Publisher's Synopsis
People ask, what is your book about? It is a lot, an autobiography, a testimony to God for amazing miracles, descriptions of, discussion of mild to major reactive depressions, fifty-four inspirational and funny short stories. It is about a life guided by God Miracles, trials, tribulations, blessings, and an extraordinary fifty-nine-year love story with intimacy from beginning to end, a story of what God can do with the perfect blind date.It begins in the small mill town of Cramerton near Charlotte, North Carolina with my most important miracle at age seven. An emphasis is on hard work, a small boy of eleven venturing into delivery of newspapers for seven years, work in a family boat business and as a textile mill shift worker. Foremost is value of challenging work as it instills discipline and purpose. My work extended to college years jobs in summer door-to-door-sales of Christian books in Illinois. Great risks with incredible experiences for a young man in that line of work are vividly described.During UNC Law School, an amazing miracle happens in the midst of failure. A law career describes effects of triumphs and tragedies, highs, and lows in helping clients with big problems. Then came private business development and growth of retail boat and marina businesses, a yacht dealership with sales locations in Charleston, Hilton Head, Lake Wylie, South Carolina, Belmont and Lake Norman in North Carolina. Those ventures produced much success, were very profitable in good times but tough times followed the good with large doses of stress, financial crises, drama, situational depressions, and severe heartaches. There are accounts of imminent financial disasters barely avoided, which would have destroyed the author's family. A brother, business partner and best friend lost a fast but agonizing battle with cancer at age thirty, the devastating loss triggering and a multi-year reactive depression for me. It is inconceivable that marriage to wife, DiAnne, could withstand long, reactive depression and were it not for her devotion and patience with our tragic loss, the marriage would have indeed failed.Many unbearable crises came into their lives, some resolved just in time, cured by amazing God Miracles, one such crisis even resolved with the help of two human angels. Amazing things happened, which cannot be explained any other way except for two angels being sent. They mysteriously came, served their purpose, then just went away without revealing exactly who they were while calmly encouraging that they would help us. This gigantic miracle happened within minutes of crying out to God in desperation for help. A crushing financial burden looming for a full year, impossible to fix was successfully resolved in less than two months beginning with a sixty-second phone call. This led me to a 2001 early retirement in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, then some incredibly stressful legal work. Unsurprisingly, there was a boatload of more situational depression.Some stories indeed include God Miracles. I learned to cope with reactive depression, use it for meditation seeking God and solutions. My book's purpose is that some who read the story learn and be inspired to deal with their own depressions and help others do the same.Many family members, close friends, and one obvious heroine inspired the stories of my blessed life. These special people come alive in the pages inside. Some of their deaths were so crushing they were barely possible to accept.The book enters twilight years with two major tasks to complete in a life guided by God, shaped by His amazing miracles. It was inspired by grandson, Ryan, urging me to memorialize stories I told him. It is a testimony to God who has plenty of miracles for those who seek Him. There is an in-depth look into reactive depression. My hope is my story will inspire others to seek their own miracles.Near the end are fifty-four inspirational and funny short stories about real people, a few who are famous.
