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    White Velvet Boxes
    White Velvet Boxes
    White Velvet Boxes
    Ebook95 pages1 hour

    White Velvet Boxes

    By Christine Cope

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Christine Cope sees all her special memories of life as occupying rows of white velvet boxes at the back of her mind. The boxes, each tied delicately with coloured ribbon, contain happiness and sadness, humour and conflict, pleasure and pain. When she wants to remember an episode from her past, she just pulls on the ribbon. Christine believes that it’s how you deal with each memory, pleasant or painful, that determines how it will appear the next time you open it.

    This book is about the things Christine has saved in her boxes over the years – precious memories of childhood adventures, seaside holidays, valued friendships, secret corners in summer gardens, playground battles, her beloved dogs and her children and grandchildren. Together they have given her an insight and a wisdom which are well worth sharing with others.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMereo Books
    Release dateMay 19, 2012
    ISBN9781909020122
    White Velvet Boxes
    Author

    Christine Cope

    Christine Cope was born and brought up in the village of Comberbach in Cheshire in the 1960s and has happy memories of long, sunlit days in the garden helping her father, and summer holidays with her parents on a beach in North Wales. One day when she was seven a friend told her she was adopted, but it did not shake her faith in her family and the love they gave her. She married in her twenties and had three children, now grown up, but she still visits her father in that same cottage where she grew up. Once her family had left home Christine took courses in counselling, food hygiene and parenting and began to undertake voluntary work. In recent years her life has been limited in some ways by the after-effects of a severe stroke, but she still finds great happiness in her family and the love they give her. Christine sees all her memories - happy times and sad ones, friendships and adventures, people and places - as belonging in their own white velvet boxes which can be unwrapped and revisited whenever the moment feels right.

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      Book preview

      White Velvet Boxes - Christine Cope

      White Velvet Boxes

      Christine Cope

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © Christine Cope, March 2012

      First published in England, March 2012

      Book jacket design Ray Lipscombe

      Published by

      Memoirs Books

      25 Market Place, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 2NX

      info@memoirsbooks.co.uk

      www.memoirspublishing.com

      ISBN 978-1-909020-12-2

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of Memoirs.

      Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct when going to press, we do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. The views expressed in this book are purely the author’s.

      Contents

      The white velvet boxes

      Family

      A special moment

      The seaside

      A secret place

      Trouble boxes

      Who am I?

      The tramp

      Mum and Dad

      Home and garden

      Friendship

      Barnie, my border collie

      Causes for courses

      Buddies and beliefs

      A stroke of luck

      Ship in a bottle

      Sea spirit

      Waves

      New ways

      A little thought

      Introduction

      There is so much in life at the moment, so many magic, treasured memories that I want to unfold. They may be insignificant to you, but I want to express the knowledge, reason and experiences life has delivered to me.

      Some may find it childlike, as l embrace what life has thrown at me. Some of my experiences may be what you too have been through or dreamed of in your life. Family and friends may tell you of their own wonders and lessons of living. I hope you will take away some of the inspirations and knowledge I am going to pass on from my life’s experiences.

      Life is ever changing. Nothing stays the same. Seasons come and go, there are births and celebrations, deaths and sorrows, yet we must carry on until the end of the short time we have in our bodies.

      We must make time to teach the good and let go of that past we cannot change. We must learn from mistakes, ask for what we need, believe everything is possible and learn to receive all that is given.

      My father always said that you have to want something, and believe anything is possible. I too, believe this is true, though things are not always easy to achieve. Sometimes we have to come out of our ‘comfort zone’ to gain something, and it then becomes an achievement for the depths of our souls in which we grow from within.

      I have broken down my treasured memories into chapters, fragments from my White velvet boxes. I hope you treasure them as I do.

      Acknowledgments

      With the deepest gratitude, I wish to thank every person, whether friend, passer-by or four-legged companion, who has made an impression in my life and inspired me though their presence. This book was made possible through all the people who were willing to share so generously their wisdom, love and support in its creation. Thank you for allowing me to use your real names. Without your faith in me at my lowest times, this book wouldn’t have been possible.

      A special thank you to Sophie for offering to read my creation. You are a precious jewel and leave wonderful footprints wherever you go.

      Thank you John, for having the patience to teach me to use a computer so that I could write my memories. Without you it would have been impossible. You are a comic with passion, and you give fuel and laughter to my soul.

      Thank you Clare, for being a wonderful daughter and for your great respect, a treasure like a shell on a beach. I held your hand for what seemed only a short time, but I will hold your heart forever, as mums do.

      Thank you Mike – you have been my strength, my brick to lean on for years. You have made dreams and wishes come true.

      Thank you Doris, for the Secret Place and the cups of tea that sometimes never came.

      A huge thank you to Steve, for caring for me when I was recovering from my stroke. They have been difficult times, and without you I would have become lost. And thank you for helping me so much with my poor, dyslexic spelling.

      Thank you to Mum and Dad for a magical childhood that moulded me to think the things I have put in my white velvet boxes. I can now pass them on to you, the reader.

      The white velvet boxes

      There are many times in life which are special to me, many people who touch my heart. Whether it is for a few minutes or a lifetime, they stay with me in the pigeonholes at the back of my mind. I see them as rows and rows of white velvet boxes. They look beautiful, though some are dusty and some have dirty marks on them because they have been opened so many times. Yet some are as brilliant white as untouched snow on a mountain in the sunshine.

      Each little white velvet box is tied delicately with ribbon. It may sound corny, but even people who are no longer here in our world are in them too. They are our memory store. The boxes each have a label which explains what is stored within. The ribbons are all different colours, each meaning something different to me.

      This, as I see it, is how we are able to remember all the things that happen in our lives. Just as your mind may be triggered by anything big or small – a smell, a sound, a touch – the ribbon is pulled and out come your inner memories. They are there right in front of you within seconds.

      Sometimes the memories are of people you would rather forget, but the mind triggers them and there they are with your spirit and soul. There is no control in the way memories are released or distinguished in your mind’s eye. What matters is how you deal with it when confronted. After that it’s down to you – it is your sole responsibility.

      A lot of things are down to your conscious effort to either do the right thing for all or just for yourself. That is what can make or ruin the life you follow, in a split second.

      I have found that if you have consideration for others, life treats you better most of the time, but sometimes it’s out of our hands. It is important to be positive, to take the rough with the smooth. Only then can the memory go back into its little white velvet box, ready to be released again and again.

      It’s how you fold that information, caress it, or gently tuck it back into the box that matters. Because that is how it will rear its head again when released.

      Sometimes items go into the wrong box, which will make you feel confused. They intermingle between boxes when more than one ribbon is untied, which would explain why you may not be able to remember a name, a place or something you are trying to recall. Then they sometimes go back into the right white velvet box for future

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