Jack Canfield - Chicken Soup for the Soul Love Stories: Stories of First Dates, Soul Mates and Everlasting Love

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CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOULLOVE STORIES

CHICKEN SOUP
FOR THE SOUL
LOVE STORIES

Stories of First Dates,
Soul Mates and Everlasting Love

Jack Canfield
Mark Victor Hansen
and Peter Vegso

Backlist, LLC, a unit of

Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC

Cos Cob, CT

www.chickensoup.com

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

Scripture quotation marked NIV taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

copyright 2012 Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC

ISBN: 978-1-4532-7594-8 (ePub)

Cover design by Andrea C. Uva
Interior design by Dawn Von Strolley Grove

Contents

Erin McCarty

Sarah Smiley

Carol Bryant

Samantha Waltz

Michelle Lawson

Manny Gold

Tracy Kirk Crump

Ray Duarte

April Smith Carpenter

J. Jody Wilcox

Harriet May Savitz

Arthur Bowler

Cindy Hval

Suzanne Baginskie

Dayle Allen Shockley

Sabrina A. Taylor

Stephanie Ray Brown

Stefanie Wass

Peggy Frezon

Joyce Stark

Joan Clayton

Emily Sue Harvey

Sallie A. Rodman

David McAmis

Becky Povich

Ken McKowen

Barbara LoMonaco

Eva Juliuson

Paul James

Kathleen Partak

Samantha Waltz

Janet Perez Eckles

Stephanie Ray Brown

Jaye Lewis

Helen Kay Polaski

Heather Cook Lindsay

Arlene Uslander

Katie Knight

Samantha Waltz

Emily Sue Harvey

Jacqueline Michels

Ferida Wolff

Alison Kay Kennedy

Trina Lambert

Sharon Melnicer

Patricia Smith

Allie M. Hill

Helen Colella

Nancy C. Anderson

Carol Duncan Sweet

Saralee Perel

Robert D. Russell

Samantha Waltz

Betty King

Dayle Allen Shockley

JP Shaw

Sandra Nevarez

Nancy Harless

Saralee Perel

Marie-Therese Miller

Donna L. Hull

Julia Burnett

Joyce Laird

R. Goulet

Paul H. Karrer

Amanda English

Terri Duncan

Joan Clayton

Mary Ann Bennett-Olson

Stefanie Wass

Helen Kay Polaski

Sallie A. Rodman

Karen E. Rigley

Stephanie Ray Brown

Sandra R. Bishop

One day while in seventh grade, as you open your locker, you see a small snowflakelike note peeping out of the gray vents. Curious, you snatch the note, then race to third-period study hall to see what this mysterious little slip of paper contains.

As you fall into your desk chair, the snowflake drops onto your lap. Excited, you look down and see your name precisely written on the small flap. Once your hands stop shaking, you open the note and find you have a secret admirer!

Now every day at the end of each class, you swing by your locker to check to see if any more special notes have been delivered. But after one week the school year is over, and no more snowflakes arrive.

For the first two of the three summer months, you mope and talk to anyone who will listen to your cruel twist of fate. But then the neighbors thirteen-year-old cousin arrives for a two-week vacation and you are smitten. You conveniently dismiss the anonymous note as stupid kid stuff.

Thats the power of love, sings Huey Lewis.

That same power carries through to all ages (as our coauthors faithfully wrote), but love takes on a mystique that is sometimes hard to decode. Children are certain their parents, who seem so old and never show signs of romance, could not possibly love each other. They do not see love in the gentle subtleties of a romantic glance or when parents cheer wildly at their not-so-successful piano recital. But when old enough, these same children will take a stray cat into their homes, call a friend who just lost a job, and yes, cheer wildly at a loved ones basketball game.

A word for the hardnosed personalities of the world who continue to look at love as a weakness or frailty: the most admired individuals show love and devotion to the people they serve. Its no surprise when asked, Whom did you admire the most in your lifetime? that the top vote usually goes to a parent, teacher, or friend who showed love through work, discipline, kindness, and caring.