Alligator Shoes: Confessions of a Helicopter Mom

By Dawne Allette

Since children don't come with instructions, we're forced to create our own.

A collection of experiences from a single mother whose child had the audacity to want to be a physician by the age of four.

Question: How could she help him realize his dream?

Answer: With enthusiasm.

Children are like blank canvases. We get to c

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: May 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781637694954

Dawne Allette

Dawne Allette was born in Grenada, West Indies. She is the author of seven children's books, two biographies, and a novel. She is also a published poet. Her books are noted for their lyricism and humor. Ms. Allette is a motivational speaker and comedienne and has years of experience working with children and adults, teaching life skills and self-improvement.

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Alligator Shoes

Confessions of

a Helicopter Mom

by Dawne Allette

Alligator Shoes

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2021 by Dawne Allette

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.TM Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

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Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-63769-494-7

E-ISBN: 978-1-63769-495-4

Dedication

To all mothers:

Those that are airborne

And those on the ground

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

Dr. Seuss

Introduction

The stories in this book came easily, like dawn after a long night or a soft breeze over the Caribbean sea. They were easy because they are all true, and I did not have to forage inside my head to create any of them. I fudged a line or two to make them dance and to give them color, and also because I have very little control over my imagination and creative meanderings. I am, after all, a Caribbean woman writer—to live is to create. To create is to breathe.

Stories have always been in my business, demanding to be told. They have lived with me for as long as I can remember, and by that, I mean there have always been characters residing inside my head. Noisy and opinionated occupants. They don’t leave until they’re told. Literally. Like fixed-income tenants, they pound and pounce around, knowing they cannot be evicted. They fight each other for space. They sleep with me, wake me up in the mornings, and push me around during the day. Sometimes I can hear them scream, Tell me, tell mine!

I wrote children’s books at first because children grow into adults who read if they enjoyed reading as children. I wrote about a dozen, and that was only about one-tenth of the ones that screamed the loudest. The rest of them I told in person and on stage. Sometimes it’s so much easier to tell them than write them. To write them involves getting them published with all the myriad of hurdles involved in that process.

I’ve told many stories over the years. Maybe two hundred. Maybe more. Some were real, and some I just pulled out of my ear like a magician’s quarter. The ones I made up now fight each other for space between my ears, demanding of all things—a sequel. Ha, I respond.

Whenever I am at a loss for words, I paint stories on canvas, furniture, and rocks. Many paintings have been sold over the years, but any artist worth his paint knows that an artist keeps his best work for himself. Therefore, many of my paintings hang in my private art gallery for my own pleasure.

The collection of stories that appear in the following pages are about my adventures with my second son. He lived with me every day until he turned seventeen and went off to college.

Alligator Shoes was a story in my head for many years before I wrote it. Tell about me, it said. I loved the tale, but it wasn’t long enough for a children’s book and was much too short to stand alone. One day, I told it at a church in downtown Baltimore where a daring pastor who had lost his mind invited me to speak at his church and deliver the Sunday sermon. He had attended a show where I did stand-up comedy. He said the Lord spoke to him and told him to invite me to his church. I had never spoken at a church before, and I was not sure if the Lord hadn’t asked the nice pastor to invite me to his church so I could find salvation. Why would the Lord pick me? I asked myself. Didn’t He know?

I marched up to the pulpit, Bible in hand, totally unaware of this thing called fear. The word no was not in my lexicon. The congregation loved the story and insisted on getting to know me after the service was over. Whatever became of that young man, they wanted to know. Where did those alligator shoes take him?

Although it was my first sermon, I briefly considered getting a minister’s license, but that thought disappeared as quickly as a Grenadian sunset.

I finally did what writers do. I succumbed. I sat down and heralded my stories, and together we decided that Alligator Shoes needed to be surrounded by other friends in order to make a collection.

I write in front of the television in the kitchen with a bowl of mango slices to munch on, even though I have an office with a beautiful desk and chair to write the great