Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 3 | Page 13

Life Stories

ONE STRONG WOMAN
Lawrence D. Elliott
Lawrence D. Elliott is an author who has had many stories published in many
popular books, including four from the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. He
is a member of Toastmasters International, and has been interviewed for such radio
programs as The Daily Wrap from The Wall Street Journal with Michael Castner.
She’s the toughest person I’ve ever known. She’s a breast cancer survivor. She
lives with Lupus, as well as a rare condition known as Castleman Disease. But
there’s more to this strong woman. Quite a bit more.

LAWRENCE D. ELLIOTT,
AUTHOR

In the early 1970s, this strong woman found herself suddenly homeless as a
young mother with two children in Hartford Connecticut. It was there her husband
chose to abandon them, over 3,000 miles from the family’s hometown of San
Diego, California. She knew she had to do something, so she stood tall and
exclaimed, “We got to find us a job!”
It would have been so easy for her to abandon her two children to lighten her
burden. But she was not such a person to do this. She was determined to continue
on while keeping together what was left of her family.
She pounded the pavement, with her kids in tow. She interviewed for whoever
would listen until she found a job. It was at a Jewish rest home. At the end of the
interview, the woman who hired her began to walk away, then turned back and
asked, “Did you say you have two kids and no place to stay?”
“Yes,” the strong woman answered.
“I have a place for you.” This kind woman took them home with her. She slept
on the couch, giving up her room.
That night, the strong woman shared a bed with her children. The kids slept at
the top, while she curled up at the bottom. Just like that, she had a job and her
family a place to sleep.
The little family soon found a place of their own. But things got tougher when
her son ― the oldest at 11 years old ― lost $10 while picking up a few items at the
corner store. It threw the family’s already meager budget totally out of whack. They
had to survive a week on sandwiches. We’re not talking the fancy kind. Just your
basic bologna and cheese. Even to do that, the strong woman had to sacrifice her
weekly bus fair. To get to work, she’d walk, while hitching a ride where she could.
After about a year, they made their way back home. They returned to their
beloved San Diego.
WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

PAGE 5

JULY-AUGUST 2016