The New Catagory Called, “New Book Discussion.”

I thought I would share with you how the book, Close Encounters Of the Heavenly Kind: Through Bumper Stickers, got started, and what feelings I had as I wrote it.

This may be a little long, but if you read it all the way through you will have a much better understanding as to where I am coming from when I talk about the book, Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind: Through Bumper Stickers.

In 2001 many things happened to me that lowered me into the muck and mire. I am skipping the worst thing that happened to me that almost ended my life to share with you about my father dying. I know, how could there be anything worse? His dying had a tremedous impact on how my life was heading towards my own destruction, but there were worse things that happened. Especially since it was the year of 9-11!

My father died on May 4th, 2001. I hadn’t been very close to him for many years, because he and my mother divorced when I was only about six. My dad remarried, and there were several children in the new family. He spent all of his spare time with them.

I can understand how that would happen with all the pressures of trying to please so many different kids, but I felt left out in the cold. I was only a little guy, and I needed a dad.  I didn’t have that dad for over fifty years. I was 62 when he died.

I was told that he had a stroke. I wondered what my thinking would be when I saw him. I got into my car , and got to the hospital as fast as I could. He was in the emergency room when I got there. I came to his side. He was awake, and was able to talk. He gave me a big smile, and I melted right on the spot. I hadn’t ever seen that smile before. He wasn’t a man that showed much emotion.

I walked up to him, and we conversed for a few minutes, and then they took him up his hospital room. I got up to the room, and he was still awake. I went out to the nurse, and asked her if there were any special instructions, and she said, “He is not to have any water. It will get in his lungs, and he will get pneumonia.”  I went back inside an sat by the bed. He reached out his hand gesturing that he wanted to hold my hand. I broke down at that moment, but he couldn’t tell. He had broken his glasses when he fell at his home after the stroke hit. 

I was with him most of that day, and through the evening. My brother had come, and we both were in the room with him along with several of the children from the second marriage.

We all parted later that evening so he could have some rest. The next day I came early.  He woke up when I came into the room. He told me, “I need a drink, my throat is very dry.” I wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t suppose to have any water, because it may cause pneumonia. I decided that he was 86, and he was suffering, so I compromised. I told him that all I could give him was a ice cube to melt in his mouth. I gave him one He showed that big smile again. I can still see that smile today when I think of him.

Later that day several of the children from his second marriage came in. The first thing my father said to them was, “Doug is my water boy.” I was overhwlemed. He is a huge sports fan, and for him to say I was his water boy, made me very proud. My father had accepted me into his world of sports.

Things got much worse as the day went on. His kidneys were failing. He needed to drink a lot of water to save himself, but if he did pneumonia would surely come. The doctors decided to try to help him without the water. I got a call later that night, and they said my father had passed away.

I was very saddened. I had found the father I had never had for over fifty years, and he had to leave me to be with the Lord.

Even today I can hear his voice saying with excitement, “Doug is my waterboy!”

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I will share with you on my next post, the other things that piled up on me in 2001. It was the worst year of my life.

This will be some of the writing that I will be doing in the new newsletter. I will slowly share with you thoughts right from the book, Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind: Through Bumper Stickers. Then actual excerpts will be coming to you through the newsletter. There will still be the OSU section of the newsletter. There will still be a section to share my travels. There will be a resource section to give you place to go to find out more about ways to help those who have depression, self doubt, fear, or hopelessness.

The newsletter will be an uplifting newsletter. Let me assure you, the excerpts will give you new hope.  You will want to share them with anyone you know that is suffering with any of the afflcitions I will be talking about. In others words, this newsletter is for you, but tell as many people that you know that needs to read it to subscribe right away. It will give them a new look on how to have a happy ife.

It will be a few weeks before the actual newsletter is up and running. I am working with Constant Contact, one of the tip emailing companies in the world. That is why I am urging you now to susbcribe. I need to get the OSU material in the website newsletter to save me a lot of time and weariness,. I want all the OSU readers to get subscribed so they will not miss one OSU report. I will be running the OSU report ALL year this time. I have always stopped in February, after the recruits are announced. Now I will be covering baseball, softball, and the other sports that go right up to June. Then I will be concentrating on what the sports program is doing, and how I feel they can improve. Of Course there is spring football too!

I also need to get started sharing my book with you. There will one chapter for each newsletter. You will have a real feel of the book by the time it actually is out in the market for sale. BUT, only you that subscribe will have the feel. Those who do not subscribe to the newsletter, will have to wait until the book is for sale to find out about it.

Enough rambling for tonight. I can go on forever sometimes, at least that is what Charlotte tells me! 

OUT!