Read
the exciting
and inspirational
novel about life,
love, family,
passion
and death.
Mother and son are
both hit by
lightning,
and die.
Kate must
return to life and her
grieving family, but
she refuses to leave
without her child.
What can heaven do?
Success is an insatiable want. Its victories are euphoric,
its defeats disastrous. It is a small, seven letter word that can
only truly be defined inside each one of us individually.The path to achieving it, in our minds, is clear, but
it’s the intangibles that test our will. Failure is its shadow,
always lurking close behind.
Second born to a poor, blue-collar family in upstate NewYork,
my mother set the tone for defining success, “Food on the table
and a roof over our heads”. In my hometown, athletics was the
milestone to success. I did well enough in my studies to get by
and that was good enough for me. School work never gave me the
instant gratification that sports did. Athletic achievement, fuelled
by my increasing popularity, placed me on top of a mountain
surrounded by clouds.I
was invincible. There was no tomorrow only today.
When graduation came I didn’t have the slightest idea of
where I was going or what I was doing. Where ever it was, my
arrogance assured me that I would excel; I was draped in Kevlar.
During my time in High School I had many dates and many
opportunities to express my manhood. But there was one I
couldn’t claim as mine, although I admired her dearly. Try as I
might, I could not get her out of my head.
As I wondered the streets of my home town, during the
summer after graduation, I began to see my friends leaving for
college. I noticed the puffy, white clouds surrounding me had
dissipated and below was a barren landscape. No longer the
"Golden Boy" of the town, I knew it was time to leave,
but where was I to go?
Uncle Sam was looking for a few good men and I guess I was
looking for him. When the recruiter showed me a video of guys
jumping out of airplanes and tromping through the jungles, I was
sold.Army Rangers
watch out because here I come. Ranger School was by far the most
physically challenging thing I had ever done in my life and I was
determined not to fail. When it was finally over and time to
graduate, that high I'd experienced in high school returned, my
fuel tank of invincibility was overflowing.
After spending two
years with Charlie's Rangers, at Fort Benning, Georgia, I was
reassigned to the 1st of the 509th in Vicenza, Italy. For the next
two years my fun meter was ticking non-stop. I was a successful
Army Airborne Ranger, on the top of the food chain.Something was, however, lacking in my life. After some deep
soul searching, I found out what it was, and it was her.
I left the Army, my mission with them was complete. My only
quest upon discharge was to find her, sweep her off her feet and
carry her off into wonderland; where ever that is? She was living
in Brooklyn, New York. When we met, it was as if we both had found the
missing pieces to our lives. After a short courtship, we were
married and moved south.
For twenty four years now we have lived together. The trial
and tribulations we have walked through together would fill
volumes. Her strength has always astounded me. We have two
beautiful boys, both at that wondrous age of invincibility. As
they’ve grown, so have we. Of course, as I’ve gotten older and
reflected on the many failures of my past, I’ve tried to let
those experiences be lesson plans for their lives. It doesn’t
always work but I’ll keep on trying.
I have taught school, worked for three Fortune 500
companies, coached football, baseball, basketball and wrestling
and, currently, run three businesses. All of them have had their own
measures of rewards and disappointments. I have written a book and
am attempting to get it published. I have encountered people from
all walks of life and, with all of that, I feel a tremendous sense
of accomplishment. But the catalyst through it all has been her.
Our personalities are so different, it is truly amazing
we’ve been together this long. She is a water lily and I’m a
lion. She’s a diplomat and I‘m a warrior. She’s cautious and
I’m a risk taker. She’s elegant and I‘m crude. She cries and
I shout.
Sometimes, that feeling of being “superman” still
overwhelms me. During my last birthday, we were sitting on the
front porch where I boldly made this statement to her, “Honey,
I’m as trained as I’m ever going to be.” She looked at me
with those big, sparkling, oval, brown eyes and simply replied,
“Oh, you think so, do you?”I pulled my lips together and turned my head, realizing I
was in no way ready to back up such a miscalculated statement and
that I never would be.
Today, if someone were to ask me if I consider myself a
success, without hesitation I’d say “yes.” But it’s
not for my bank account or my homes, my boat or my cars, or my
business’s, it’s because of the one success that has always
made me want to do my very best.It is because of her and her unconditional love for me,
that I am what I am and, to me, that amount of success is much
more than I deserve.
