Table of Contents
Introduction xi
1 On Relationships
Losing the "Us" Lia Gay 3
After a While Veronica A. Shoffstall 7
Soul Mates Fran Leb 8
The Miss of a Great "Miss" Jack Schlatter 11
My First Kiss, and then Some Mary Jane West-Delgado 14
First Kiss-First Lesson Jennifer Braunschweiger 17
Changes in Life Sheila K. Reyman 25
First Love Mary Ellen Klee 28
A High School Love not Forgotten Diana L. Chapman 31
2 On Friendship
The Gossiper Author Unknown 36
A Simple Christmas Card Theresa Peterson 38
Please Listen Stacia Gilmer 41
She Told me it was Okay to Cry Daphan Renan 43
Lessons in Friendship A. J. Langer 45
Always Return your Phone Calls Anonymous 50
My New Best Friend Retold Kimberly Kirberger 52
The Days of Cardboard Boxes Eva Burke 54
3 On Family
She Didn't give up on me Sharon Whitley 63
Mama's Hands Tommi Jo Casteel 68
Unconditional Mom Sarah J. Vogt 70
The Bible Beckah Fink 74
The Birthday Melissa Esposito 76
The Home Run Terri Vandermark 79
My Big Brother Lisa Gumenick 80
A Brother's Voice James Malinchak 83
A Famous Father Author Unknown 87
Lessons in Baseball Chick Moorman 89
The Champ As told Nailah Malik "Vela Storyteller" 92
I Love you, Dad Nick Curry III 94
I Am Home Jennie Garth 97
4 On Love and Kindness
Tigress Judith S. Johnessee 102
Bright Heart Jennifer Love Hewitt 106
The Secret of Happiness The Speaker's Sourcebook 109
Reaching out to a Stranger Barbara A. Lewis 111
Smile Barbara Hauck 115
Mrs. Link Susan Daniels Adams 117
A Mason-Dixon Memory Clifton Davis 119
A Gift for Two Andrea Hensley 126
Life Just Isn't Katie Leicht 128
Tell the World for me John Powell 131
Like People First Kent Nerburn 135
Lilacs Bloom Every Spring Blue jean magazine 139
Paint Brush Bettie B. Youngs 143
5 On Learning
Egg Lessons Kimberly Kirberger 146
The Cost of Gratefulness Randal Jones 150
I Try to Remember Author Unknown 153
Mrs. Virginia DeView, where are you? Diana L. Chapman 157
What's Wrong? The Speaker's Sourcebook 162
The Eternal Gifts Jack Schlatter 164
Socrates Retold Eric Saperston 168
Challenge Days As told to Andrew Tertes 170
Please Hear What I'm not Saying Charles C. Finn 174
I Am... Amy Yerkes 176
Sparky Earl Nightingale 179
If I Knew Kimberly Kirberger 182
6 Tough Stuff
I'll Always be with you Dale Dar Emme 186
My Story Lia Gay 191
Somebody Should have Taught him Jane Watkins 194
Just One Drink Chris Laddish 196
The Dance Tony Arata 198
The Premonition Bruce Burch 200
Dead at 17 John Berrio 206
"Gabby, you're Sooo Skinny" Gabriella Tortes 208
Gold-Medal Winner Rick Metzger 212
Desiderata Max Ehrmann 214
7 Making a Difference
What is Success? Ralph Waldo Emerson 218
Be Cool... Stay in School! Jason Summey 219
The Leader Tony Overman 223
Courage in Action Bill Sanders 224
Turning up your Light Eric Allenbaugh 226
The Oyster Author Unkown 229
Courage in a Fire Barbara A. Lewis 231
The Most Mature Thing I've Ever Seen Chris Blake 236
Broken Wing Jim Hullihan 240
Passing the Dream Penny Caldwell 243
8 Going for it!
The Girl Next Door Amanda Dykstra 246
I'll be Back Jack Cavanaugh 249
Just me Tom Krause 257
True Height David Naster 259
Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Helen Keller 264
The Gravediggers of Parkview Junior High Kif Anderson 268
Teenager's Bill of Rights Lia Gay et al. 272
The Boy Who Talked with Dolphins Paula McDonald 274
Wild Thing Jennifer Philbin 282
To Track Down My Dream Ashley Hodgeson 285
From Crutches to a World-Class Runner The Speaker's Sourcebook 287
If Rudyard Kipling 289
No-Hair Day Jennifer Rosenfeld Alison Lambert 291
I Did it! Mark E. Smith 294
Growing Brooke Mueller 297
New Beginnings Paula (Bachleda) Koskey 298
Who is Jack Canfield? 301
Who is Mark Victor Hansen? 302
Who is Kimberly Kirberger? 303
Contributors 304
Permissions (continued) 313
