“Well it’s been quite a summer, rent-a-cars and westbound trains.” That excerpt from Jimmy Buffett’s “Come Monday” really resonates with me. It always has. Especially this summer. The song, about a guy who longs to be with the one he loves, is kept apart because of his hectic vagabond summer tour out west. He desperately wants to travel the road that will take him back to her.
I too have had a busy summer. I’ve been as far east as North Carolina and as far west as Colorado. I retired from one job and had the good fortune of being hired into another. Many would say I’m “Living the Dream.”
But always in life, challenges surface, like the whack-a-mole at the county fair. Always something popping up to make sure you don’t feel too comfortable or set in your ways. It’s at those times, when I try my best to remember the most difficult roads we travel must be taken with positive steps. Sometimes we even have to take a step back, to get a better view of the horizon and a full picture of the road ahead.
More than 38 years ago, I literally had a long road ahead of me. I didn’t have the vision or the maturity to know how to walk that road. But I had A LOT of help along the way. This summer, I was able to recount that journey in the book, The Road to Normal.
It took me many re-writes, edits and enormous amounts of encouragement from my son and others to complete this book. If you go back to the home page and click on Jewels in Your Crown – Mining the Treasures Within the link will take you to a site for The Road to Normal.
If you happen to be on the road out east, September 20, I’d encourage you to stop by one of the finest independent book stores in the United States – The Country Bookshop at 140 NW Broad Street in Southern Pines, North Carolina. I’ll be there to visit and sign copies of The Road to Normal.
Hope to see y’all there.