Amy M. Schaefer
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From the Front Porch

I am an "accidental blogger". When I launched my writing career in March of 2014, one of the things that I decided to include was my journaling, which I have always found to be a comforting and therapeutic endeavor.  It was a big risk to open myself up in such a public forum, but it has taught me that, for the most part, we share far more experiences than we think. It's comforting to know I'm not alone!  (*the "Button Text" is the link to my first novel)
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The Diner Frozen in Time

7/30/2014

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Friday morning we drove through the majestic cascades on our way to Wenatchee, Washington. In my mind's eye, I tried to overlay them with our Great Smoky Mountains, but while both mountain ranges are exceptionally beautiful, the feel of them is different. The Smoky Mountains are a soft sea of gentle greens with bursts of wildflower colors that nestle among the pines. The Cascades are sharp points that reach for the sky, cutting the clouds, as if to say, "I will not be ignored!" The greens are darker, deeper, and the feel is wild and free. It is a fitting image as we tote mom's ashes to their final destination.

We're hungry and tired when we arrive in Wenatchee in the early afternoon, so we stop at a diner along main street. My youngest daughter remarks, "Mom, this looks like the kind of place where the local kids hang out." It does. There are high school team photos on the walls, signed balls from various sports, and images, old and new, of kids at play. While taking pictures, I discover photos from when mom was a teen and comment to my husband about it. An older gentleman sitting nearby hears our conversation and asks where we're from. In the telling of our tale, his eyes light up when he hears mom's name...he remembers her! I feel closer than ever to her, as we listen to him talk abut what the diner was like "back in the day". We thank him for allowing us to interrupt his lunch, and let free emotions that his story has unleashed. She is here--not her ashes--not her body--but her thriving spirit, in the land, and the people, in the past and the present. She is a part of Wenatchee's past and her legacy spreads out from there, across hundreds of miles, stretching from Washington to North Carolina and many points in between.

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    About The Author

    I grew up in rural North Carolina. When I was only nineteen, I moved away and became a military wife. My only aspiration at that tender time in my life was to create an adult life that "fixed" all of the "injustices" of my childhood. Secretly, however, I wanted to reach for the sky! I wanted to be a writer and find ways to "save the world" (my mother used to say, "You have Save the World Syndrome".). Mostly, I wanted to matter.

    Since then, I have learned to reach well beyond what I ever dared to think was possible. I've learned not to allow fear to stop me from whatever future I want to create!

    What keeps me grounded? My Tribe! What provides the wind beneath my wings? A well of reserves filled with unstoppable passion!

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  • Amy M. Schaefer, Writer
  • Blog: From the Front Porch
  • Novels
  • Short Stories
    • Children's Books
  • About the Author
  • Contact
  • Photo & Art Gallery