Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II Read online

  191

  Role Reversal

  Adi Amar

  193

  Snowdrops

  Sarah McCann

  197

  My Most Memorable Christmas

  Reverend Robert Schuller

  200

  My Real Father

  Anonymous

  203

  Making Dad Proud

  Josh Nally

  206

  The Perfect Family

  Marc St. Pierre

  209

  6. Learning Lessons

  Making Sarah Cry

  Cheryl L. Costello-Forshey

  214

  The Wedding Ring

  Marsha Arons

  218

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  Andrea's Fresh Start

  Peg Verone

  222

  A Lesson for Life

  Medard Laz

  226

  Remember Me?

  Ann Landers

  228

  A Wider Classroom

  Kate McMahon

  230

  The Bat

  Bryony Blackwood

  232

  The Player

  Kelly Garnett

  233

  The Porcelain Bride Doll

  Marsha Arons

  237

  Myself

  Peer Counsellor Workbook

  241

  Firmer Ground

  Diana Chapman

  243

  Love and Belonging

  T. J. Lacey

  247

  What I Wish I'd Known Sooner

  Meredith Rowe

  252

  My Most Embarrassing Moment

  Rochelle M. Pennington

  258

  Call Me

  Cindy Hamond

  263

  7. Making a Difference

  For You, Dad

  Heather Metzger as told to Bill Holton

  268

  Somebody Loves You

  Wil Horneff

  272

  The Power of a Smile

  Susan Record

  276

  Pay Attention

  Dan Clark

  279

  Joe Camel

  Meladee McCarty

  281

  Living on the Edge

  Christine Ichim

  283

  Anything Is Possible

  Jason Dorsey

  286

  A Challenge That I Overcame

  Arundel Hartman Bell

  290

  A Street Kid's Guide

  Jennings Michael Burch

  292

  Teenagers Today

  Kimberly Kirberger

  296

  An Open Heart

  Sandy Pathe

  298

  8. Growing Up

  Wonder, to Me

  Jill Thieme

  302

  How Much Does It Cost?

  Margaret Hill

  306

  Image Isn't Everything

  Jamie Shockley

  310

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  Hi There, Ugly!

  Greg Barker

  314

  Imprints

  Donna Miesbach

  316

  I Won't Be Left Behind

  Sara Nachtman

  318

  An Athlete's Prayer

  Sandy Dow Mapula

  320

  The Blank Page

  Jenni Norman

  322

  More Chicken Soup?

  325

  Supporting Teenagers

  328

  Who Is Jack Canfield?

  331

  Who Is Mark Victor Hansen?

  332

  Who Is Kimberly Kirberger?

  333

  Contributors

  334

  Permissions (continued)

  347

  Page xiii

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  All sorrows can be borne if you tell a story about them.

  Karen Blixen

  The creation of this book took the love, dedication and hard work of many people. It is our greatest pleasure to thank and acknowledge them here.

  First and foremost, we want to thank our families:

  John Anderson, Kimberly's husband, for his wit and wisdom, two attributes that go together beautifully.

  Jesse Kirberger, Kimberly's son, for his genius, his kindness and for keeping his mother in line.

  Georgia Noble, Jack's wife, for being a calm, clear lake in the midst of the hustle and bustle required to complete these books. Georgia, you are refreshing.

  Christopher Canfield, Jack's son, for having the biggest heart in the entire world and for sharing it with us.

  Oran and Kyle Canfield, Jack's two older children, for being so wonderfully unique and talented.

  Patty Hansen, Mark's wife, for having such a huge love for all children and for sharing lots of ideas with us for this book.

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  Elisabeth and Melanie Hansen, for being so wise and cool at the same time.

  Our parents, Ellen Taylor and Fred Angelis, and Paul and Una Hansen, for raising us and loving us and putting up with us when we were teenagers.

  Special and heartfelt thanks to Mitch Claspy, for doing more than is humanly possible and being so lovable at the same time. Mitch, you are appreciated more than you could ever know.

  To Scott Appel, for all his help and support.

  To Jessie Braun, for her commitment to these books and her tireless support of Kimberly. Everyone should be lucky enough to have her on their team.

  Laurie Hanna and Brigette English, for their help with this book and for handling the hundreds of letters that we receive daily. Laurie and Brigette, we love you.

  To Hana Ivanhoe, Laurie Oberman, Zan Gaudioso, Jan Kirberger, Susie Horowitz and Kelly Harrington, for all the help and love they have given to the Teen Letter Project. We thank them all.

  Heather McNamara, senior editor of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, for editing the final manuscript with such ease, talent and clarity. Heather, you are truly a master at what you do!

  Patty Aubery, for all that she does to make our lives work more easily and betterand that's a lot! Thank you also for your friendship, Patty. It is precious.

  Nancy Mitchell, for the hours spent obtaining permissions for all stories and for all the stories she found for us up until the last minute. You're a real trouper, Nancy.

  Leslie Forbes, who was always there when we needed her with a smile on her face and love in her heart.

  Robbin O'Neill, for her creative efforts in contributing to the cover design of the book.

  Theresa Esparza, who set up all of Kimberly's and Jack's

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  speaking engagements, and brilliantly coordinated all of Jack's speaking, travel and radio and television appearances while we were compiling this book and for successfully running the Chicken Soup for the Soul Speakers Bureau.

  Rosalie Miller, who kept all the communication flowing smoothly throughout the project. Also, thanks just for being you, Rosalie, cause ''you" are great!

  Veronica Romero, Robin Yerian and Lisa Williams for handling everything else in our offices so that we could concentrate on completing this book.

  John Reiner, who nourished our bodies and souls with his exquisite food during the final weeks of the project.

  Larry and Linda Price, who in addition to keeping Jack's Foundation for Self-Esteem operating smoothly, continue to administrate the Soup Kitchens for the Soul Project, which distributes thousands of Chicken Soup for the Soul books free each year to prisoners, halfway houses, homeless shelters, battered women's shelters and inner-city schools.

  Peter Vegso at Health Communications, Inc., for believing in this book and for working hard to put it into the hands of millions of readers. Thank you, Peter!

  Lisa Drucker, Matthew Diener, Christine Belleris, and Allison Janse, our editors at Health Comm
unications, for their generous efforts in bringing this book to its high state of excellence.

  Randee Goldsmith, our Chicken Soup for the Soul project manager at Health Communications, Inc., for her masterful coordination and support of all the Chicken Soup projects.

  Terry Burke, Irene Xanthos, Jane Barone, Lori Golden, Kelly Johnson Maragni, Karen Bailiff Ornstein and Yvonne zum Tobel, the people at Health Communications who are responsible for selling and marketing all our books. You guys are always a pleasure.

  To Kim Weiss at Health Communications, for all her

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  wonderful PR work and for being such a total pleasure to work with. To Ronni O'Brien and Larry Getlen at Health Communications, for getting us such great television, radio and print coverage.

  Craig Jarvie at Health Communications, for his ever-present support and patience.

  Kelly Garnett, Carol Kline, Diana Chapman and Irene Dunlap, who edited some of the more difficult pieces into wonderfully moving stories. Thanks for being so talented and so fast at what you do! You are extraordinarily talented writers.

  Marci Shimoff for sharing all her great ideas with us.

  Lisa Gumenick, Lisa Rothbard, Lia Gay, Hana Ivanhoe, Bree Abel and Jamie Yellin for all the experience and wisdom they have shared with us. We carried it with us into this book and we will cherish it forever.

  Thanks to Kim Foley for being the best friend Kimberly has ever had.

  The following people, who read the original manuscript, helped us make the final selections and made invaluable comments on how to improve the book: Fred Angelis, Russell Bredlow, Brian Deol, Peter Doerksen, Vickki Dyakovetsky, Brigette English, Kim Foley, Rachel Friesen, Jessica Gardner, Lia Gay, Manjeet Gill, Laurie Hanna, Stephanie Horner, Hana Ivanhoe, Jan Kirberger, Jared Kuehl, Darcy Kuhn, Katie Leicht, Chad Loewn, Mandy Martens, Katrina Mohr, Prett Pandher, Sat Pandher, Lisa Rothbard, Meredith Rowe, Bindu Sidhu, Ravi Sidhu, Jill Toma, Jen Tredall, Julianna Tyson.

  We also received feedback from Vertes Andersen's classes at Centerville Junior High in Centerville, Utah. Their comments and grades were instrumental in helping us make the final selections. At the end of this project we had another fifty stories that were possibilities for the book. With only days left to make final decisions, Amy

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  Johnson's class at Oak Hill High graded the final stories and helped us make those selections. The cartoons in the book were voted on by the students at Torrey Pines High and La Costa Canyon High, both in San Diego, California.

  We are very grateful to all the students who helped us because it was their feedback that made this book what it is. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  John and Shannon Tullius, Sam Horn, John Saul, Mike Sacks, Bud Gardner, Dan Poynter, Bryce Courtney, Terry Brooks and all our other friends at the Maui Writer's Conference and Retreat who inspire and encourage us every year.

  All of the Chicken Soup for the Soul coauthors, who make it a joy to be part of this Chicken Soup family: Patty Aubery, Marty Becker, Ron Camacho, Tim Clauss, Irene Dunlap, Patty Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne, Carol Kline, Hanoch McCarty, Meladee McCarty, Nancy Mitchell, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte, Marci Shimoff, Barry Spilchuk and Diana von Welanetz Wentworth.

  Thanks to the over twenty-five thousand people who submitted stories, poems and other pieces for our consideration. You all know who you are. While most of the pieces you submitted weren't used in the book, each and every one inspired and moved us.

  Because so much goes into a project like this, we probably forgot to thank some very deserving people and for that we apologize. Please know in your hearts that we are grateful and very aware that a project like this is the result of lots of hard work and, without a doubt, the blessing of God.

  Page xix

  INTRODUCTION

  Dear Teenager,

  Shortly after the release of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, we began to receive hundreds of letters a day. Those letters contained submissions of stories and poetry, wonderful thank-yous, and, last but not least, a request for a second book "as soon as possible." We heard you and we have responded!

  We are, of course, proud of the success of the first book. In fact, it made a Chicken Soup record for being the first book to reach sales of 3 million copies in its first year. But our real happiness lies in our admiration and appreciation of you, the teenagers, who bought the book. You were the ones who showed the world that if a book is written that honors and respects you, you will respond in a positive way. We think that says a lot about who you are.

  As was the case in the first book, we have included stories that deal with issues that concern you. Even though we couldn't use all the stories that were sent to us, we did pay attention to the issues that were contained in them. You wrote to us about losing a boyfriend or girlfriend and the recovery that followed; you wrote about how painful it is when a friendship ends or friends move in different directions. You wrote about the death of loved ones and