Being different is a blessing! (a re-post)

I read this post the other day.

About Rudolph.

Wow!  It really is an amazing Christmas story.

I asked my friend Jill, from The Glen, if I could re-post her post.....  :)

being the friend that she is.....

She graciously said 'of course'!

Enjoy!

Do you know this story?



A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty
apartment window into the chilling December night.

His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob's
wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn't understand
why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's
eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?"
Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought
waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life.
Life always had to be different for Bob.

Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was
too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names
he'd rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never
seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and
was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during
the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it
was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer had stripped them of all
their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a
two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before
Christmas in 1938.

Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even
afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was
determined to make one - a storybook! Bob had created an animal
character in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara
to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story,
embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was
the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography
in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he
was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a
big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his
little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there.

The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little
storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to
print the book. Wards went on to print,_ Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
_ and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores.
By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies
of Rudolph . That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the
rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book.

In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all
rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and
marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing
family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving
daughter. But the story doesn't end there either.

Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph.
Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby
and Dinah Shore , it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry.
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a
phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song,
with the exception of "White Christmas."

The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept
on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the
lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn't so
bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing.