Friday, November 13, 2009

New News

So sadly I haven't written in a really long time. For those few people who read my blog I apologize profusely and hope you will come back to reading it as I plan to come back to writing it. I have been very sick recently and sdly last year in december I was diagnosed with angio sarcoma cancer stage 4. Which is awful. I'm fighting the battle and I strive to beat it but we shall see what happens. I'll never give up hope. As for where my life has been in writing, it has sadly been on hold for the most part. But good news i will be graduating this december with a bachelor of arts degree in English. I also plan to begin to attend Arcadia University in the summer to get my masters. I'm really excited about the classes I can take there and the whole program. They even have a course on Jane Austen that I am really looking forward to taking. Hope all are doing well out there in the literary world. I am back and ready to write!

3 comments:

AJ Harbison said...

Good to hear the update! I'd love to keep up with your life through the blog here if you can find time to update it. Congratulations on getting ready to graduate!

AJ
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Nicole said...

Thanks cuz I will do my best

Anonymous said...

A tribute to the short life of Nicole A Schiavoni

To me she was a beautiful,playful, witty, 10 year old with an insatable thirst for knowledge, crystal blue eyes, and a sense of humor powelful enough to make the bleakest situation something to laugh about. I feel blessed to have been a small part of her life when she was young, and in a small way disappointed in myself for not taking the time to let her know the positive influence she had on me when she became mature enough to appreciate what that means. For the short time we spent together as Father and Daughter I enjoyed every moment. I have nothing but fond happy memories of her, and I hope if she were asked she would say the same about me.
My mind is full of "snap shots" of Nicole, and every one brings a grin to my face. Life dealt Nicole a difficult hand to play, but in my humble opinion she played it very well. Sometimes life is not fair, and I guess if it were we wouldn't need a Heaven, I know in my heart that Nicole was taken from this earth after such a short time because that is where she will be most effective to fulfill God's will, but in fairness to those she left behind it feels like God just opened up a big void in our hearts and lives, Speaking for myself I can honestly say I intend to fill that void with all the wonderful memories I have of that 10 year old with the blue eyes, tremendous sense of humor, and courage of a lion.
Memories of Nicole Schiavoni

I was very rushed, and found myself in a drug store one mid spring day with my 8 or 9 year old daughter Nicole in tow. I'm unable to recall exactly how old she was, but as a typical child of that age can be she was particularly annoying this day, Asking for every toy she saw, pleading for candy, running her mouth to the point that I feared she might black out from lack of oxygen if she didn't stop making demand and asking for things long enought to take a breath. In my attempt to save her life, as well as stop the buzzing in my own ear, I suspended my search for whatever I was looking for, got down on one knee, pressed my face as close to hers as I could without making contact, and with clinched teeth and a stern voice I looked directly into her blue eyes and said, " Do you think if you really tried as hard as you can you could be any more ANNOYING then you are at this very moment"! she immediately stopped, took a deep breath, placed her hand on her hip, cocked her head, glanced up at the lights, and fell into deep thought for about 4 seconds. Then she grinned looked into my eyes and said, "yeah Dad I think I could if you want me to" .... She completely defused my anger, I fell into uncontrollable laughter. That didn't stop her from continuing to harass me to buy her something, but it just didn't seem to bother me as much from that point on, and for the rest of the day I was grinning like the cat that ate the canary. She made my day.
This is but one of many fond memories I have of Nicole A Schiavoni, I could fill volumes with these stories, I'm sure these snippets of her youth were long forgotten by the time she matured enough to build her life on her own, but I keep them as a gift from her to me.

You are missed by many Nicole, but I for one will never forget you.

Love
Joseph J. Schiavoni