by telephone for his last moments—and cried and cried. I wasn’t there for my son, to hold his hand as he went into eternity with our Lord. That haunts me, to this day, every day.

  I spoke a few words at the funeral for my son. I just had to. Sarah placed a rose on her brother’s casket, I climbed to the pulpit using my cane. I think the most important thing I said was, “Joshua looked one more time into his mother’s face, closed his eyes in death and smiled. He looked into the face of the person who had brought him into the world. And as he died, he smiled, because he saw Jesus, the face of the One who was taking him into his eternal world, and eternal life.”

  Joshua wanted to live in the mountains after college. So, we had his remains cremated and took them to the southwest corner of Colorado. Seven miles up an old mining road, at an elevation of ten thousand feet with a jagged mountain range in the background, we found a hidden meadow. There, we placed a marking stone level into the ground. It reads “Josh Moodie, Beloved Son and Brother, 1977-1994.” We scattered his ashes there.

  The following week, my kinfolk who live in the area and found the spot for us, took some other family members to “Joshua’s Meadow.” They discovered that a herd of wild horses had spent the night. Not only did Josh love horses, his middle name, Philip, means “lover of horses.”

  Up until Josh’s death, ours had been a very musical family. Josh played the French horn for seven years and was in his high school’s marching band. Sarah is gifted with a wonderful voice and won singing contests in middle school. Both children took private lessons. Our family has an extremely large collection of CDs—gospel and, especially, Christmas music. Music was always in our home, in our car and in our lives.

  But when Josh died, music died for my family. The stereo was idle—as was the car radio, tape deck and portable stereo. Christmas songs were nothing but background music for our heartache. Sarah’s voice lessons went by without practice and continued only with parental insistence. Her singing was without life—flat, expressionless, totally lacking in joy.

  My sadness knew no bounds. Even breathing caused sharp pain—the grief was just too much for me. Too much! I thought to myself, God must have mad e a mistake here, when he took my Jo sh.

  I was afraid I had to end my pain the only way I knew how—with a pistol. I knew I couldn’t live with the pain— not even for my family and friends!

  Then something incredible happened! I heard Kathy Mattea sing “Mary, Did You Know?” on a 1994 Christmas show on TV. I had never heard of this country music star, but pieces of that song remained with me for all of 1995. When the Christmas season came again, I found out who Kathy Mattea was and bought her CD, Good News.

  The first time I played it for my family, our whole house seemed to change—to brighten. Just as the radiance of spring follows the gloom of a long winter, music came alive in our home once more. We played that CD over and over, and it made us feel wonderful. Our collection of other Christmas CDs once again gave us the joy we had known from them when Josh was alive. We began singing with the music, just like before. What a gift Good News was to us. When I cleaned out Joshua’s room—three years after his death—it took me a week. I would work awhile, then go hide in my room and cry and sob for a while. Then back and forth. But I had Kathy singing to me the entire time. It was as if she was in the room with me, talking and encouraging and loving me through her music.

  Last year, I went to a Kathy Mattea concert in Tulsa and as a fan club member, I was allowed to meet her. When I told her my name, she said, “You’re the ‘Walter’ who sent me the letter about your son, aren’t you?” Then she gave me what I believe is the biggest hug I’ve ever had. She felt the pain and suffering and loss that I did, and she loved me up the best she could as a friend! Then, knowing that I was very intimidated by her status in the music world, she stood next to me, held my hand and talked for what seemed like forever while pictures were taken of us together.

  During the Christmas service at our church last year, Sarah sang Kathy’s song “Mary, Did You Know” as a solo, accompanied only by her music teacher on the guitar. My wife and I were transported as we listened to the very

  More Chicken Soup?

  Everyone has a song in him.

  Cliffie Stone

  Just as “everyone has a song in him,” we believe everyone has a story in him or her. Many of the stories and poems you have read in this book were submitted by readers like yourself who had read earlier Chicken Soup for the Soul books. We publish at least five or six new Chicken Soup for the Soul books every year, and we invite you to contribute a story to one of these future volumes.

  Stories may be up to 1,200 words and must uplift, comfort, encourage or inspire. You may submit an original piece or something you clip out of a local newspaper, a magazine, a church bulletin or a company newsletter. It might be something you receive by fax, your favorite quotation or a personal experience that has touched you deeply.

  Just send a copy of your stories and other pieces to the following address:

  Chicken Soup for the Soul

  P.O. Box 30880 • Santa Barbara, CA 93130

  fax: 805-563-2945
<
br />   To send e-mail or to visit our Web sites:

  www.chickensoup.com

  www.clubchickensoup.com

  We will be sure that both you and the author are credited for your submission.

  Soup Kitchens for the Soul

  One of the most exciting developments with Chicken Soup for the Soul was the impact it had on readers who are welfare recipients, homeless, at-risk students or those incarcerated in local jails and state prisons.

  As a result, we established the Soup Kitchens for the Soul Project, which donates Chicken Soup for the Soul books to individuals and social service organizations that cannot afford to purchase them.

  We have already donated over twenty-five thousand copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul books to men and women in prisons, halfway houses, homeless shelters, battered women’s shelters, literacy programs, inner-city schools, AIDS hospices, hospitals, churches, and other organizations that serve adults and teenagers in need.

  Many of these books are provided by the publisher and the authors, but an equal number have been donated by readers like yourself. We welcome and invite your participation in this project in the following ways. For every $15.95 you contribute, we will send two copies of Chicken Soup for the Country Soul to programs that support people in need. We also invite you to submit the names of worthy programs that you think should receive copies of the books.

  The program is administered by the Foundation for Self-Esteem in Culver City, California. Please make your check payable to The Foundation for Self-Esteem and send it to:

  Soup Kitchens for the Soul

  The Foundation for Self-Esteem

  6035 Bristol Parkway • Culver City, CA 90230

  or call 310-568-1505 and make your contribution

  by credit card

  We will acknowledge receipt of your contribution and let you know where the books you paid for were sent.

  Opry Trust Fund

  In the spirit of supporting all people involved in the country music industry, we have selected the Opry Trust Fund to receive a portion of the profits generated from the paperback sales of Chicken Soup for the Country Soul.

  The Opry Trust Fund was created in 1965 to give financial assistance in time of need, emergency or catastrophe to those employed in the country music industry or their families. They need not be associated with the Grand Ole Opry to receive benefits.

  Gaylord Entertainment Company underwrites all administrative expenses for the Opry Trust Fund, and no salaries are charged to the fund. The trust fund board approves all grants.

  The financial gifts have been used for various emergencies, from assuring medicine and food, to paying hospital and funeral expenses.

  The Opry Trust Fund exemplifies the country music industry, helping its own less fortunate to overcome financial and emotional crisis.

  If you would like to help support the Opry Trust Fund, you can send a tax-deductible contribution to:

  The Opry Trust

  Fund 2804 Opryland Drive

  Nashville, TN 37214

  phone: 615-889-7502

  Trees Around the World, Inc.

  The Chicken Soup for the Soul organization is committed to ensuring that as many trees as possible are planted to nourish the environment and nourish humanity.

  Trees help combat pollution by trapping smog from auto and industrial emissions. In fact, one tree absorbs as much as forty-eight pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

  Trees play a key role in combating the greenhouse effect, thereby reducing the threat of global warming. Trees beautify urban areas, conserve water, prevent storm water pollution, provide food and habitat for wildlife, and increase property values by as much as 15 percent.

  A portion of the proceeds from A 4th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul enabled the National Arbor Day Foundation to plant 200,000 trees! Chicken Soup for the Country Soul will also donate a generous portion of their proceeds to Trees Around the World, Inc.

  In addition, we invite you to plant three trees: One for the day you were born; one for when you die; and the other for the first time you fell in love.

  Thank you for your participation in managing your piece of the ecosystem and instilling respect for Mother Earth.

  Who Is Jack Canfield?

  Jack Canfield is a bestselling author with over twenty-three books published, including nine New York Time s bestsellers. He is also a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker and a highly sought-after trainer.

  Jack spent his childhood years growing up in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he fell in love with country music on local radio station WWVA and attended many a Saturday Night Jamboree, Wheeling’s version of the Grand Ole Opry. Jack’s love of country music led to his playing the guitar and singing in a popular local folksinging group at the time, the New American Travellers. Jack owns what he believes is one of the largest collections of country music around.

  Jack is the author and narrator of several bestselling audio- and videocassette programs including Self-Esteem and Peak Performance, How to Build High Se lf-Esteem and The STAR Program. He is a regularly consulted expert for radio and television broadcasts, and has published a total of twenty-three books—all bestsellers within their categories—including seventeen Chicken Soup for the Soul books, The Aladdin Factor, He art at Work, One Hundred Ways to Build Self-Concept in the Classroom and Dare to Win.

  Jack conducts keynote speeches for about seventy-five groups each year. His clients have included schools and school districts in all fifty states, over one hundred education associations including the American School Counselors Association and Californians for a Drug Free Youth, plus corporate clients such as AT&T, Campbell Soup, Clairol, Domino’s Pizza, GE, New England Telephone, Re/Max, Sunkist, Supercuts and Virgin Records.

  Jack conducts an annual seven-day Training of Trainers Program in the areas of building self-esteem and achieving peak performance in all areas of your life. The program attracts educators, counselors, parenting trainers, corporate trainers, professional speakers, ministers, youth workers and others.

  To contact Jack for further information about his books, tapes and trainings, or to schedule him for a keynote speech, please contact:

  The Canfield Training Group

  P.O. Box 30880 • Santa Barbara, CA 93130

  phone: 805-563-2935 • fax: 805-563-2945

  To send e-mail or to visit his Web site: www.chickensoup.com

  Who Is Mark Victor Hansen?

  Mark Victor Hansen is a professional speaker who, in more than two decades, has made over four thousand presentations to more than 2 million people in thirty-two countries. His presentations cover sales excellence and strategies; personal empowerment and development; and how to triple your income and double your time off.

  Mark has spent a lifetime dedicated to his mission of making a profound and positive difference in people’s lives. Throughout his career, he has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to create a more powerful and purposeful future for themselves while stimulating the sale of billions of dollars worth of goods and services.

  Mark is a prolific writer and has authored Future Diary, How to Achieve Total Prosperity and The Miracle of Tithing. He is coauthor of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Dare to Win and The Aladdin Factor (all with Jack Canfield) and The Master Motivator (with Joe Batten).

  Mark has also produced a complete library of personal empowerment audio- and videocassette programs that have enabled his listeners to recognize and use their innate abilities in their business and personal lives. His message has made him a popular television and radio personality, with appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO, PBS, CNN, Prime Time Country, Crook & Chase and TNN News. He has also appeared on the cover of numerous magazines, including Success, Entrepreneur and Changes.

  Mark is a big man with a heart and spirit to match—an inspiration to all who seek to better themselves.

  For further information about Mark contact:

  P.O. Box 7665 • Newport Beach, CA 92658
<
br />   phone: 714-759-9304 or 800-433-2314

  fax: 714-722-6912

  To send e-mail or to visit his Web site: www.chickensoup.com

  Who Is Ron Camacho?

  I started in rock and worked my way up to country.

  Conway Twitty

  Ron Camacho grew up in a small rural town in the Mohawk River valley of upstate New York. Raised by his mother, he and his brother learned respect for the country life.

  Ron attended the State University of Buffalo as an art major. While at Buffalo he started the “fanzine” known as the Shakin’ Street Gaze tte and began his career as a music critic. Within two years he was responsible for getting a band signed to Columbia records, and left college to become a road manager. The following year, he began work with the band Blood, Sweat and Tears.

  For the next twenty years Ron road managed, managed, promoted or bodyguarded some of the top performers in pop and rock music.

  Over this time Ron has organized, cosponsored or worked with charities for his favorite organizations supporting children. He has been involved with benefit concerts for Find the Children, Feed the Children, Unite for Pediatric AIDS and the T. J. Martell Foundation, to name a few.

  After leaving rock ’n’ roll Ron became involved with the California Country Music Association, leading the stars onto the Pomona fairgrounds at the first Fan Fests. Ron became hooked on country music and pursued it with the same enthusiasm that he had for rock.

  With his three-year journey completed, he has set up his company, American Entertainment Concepts, in Nashville, Tennessee. This promotion production team will promote Chicken Soup for the Country Soul around the world, proudly bringing country music and lifestyle with it.

  To contact Ron for events surrounding the book promotion, media appearances and concerts, please contact: