Sunday, October 25, 2015

The Angry Blogger

No, I’m not the angry blogger in today’s post. As a matter of fact, I’m the hopeful one, and I think you might feel more hopeful by the end of this. I suppose I should tell you what I’m talking about, though. A couple of days ago, I started noticing a lot of angry posts on Facebook and on blogs about breast cancer awareness. Many people, including one particularly angry blogger, were talking about what breast cancer wasn’t. It wasn’t some fun campaign about saving the tatas, and it certainly had nothing to do with football. According to this person, breast cancer was being taken entirely too lightly. Prayers didn’t do any good, crude bumper stickers were sexist and insulting, jerseys failed to acknowledge anything, and in general, breast cancer was a life and death risk that we should all be afraid of. I agree to a small extent. Breast cancer is a life or death thing that has nothing to do with bumper stickers or sports. Here’s the thing, though. All the blogger did was complain about what people weren’t doing and how what they were doing was completely wrong. This person provided no link to a charity we could give to or no person we could directly support. They only complained. It’s like that’s what we’ve become in the blogging community. We think we’re activists because we complain about something, but at the end of the day, our complaints without actions do absolutely nothing. Here’s what I’ll tell you about breast cancer.
Go buy a bumper sticker in bad taste. Yes, it can be a little offensive to the sensitive, and no, I don’t think you should put it on your car, but it does do one thing good. Most of the proceeds go to breast cancer research. If you’re a football fan, go buy your favorite player’s jersey in pink because that too supports cancer research. Afterward, pray whether you believe in God or not. Pray for the people affected by this disease because someone very powerful just might be listening to you. Finally, celebrate with a pink five hour energy drink. If you have a loved one affected by this, I would urge you not to be completely negative with them about their condition like the blogger I mentioned was. They need positivity now more than ever. Yes, they’re in a life or death situation, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need love and even laughter through the process.
You see, while another blogger is angry with the ways we choose to support victims of breast cancer, I’m amazed and very hopeful. There’s a way to support the affected, no matter what kind of person you are. Maybe you’re a person who just finds bumper stickers that might be offensive to some fun. Is it the most glamorous way to support someone? No, but it’s support. The people affected by breast cancer have the support of intellectuals, the more relaxed, sports fans, religious people, scientists, and doctors all over the world. Whether you’re a man or a woman, white or black, or a believer or a non-believer, you’ve probably bought a product that supported breast cancer without even realizing it. It’s amazing at all the support there is, and yes, I know some would like it to be more serious, but when you’re fighting for a cure, it doesn’t matter where the money came from. All that matters is that it keeps coming in. We’re close to a cure, and as bloggers, if we’ll start thinking in terms of what we can do instead of what isn’t being done right, we might just be a small part of what leads to a cure one day. Maybe all we’ll be is support to someone in need, but either way, what I’m trying to say is that there’s no wrong way to show support. In this fight, the only thing there isn’t room for is destructive anger. Give your money, prayers, love, and jokes to the people who need research, comfort, and a smile. When you’ve done that, I think you’ll find there’s no reason to complain about what others are or aren’t doing. This world is a very hopeful place, and regardless of what you’ve heard, it’s getting better every day. Remember that, and move on doing whatever it is you can for anyone in need.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Destiny Preview

I wanted to share the beginning of one of my favorite books with everyone today. Enjoy the prologue and first chapter of Destiny!

Prologue

It’s 2:30 in the morning on a cold Saturday, and I’m standing outside of a house that I’m absolutely terrified to walk into. That’s not even the worst part. In the last hour, I’ve been punched . . . twice. Did I mention that my car is in the lake, too? Yeah, it’s been an eventful night. I would love to tell you that my story consists of an epic hero’s journey to some type of resolution that helps the world on a macro scale. This isn’t that kind of story, though. In fact, it’s all a bit funny . . . and a little sad if you’re me.
Someone once told me that life is about being satisfied with what you have. The things, the area, and the people who choose to love you, even if their way of showing that love is frightening, are supposed to be enough for us. Me standing outside of this house tonight with a black eye while I’m literally freezing to death is my way of rejecting what I’m supposed to be happy with. It’s certainly not working out right now, but it’s been one amazing ride. All that’s left is to walk into the house and see what the last twelve years have been about. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let me tell you where it all started. I won’t lie. This is going to be a bit embarrassing. You might even laugh at me. At other times, you might just find yourself moved to tears.
Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Eric Wilson. This is my story from the beginning. It all started on a trip with my family twelve years ago.



Chapter 1
Crashing But Not Burning

Twelve years ago, my family and I were going on a trip to Wisconsin to see my aunt and uncle. We lived in Miami at the time, and Wisconsin was the last place most of my family members wanted to go. I, on the other hand, didn’t care either way. To give you some perspective on where a fourteen year old me was at that point, my dad made more money than I could ever dream of, and my sister was the perfectly tan intelligent teenager. In fact, she was everything my mom and dad could ask for. My mom didn’t have to work because of what my dad did, which oddly enough, we never seemed to talk about. I’ll tell you more about that later. In the midst of our perfect life, there was me - the kid who was pale, average in every way, and completely lost. Now, I know what you’re thinking. This just sounds like a story about a rich kid who whines about rich people problems. I’ll admit that it might come off that way, but there’s a lot more to it than that. I was wrapped up in this world back in Miami where I didn’t fit at all. Where everyone in our community saw the perfect paradise, I saw dysfunction. They saw private schools, beautiful people, and cash . . . and I mean a lot of cash. What I saw were people putting on a show. Beautiful people were driving beautiful cars, and they were right beside a gorgeous beach. It was skin deep, though. Nothing, and I stress nothing, was beyond the surface.
So that was my story up until that point. I was the oddball who never quite got with the program. On that day, everything changed for me. It didn’t come without some growing pains, though.
“Get on your side!” I heard as I awoke in our vehicle and felt an arm push me back over to my side of the car.
That was my sister, Catherine. Let’s just say that we didn’t get along. Apparently, I had fallen asleep, and my head had drifted over to her side of the vehicle. For some reason, that infuriated her.
“Relax, you two. We’re almost there,” my mom said. Her name was Mary.
As we pulled up to my uncle’s house, I had absolutely no enthusiasm about this so-called vacation. That all changed when we got out. As I opened my door, I looked across the street to see a person who would change my life. There on her front porch, in the biggest and only snowstorm I had ever seen, was a girl who made my heart skip a beat. Her dark hair and blue eyes perfectly accented each other, making just the sight of her mesmerizing. Then there were her perfectly shaped lips. They seemed so far away for someone like me. Her expression made me even more interested. She looked sad. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to fix whatever could have possibly been wrong for this amazing girl.
Suddenly, she spotted me, and I looked away. By now, my dad, Jerry, had seen exactly what I was looking at. Up until that point, I had never shown much interest in the opposite sex. Actually, I had never shown much interest in anyone. I think he saw it as an opportunity to bring me out of my shell.
“So why don’t you go talk to her? I can get the bags,” he said.
“What are you talking about?”
“You know who I mean. You were just looking at that girl. We’re going to be here for a week. It might not hurt to make a friend.”
“Yeah, I think Dad’s right. Why don’t you give it a shot? I’m sure she’s looking for someone who’s athletic. Wait a minute . . . that doesn’t sound like you. Maybe she’s looking for a smart guy . . . no, that doesn’t sound like you either. Well, if nothing else, you should go over there just so I can watch how badly this plays out,” Catherine said with a smirk.
“Why do you always do that? What makes you think that you’re . . .” I managed to say before she cut me off.
“I’m just trying to lower your expectations a little, but who knows? Maybe I’m wrong. Stranger things have happened. None come to mind, but given enough time, I’m sure I could come up with something,” she said and walked away.
As my mother and father followed her into the house with the bags, I was more determined than ever to prove her wrong. I could do this. What was so hard about making a new friend? That’s all this was, right?
Without hesitation, I turned and started walking across the street. When I got a few steps into the road, I heard the sound of a car skidding and turned to see a vehicle only feet away from me. One thing was certain. This was going to hurt. It smashed into me, and I rolled surprisingly well over the hood and windshield. When I hit the ground on the other side, it took my breath. As the pain subsided, I looked down at my legs and then to my hands. Everything seemed to be in order. The only thing that was seriously injured was my pride. I stood and stumbled into the next lane. That’s when I heard a car sliding again and felt yet another vehicle connect with me from behind. Then everything went black. Yeah, maybe my sister was right. What were the odds of me actually succeeding now?
I awoke several minutes later in an ambulance. I was in pain, but it didn’t feel like anything was majorly wrong. Well, there was one thing seriously wrong. Back in Miami, I wasn’t exactly popular, and in my first five minutes of being in Wisconsin, I had completely stared down a stranger, been hit by two cars, and now I was on the way to the hospital. Could things get any worse?
“Oh, great. He’s awake,” I heard one of the EMTs say.
It didn’t feel great. In that moment, I was wishing that one of the cars had killed me. Things would get better, though. After my family saw that I was okay, a lot of teasing went on. By the time I was finally released that night, all I wanted to do was go to bed. That was no problem either because it was already late. We had been on such a long trip already, and after all the hospital business, everyone was ready to call it a night. As they retired to their rooms, my uncle hesitated for a moment. His name was Gary, and he was a big man, to say the least. I remember his 6’5” 300 pound frame looking gigantic to me back then. You have to realize that I had never met my uncle until that night, so when he asked me to wait a second before going upstairs, I was a little worried. What were his intentions? Was he angry because of all the trouble I had caused that day? If so, did I really want to get on this guy’s bad side?
“Hey, wait a minute,” Uncle Gary said.
“What is it?” I asked shyly.
“I’m just wondering what you were doing in the road today.”
“I was going to talk to someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know who she is. She lives across the road from you. It was stupid. I’m really sorry that . . .”
“Don’t be sorry. You know, she’s sitting on her front porch right now, if you still want to talk to her,” Uncle Gary said while glancing out the window.
“I don’t know. I . . .”
“Come on! You got hit by two cars trying to talk to the girl. You’ve got your opener right there,” he joked.
“Okay . . .” I said hesitantly and walked toward the door.
I had no idea what I was going to say. I had just embarrassed myself in front of this girl. Should I really go talk to her? As my head started to feel foggy, I heard my uncle’s voice snap me back to reality.
“Eric, remember to look both ways this time,” he said with a smile.
I returned a smile of my own and walked out the door. In a way, I was just relieved that my uncle turned out to be a gentle giant. As I went toward the road, I was brought back to the situation right in front of me. I was walking toward what could be the girl of my dreams, and I had no idea what to say. What was she like? What was her name? For that matter, why was she sitting on the front porch in the blistering cold? Had she been there this whole time? Without even thinking, I spoke as I walked up to the front porch.
“Do you always sit outside during a blizzard?”
“Do you always walk out into the middle of traffic?” she asked with the hint of a smile.
“You’ve got me there. Seriously, though, what are you doing out here?”
“You first. Where were you going earlier, and do you not know how to look both ways? I thought for sure the second car was going to kill you,” she said and laughed.
“Actually, I was coming to talk to you. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, though. Now I don’t know what I was even going to say.”
“You’re doing good so far. At least I have some company for once. What’s your name?”
“I’m Eric. Me and my family are here from Miami visiting my uncle.”
“Miami, huh? It must be nice.”
“It’s a little overrated.”
“How can you say that? You guys have warm weather year round and some of the most beautiful beaches possible. All we have are blizzards and a couple of sports teams that everyone around here can’t be quiet about.”
“I like it here already. Just trust me. There’s nothing real to see back there.”
“All right. I’ll take your word for it, Eric. I’m Olivia, by the way. I’m out here right now because it’s better than being inside with my mom.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say that I don’t fit in my current situation. I’m sure a guy who manages to get hit by two cars in less than a minute wouldn’t understand anything about not fitting in,” she said sarcastically.
“I’m never going to hear the end of that from anyone, am I?”
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m pretty much going to remember it for the rest of my life. If you think about it, I almost killed a man today.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on! I saw you looking at me from across the street. I know why you really tried to come over here,” she flirted.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just looking to make a friend while I was in town.”
“Uh huh. I’m sure your intentions were perfectly pure,” Olivia said with a smirk.
“What? They were.”
“Okay. That’s really a shame, though. I need to go back inside. If you haven’t noticed, it’s freezing out here.”
“Wait a minute. Why would it be a shame?”
“Never mind. I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested in that with all your pure intentions,” she said and walked toward the door.
“You can’t just say something like that and then leave.”
“Oh, can I not? Give me a reason to stay then.”
“What? I . . .”
“Hmm. I don’t think that’s going to be good enough. You might be able to try again tomorrow night, though . . . that is, unless you don’t feel safe crossing the road. I can always come over to your uncle’s place.”
“Very funny. I look forward to it.”
Olivia smiled as she started to walk into her house. She stopped just short of the door and turned back.
“Oh, and Eric, I don’t know what things are like in Miami, but this is not a blizzard to people here. This is just routine December weather. If you promise not to walk out in front of any cars or freeze to death in this blizzard, I’ll show you the one good thing about this area tomorrow night.”
“I’m fine in the cold. I make no promises when it comes to cars, though,” I joked.
At that point, she walked inside, and I went back to my uncle’s house to find him waiting at the kitchen table. He didn’t say anything, but he looked happy for me. Here I was, this awkward and very bruised kid who didn’t seem to have much hope for anything good. Just when I needed it, though, there was a ray of light. If I had known getting hit by two cars could change everything, I would have done it long before then. In that moment, I thought that Olivia was just going to be a bright spot in my life. I couldn’t have known just how much she would alter everything about who I was. She would end up being my joy and my sorrow. For now, she was only a girl who actually saw me. Back then, that was enough.



If you enjoyed what you read so far, check out Destiny now. It’s a fun journey that follows these characters through their entire lives, and I know you’ll love it!