Faith and Positivity: Inspiring True Stories and Personal Poems by a Single Mom

By Angela Luevano

Join a single mother of three children on her four year journey as she finds solace in writing poetry about her life experiences. Her stories and poems coincide as she continues to find faith and positivity within herself. She holds her family together through her fathers death, her sisters personal trials, dating, and other life experiences. A great read for single parents, men, women, and teenagers alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499023770

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Copyright © 2014 by Angela Luevano.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

Rev. date: 05/16/2014

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Contents

ONE

My Son the Toddler

I Say Your Name

TWO

Her Long, Long Walk

My Grandpa and His Son

It’s Midnight, It’s Morning

Her Memories of Her Grandpa

In My Eyes

THREE

Tears Falling Up

Funny How Things Change

FOUR

Many Thoughts

Footprints in Her Sand

She’s an Orchid

Fast Forward

The Mom at Work

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Evening of Spring

Her Son Climbs the Ladder

Playing Games

That Windy Road

Just Do It

I Refuse to Pout

Kite Flying

A Mother’s Heart

A Laugh and a Giggle

The Little Lost Bear

The Old Wooden Picnic Table

My Wall

FIVE

I Was Only Thinking, In the Midst of a Migraine

Finally and Forever

The Clouds Popped

The Garden of Life

By the Light of My Candle

My Teenager

Such a Young Teenage Soul

The Answer to Love

SIX

A Warm Moment

SEVEN

Nobody Listened

I’m Mad at Those Boots

Hold my Hand

This book is dedicated to my kids, Melissa, Phillip,

and Shane, for their patience and individual spirits.

M y name is Angela Mason, originally. I have been married and divorced. I am still a Mason, my dad’s daughter, at heart. Currently, I am Angela Luevano. I am thirty-six years old and a single mother of three kids. It’s that simple. I am simply a woman without a college degree, who has a story or two to share. I am a protector, a healer, and a survivor at heart. Meeting challenges head on that requires endurance and patience is how I have found who I really am. I have morals and a conscience and a great love for kids, cooking, and gardening. I am just me.

Through my writing, I hope to help someone or more by sharing my experiences that I’ve had to face in what I call Phase II of my life. It seems strange to me that someone without a degree or a career in writing is trying to write a book, but I know I can do this because I have the desire. By writing this book, I hope to learn more about myself. I want to show my kids that you can do anything you set your mind to. I also really hope to be able to help others find strength within them that they’ve had all along and just never knew it. So wish me luck!

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ONE

I didn’t want to be a single mother of two children with a baby on the way, but that just so happens to be the life card that I was dealt. It was a life changing event that I now refer to as a new beginning, Phase II of my life.

So I left. I was lucky and found a little house for rent near the kids’ school. My daughter was eleven, my son was four, and I was two months pregnant. The transition was a stressful one. My entire life had changed as well as my thoughts of what my future would now be. When you are married the future isn’t really much of a thought, it is given that you will live your life, raise your kids, and look forward to grandkids. After a divorce there are a million thoughts of; what happens now, what is my new path, and where will it take me? If it hadn’t been for my kids keeping me grounded and my best friend Jen of eighteen years, I wouldn’t have made it through the end of Phase I with my sanity intact. Friendship. Hold on to your friends with both hands because one day they may be the only person you can depend on. Cherish your friends as you do your family, you will not regret it.

When I was about seven months pregnant, a man paid attention to me, flirted with me. I was in a vulnerable state and allowed a very short courtship to begin. I soon found out that he had three boys, which was fine, but he was married! He explained to me that it was a rocky marriage, but that didn’t matter to me at all. Not only was I sure that he was lying, I was flabbergasted. I was not going to be the reason why three young boys suddenly didn’t have a father or suddenly were on a visitation schedule. I put an end to that relationship immediately, and later on, tried to help him with his marriage.

So I was still single and happy about it. I was about to have a baby and had plenty of nesting to do. I named my new son, Shane, which means, God’s gift. He is as adorable as they get and he’s a fabulous addition to my family.

After my son was born and I was finally back at work, I was eventually told by a fellow employee that I sounded depressed and very negative. He asked me to simply write about a positive subject. So I went home and tried and tried but I couldn’t come up with anything positive. I was frustrated. Looking back on my life; abandonment, being mistreated emotionally and physically by men and women, family, and friends, I couldn’t find any positive ideas to write about. As far as I was concerned, I had every right to be the most depressed person I knew.

But I refused to give up trying to find the positive ideas to write about. I wanted to impress this man that wanted to help me. I tried again and again for the next two nights, and I finally did it. It came to me while carrying my four year old son to his bed after he had fallen asleep in the living room. On the way