BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer
Mamie Weiss Mamie Weiss’ special bond with her mother, Alice Amato, the woman she used to beg not to go to work, can now be read in the latest edition of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series.
Weiss, of Marlboro, used her mother’s inspiration to write the heartwarming story of her mother’s struggle with a heart condition. The story is featured in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating Mothers and Daughters,” which hit stores on March 1.
Weiss wrote the story after her mother went through open heart surgery about two years ago. In the story, Weiss describes the agony she went through waiting for her mother to come out of surgery.
“It was a very touching and dramatic time,” she said.
The story also portrays their relationship, beginning from Weiss’ childhood when she needed her mother to stay home from work, through adulthood when her mother needed Weiss to stay by her side during her recovery from surgery.
“My family ties are very strong and I am very close with my mother,” she said. “My family is the source of everything. My mom is an inspiration in my life.”
Weiss attributes the close bond she has with her mother to being the only daughter in the family. Now that Weiss is a mother herself, she can understand what her mother sacrificed for her.
“I hope to do the same for my kids as my mom did for me,” she added. “She’s the best, I’m so blessed by her. She’s a great lady.”
Weiss said she was very excited when her story was chosen to be published in the “Chicken Soup” book.
“I was beyond words. I think I cried first. It’s exciting. It’s humbling,” she said. “I feel honored that they accepted the story. It’s a great way to honor my mother.”
Weiss, who is now writing a story about Christmas for the “Chicken Soup” books, said she hopes to someday write a children’s book with her daughter.
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen are the co-authors of the New York Times and USA Today No. 1 best-selling “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series.
For the most recent addition to the series the co-authors were joined by Julie Firman, 88, and her daughters Dorothy and Frances. Firman and her daughters were the co-authors of this most recent book and the “Chicken Soup for the Mother and Daughter Soul” which was published in 2003.
Before that, Dorothy and her mother wrote “Daughters and Mothers: Making It Work,” and they have also run mother-and-daughter workshops throughout the country for more than 25 years. Frances has joined them in writing the two “Chicken Soup” books and in many speaking engagements, according to a press release.
Each contribution in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating Mothers and Daughters” was selected because of its special ability to entertain, inspire and validate other mothers and daughters who are trying to achieve balance, happiness and success in their lives, according to a press release.
“The ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating Mothers and Daughters’ is a salute to our most treasured yet complex bond,” according to a press release. “In this honest, funny and powerful compilation of all ages and all stages of life are examinations and recollections of mutual admiration, teenage power struggles, intimate moments of tenderness, building bridges where walls once were, and support through life’s biggest challenges. These heart-warming stories will remind you that while the relationship shared between a mother and daughter is sometimes mysterious, their love is always treasured.”