June Hunt - Worry: The Joy Stealer

Worry: The Joy Stealer
2021 Hope For The Heart

Published by Aspire Press
An imprint of Hendrickson Publishing Group
Rose Publishing, LLC
P.O. Box 3473
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ISBN 9781628629842

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Dear friend,

When I was a young girl, I had an uncle whose name was Charles Lake. It was always fun being around Uncle Charlie, not just because he married my aunt Swann which made her Swann Lake (its true!), but also because he would let me sit on his lap. Uncle Charlie had a Santa-size tummy and would laugh a lot. Better yet, as I sat on his lap he would let me comb his hair to the right to the left all the way back all the way forward. He would let me comb at will and never really seemed to mind. But perhaps the most important thing to me was that Uncle Charlie gave me attention.

One day, he called our home and invited me to visit him in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he lived. He told me he wanted to take me fishing. Oh, how excited I was. I remember getting on the bus to Shreveport filled with anticipation and looking forward to this new adventure.

Uncle Charlie informed me when I arrived that we would have to get up early in the morning (it was actually more like the middle of the nightand still very dark outside) for our fishing expedition. It was about four in the morning when we rolled out of the driveway and set off to the Lake of the Pines.

I had been fishing beforea few times at White Rock Lake in Dallaswhere we used cane poles and chunks of hot dogs for bait stuck on hooks. Frankly, I dont ever remember getting a nibblenot even once. (Obviously, fish dont feel the same way about hot dogs that kids do.) But we thought we were fishing and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.