A Love Story of Impossible Bottles

By Kathy Brown

A Love Story of Impossible Bottles (Second Edition）is author Kathy Brown’s gift to her husband, Chris A. Brown, who tragically died in a skydiving accident on July 7, 2012, at the age of fifty-two. A special and unique person with many interests and talents, Chris was the master of the impossible bottles highlighted in this book and the original owner and founder of the website he developed for the art work.

This book is based upon a beautiful concept: Impossible Bottles, all of which hold some special memory. According to the author, the bottles described in this book symbolize a person’s heart. We don’t easily let everything come in, but when someone or something is special and dear to us, it stays in our hearts like the memories captured in those bottles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Oct 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483418926

Kathy Brown

Kathy Brown enjoys teaching our youngest learners in the wonderful world of kindergarten. Her passion for early literacy instruction was ignited in 1987 when she did her student teaching in Australia. Her action research entitled Ladders to Literacy was published in 1998 after she earned her Master’s Degree from Aurora University. She is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher in the area of Early and Middle Childhood Literacy: Reading- Language Arts. She is also the co-author of Kindergarten and the Common Core: It?s as Easy as ABC which won Learning Magazine's 2015 Teacher's Choice Award for outstanding professional development resource. Kathy has been a kindergarten teacher for 28 years in West Aurora School District #129 and currently works at Fearn Elementary School. She was a nominee for the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching Award from WGN and the Disney’s American Teacher Award. She has also been a presenter on the state,local, university and international level for the past 11 years. She is passionate about sharing her love of teaching young children at early childhood conferences everywhere! Most recently, she has presented for NAEYC in Dallas and Orlando, the I Teach Conference in Las Vegas, the annual IASCD Pre- K- Kdg Conference and the International Literacy Association Conference in St. Louis. Kathy lives in Aurora, Illinois and looks forward to the time she spends with her husband Dave and their two daughters, Ashley and Becky.

Book preview

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Copyright © 2014 Kathy Brown

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1891-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1892-6 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 11/03/2014

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

What is an Impossible Bottle?

Why put something inside a bottle?

Why write a book about Impossible Bottles?

Part One: Stories of Special Impossible Bottles

Chapter 1 The Big Flower: Chris-anthemum Bottle

Chapter 2 Kathy Bottle

Chapter 3 Forever Flowers

Chapter 4 Man’s Best Friend

Chapter 5 Miss You, Pap

Chapter 6 First Lady of Watsontown

Chapter 7 Quit Smoking, Sis

Chapter 8 Guitar Boys

Chapter 9 Skydiving Tribute

Chapter 10 Hardcore Mudd Run

Chapter 11 ♥ New York: A Personal Journey to Become an American

Chapter 12 I Want My Mommy

Chapter 13 Those Good Old Days

Chapter 14 I’m the Only Father She Knows

Part Two: Chris Museum

Part Three: How to Make an Impossible Bottle

Chapter 15 Basic Elements of Impossible Bottles

Chapter 16 Useful Tools

Chapter 17 Safety and Warnings

Chapter 18 Where to Get Tools and Bottles

Chapter 19 Choose the Right Bottle for Your Project

Chapter 20 Wrinkles, Crinkles, and Tears, Oh My!

Chapter 21 Sign Your Work

Chapter 22 Prepare a Bottle

Chapter 23 A Step-by-Step Guide for Making Basic Impossible Bottles

1. How to insert a box of matches

2. How to insert a deck of cards

3. How to insert a tennis ball

4. How to insert a golf ball

5. How to insert a log house

6. How to insert a picture frame

7. How to insert a garden plant

Acknowledgments

A Message from Heaven

Dedication

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T HIS BOOK IS DEDICATED to my late husband, Chris A. Brown, who died in a skydiving accident on Saturday July 7, 2012, at the age of fifty-two. Chris was the son of Sylvia Joy (Cole) Brown and the late Mayor Robert E. Brown of Watsontown, Pennsylvania. He served with the US Air Force and also served with the Army National Guard. He was the IT director at the Graduate School at the Pennsylvania State University when he died.

Chris was a very special and unique person with many interests and talents. He was the master of the Impossible Bottles highlighted in this book and the original owner and founder of the Web site http://www.insidethebottle.com. He was a member of Skydive Happy Valley and the National Rifle Association. A skilled athlete, Chris was an accomplished soccer goalie and pole vaulter earlier in life. He excelled in martial arts and enjoyed juggling, playing chess, photography, gardening, canoeing, kayaking, scuba diving, and recreational target shooting. He was also a talented guitarist.

Penn State was a big part of Chris’s life. He graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 1986 and worked there for twenty-four years, until he passed away. He was an excellent public speaker and respected expert in his field.

Chris, a thirty-two-year vegetarian, loved nature and valued all living beings. He was particularly fond of dogs.

Chris was a wonderful husband and partner. He was gentle, kind, affectionate, a good protector, and most of all, a good friend. For the time we were together, Chris and I were so happy and showered each other with affection, love, and care. He treated each day as if it were his last and always shared how he felt toward the special people in his life. Not a single day would go by that Chris wouldn’t tell me how much he loved me and how lucky he felt to have me in his life.

Just three days before his passing, when outside of a baseball stadium waiting for the July Fourth fireworks, he whispered in my ear, I still can’t believe I am married to you and I love you so much. It was said out of nowhere. About an hour before the fatal accident, he called to tell me what he was hoping we could do that afternoon and evening. The last thing he said was, One more thing, honey—I love you very much! I said, Me too, honey bear. I miss you already!

Needless to say, his shocking death rocked my world and left us (me, our families, friends, and colleagues) to search for the deeper meaning of life.

This book is about the love, passion, and legacy that Chris left