Paperback
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781434304346 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 10/12/2007 |
| Pages: | 60 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.16(d) |
Read an Excerpt
Tarsha
By Ava Campbell Ramey AuthorHouse Copyright © 2007 Ava Campbell Ramey
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4343-0434-6
Chapter One Mommy and daddy loved me before I was born. I could hear sounds outside my mommy's stomach.
I kicked my mommy's stomach to let her know I was fine. Mommy gently rubbed her stomach to let me know she loved me.
I have felt so much love afer my birth. A baby shower honored me.
Many pictures were taken, gifts were brought for me and games were played.
Daddy is stationed at Andrews Airforce Base, in Maryland. He visits us in Virginia on weekends.
I sleep during the day and stay awake at night. Grandma tells me five o'clock in the morning is early. She always leaves for work yawning.
Grandma and I laugh as she talks to me, and sings to me. I love to hear the sound of her voice, even when she's off key.
I dream about what our trip to Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. will be like.
Lots of children will be there. Will the people in white look at my eyes, feel my tummy, ask mommy and daddy a lot of questions about me?
I smile when people tell me I am a smart baby. I laugh when I hear the words "Coochie Coochie Coo".
Mommy and I moved into an apartment near Andrews Air Force Base. Daddy always calls us at lunch time to say hello.
Mommy and I watch television together. I like "The Price Is Right" and "Soul Train."
On my first birthday I am the center of attention. Grown-ups are laughing because they think the cake was the best part. My gifts are for learning, for playing with, and some gifts are just plain strange. I don't know what to do about the big purple elephant with the green nose? Do I stare at it, hug it, ride it, or just drag it?
Being one year old is terrific! I can say "Dada," and "Mama". Climbing steps, walking around furniture, and putting all kinds of things into my mouth are not so bad. Turning two can't be terrible!!
Kenneth and Kary are twins. Because our grandparents live close to each other I get to spend time with my cousins. We like to show our grandparents what we have learned. Today Kenneth will show his grandfather Frank what a hat looks like inside the toilet. Hiding keys and a shoe were never this much fun.
Tarsha's Favorite Foods
1. SPAGHETTI
2. CHICKEN
3. MACARONI AND CHEESE
4. CORN BREAD
5. CAKE
Grandma loves to cook. I like her food. If I drop food, or rub food on my clothes or face, she doesn't get mad. Grandma runs to get the camera. If I am not feeling well and cannot eat, grandma says its okay, picks me up, and rocks me to sleep.
Lights, Camera, Action ... I love to have my picture taken. Who said a one-year-old is not a star?
I love shopping. I want everything I see. Mommy is always saying we can't put another thing in the trunk. I bet you, Grandma could make that refrigerator fit in our trunk. Grandmas know how to do everything.
Dolly, my Raggedy Ann, is my best friend. I love hugging her and sleeping with her. Mommy or Daddy reads to us at night.
There are a lot of people at the carnival. The good rides are for tall people. I don't walk around or touch anything because I am sitting in my stroller. Do you believe there are babies at the carnival wearing harnesses? Somebody needs to tell their mommies or daddies their clothes and harnesses don't match.
Movies are fun to watch. I love popcorn, small bites of hotdogs, candy, and soda pop.
My first Christmas holiday was spent in the Andrews Air Force Base pediatrics ward. I have been back and forth to the hospital so many times. The doctor tells my family the condition I am suffering from, known as Biliary Atresia, is worse. It is a condition that results when the bile ducts inside or outside the liver don't have normal openings. Bile becomes trapped in the liver, causing jaundice and cirrhosis. This condition is present from birth and without surgery may cause death. My family keeps praying for a new liver.
Santa Claus visited the pediatrics ward on Christmas Eve. His beard looked funny. He made me laugh every time he said, "Ooh, ah, stop pulling my beard little girl."
Mommy and Daddy spend the week with me in my hospital room. Aunt Ava, grandma and grandpa visit me each day.
On January 2, 1975, I am very, very ill. My family's prayers for a new liver have not been answered. They hug me, kiss me, and read to me. My cheeks are wet from their tears. I am too tired to play with Dolly. My eyes close, and I fall into a deep, deep sleep.
Today is January 4, 1975. Cousin Quentin and his daughter Brenda have driven me from Maryland to Virginia. Mommy, grandma, and Aunt Ava will join them to prepare me for my funeral. Funeral is a word children won't understand. There will be many sad faces, tears, stuffed animals, balloons, cards, and flowers inside my grandparents house. The smell of food will come from the kitchen, and cars will be parked in the driveway. A tent for my "going home" ceremony will be placed in my grandparents backyard. Children from the sunbeam choir will sing "Jesus Loves Me".
The funeral service is over. There will be no more pain, no more hospitals, and no more operations. I see a bright light, and I am not afraid. This must be heaven where God lives. Every time my family talks about me, looks at my pictures, or looks out the kitchen window, I will be remembered.
I'M FREE
Don't grieve for me for now I'm free I'm following the path God laid for me I took his hand when I heard him call I turned my back and left it all I could not stay another day to laugh, to love, to work or play things left undone must stay that way I've found that place at the close of the day If my parting has left a void then fill it with a remembered joy A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss Ah, yes these things I too will miss Be not burdened with times of sorrow I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow my life's been full, I savored much good friends, good time, a love one's touch Perhaps my time seemed all too brief Don't lengthen it now with undue grief Lift up your heart and share with me God wanted me now, he set me free.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Tarsha by Ava Campbell Ramey Copyright © 2007 by Ava Campbell Ramey. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.