Mr. Emmets General Store

Sandra  Morton had carefully prepared her list that morning to go to town. She  always looked forward to stopping by Mr. Emmets General Store to look around while waiting for her list to be filled.  Every time she went she would find herself  looking at the beautiful bolts of fabric with their  flowery patterns and  imagine how pretty a new dress would be, if only she could afford it.  Maybe someday, but now was not the time.

 She had moved to this town five years ago with her new husband. It was an exciting  time and they had worked hard to turn  their new home into a comfortable place to build a life together. Randy had   fixed the roof and put in new windows  because the old ones were all broken.  He built a new kitchen for her and some much needed furniture.  The poor old house had once belonged to  a family that let it go to ruin.  He had been so proud of  his work and she had never been happier in her life.  They would fall asleep in each other's arms at night making plans for the future. She was  to be a dress maker and he was going to build canoes for the  sport fishermen who spent their summers on the river. They would have children and a big garden and so many other plans.

Those plans had changed and Sandra was now alone.  Randy had been  working on the log drive and the river had been high that spring two years ago.  As the  massive timber rushed down the river, he had  been standing on the logs to  keep them from jamming up. He lost his balance and fell into the cold waters. One of the big pieces of pulp crashed into him and  he drowned that day. The other men told her that he never knew what hit him and he didn't suffer.

 

She lived alone now and although she had been invited to the local dances and community suppers,  by some of the eligible bachelors, she had no interest.  Instead she spent her days  sewing  in her bedroom.  She made clothes and repaired clothes.  The small amount of money that she made kept her going and paid for the mortgage on the house. This had been  Randy's dream home and she intended to keep it.  Someday she told herself, life would get easier... someday she would feel alive again and maybe  know what it felt like  to not have any worries. For now she found happiness in the little things in life, like a trip to Mr. Emmets General Store.

 

All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy. Wayne Dyer