One
of our favorite vacations is to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We’ve been
there three times now, and even as I sit here on this September morning, I
wonder when we might get back there again.
Each
time, we stay at the same house. It is big enough for our family and still have
room for others. This past summer, friends from Wisconsin joined us. Fun, laughter,
stories, wild game nights. Pool time. Beach time. All of it. Warms my heart and
is good for my soul.
As
I said, we stay in the same house each of the three times we’ve been there. Not
on the beach, but one road away. A two-minute walk, if that. In the mornings, I
sit in a wooden rocking chair and stare out at the Atlantic. Sometimes, I see
dolphins playing out in the surf. The surf is a constant thing. The waves
licking the shore. The crash somehow soothing.
I
am not up in time to see the sunrise most mornings. Kim is. She runs in the
lightening sky and by the time she finishes, the sun is peeking over the
horizon. Pale pink at the start, growing to red and then orange, too bright to
look at.
Because
we face the east, we drive to Jockey Ridge and the sand dunes to fly kites, but
in time to watch the sunset. Surprisingly fast how it melts into the sound.
Gentle, taking a bow as an actress might before she leaves us, inviting the
moon to watch over us. Silver in its glow. As the sun did before, the moon
shimmers on the water below us.
Sunrise
in the morning. Sunset in the evening. The sun lightens our day. The moon lightly
and gently watches over us at night. Each day. Each night. A never-ending
cycle.
Purposeful.
I’ve
written this before and I’m sure I will write it again.
Each
day we begin anew. We begin once again. We live our lives. We struggle and
mostly succeed- at least I hope so. We dream and we worry. We love. We
struggle. We achieve. We fail. At times, we screw up and fall short of who we
are and what we are meant to be, to do. That is life.
Think
of it as the wave crashing upon the shore. It never ends. Never. The ocean
gathers itself together and crashes once again, and again, and . . .
Our
lives do too. Each morning as the sun rises, we rise to begin again. Another
day, another step in our journey.
And
at night, the sun bids farewell. Goodbye, only to usher in a night watch- the
moon. To keep us safe, to encourage us, to let us know that we aren’t alone. We
aren’t ever alone.
The
sunset set is a good time to reflect on the day. What we did and failed to do.
What we said and wish we could have taken back before it rings in the ear of
the listener. How we succeeded or not. How we loved or not. How we cared or
not. And I hope we cared more than we didn’t.
I’ve
written of this before and I’m sure I will again. No matter. It’s worth
repeating. A reminder, just at the sun and the moon reminds us. Just as the
wave lighting upon the shore reminds us.
The
sunrise gives us another opportunity, a do-over. Gives us the possibility to
make it right, to do right. To love and not hurt. To care or not. To soothe and
heal, rather than wound and hurt. The sunset gives us another opportunity to
reflect upon that which we did . . . or didn’t do. To reflect on that which we
said . . . or didn’t. The moon reminding us that we are never really alone.
Something to think about . . .
Live
Your Life, and Make A Difference!
To
My Readers:
Connect
with me on Social Media:
Twitter at @jrlewisauthor
Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author
Betrayed
is now available for Kindle preorder to KDP Select at Amazon at:
https://amazon.com/dp/B08GCTV2XH and it is also available in print at: https://blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/betrayed
A
late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, and no one is talking.
Betrayed
received two more outstanding reviews:
“The
Bottom Line: A stirring and unusual tale of teenage love, adventure and murder.
While author Joseph Lewis has filled Betrayed with a large and
compelling cast, the story belongs to Brian, one of several characters from
Lewis’ excellent crime thriller, Spiral Into Darkness. The relationship
between Brian and his family is incredibly well-drawn and often touching. Readers
will be rewarded with an explosive adventure.”
-
Best Thrillers
"This
novel is an action-packed thriller that will keep the reader turning the pages.
The descriptions of settings and characters are extremely well done, and the
pacing is perfect. The ending ties up all the loose ends, yet you feel (and
hope) there will be more from these characters in the future. Action and
adventure are the words of the day in this thrilling, well-written page-turner
from Joseph Lewis.”
-
Sublime Review
“To
call Betrayed a thriller alone would be to do it a disservice. It’s a
social inspection of Navajo reservation culture and life, and its probe of the
roots of love and connection are wonderfully woven into a story of adversity and
the struggle to survive on many levels. These elements make Betrayed
particularly recommended for readers who look for psychological depth and
complexity from a story of violence and evolution.”
-
Diane Donovan, Editor; Donovan's Literary Services; Midwest Book Review/Bookwatch; Author of San
Francisco Relocated.
Spiral
Into Darkness:
Named
a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He
blends in. He is successful, intelligent and methodical. He has a list and has
murdered eight on it so far. There is no discernible pattern. There are no
clues. There are no leads. The only thing the FBI and local police have to go
on is the method of death: two bullets to the face- gruesome and meant to send
a message. But it’s difficult to understand any message coming from a dark and
damaged mind. Two adopted boys, struggling in their own world, have no idea
they are the next targets. Neither does their family. And neither does local
law enforcement. https://amzn.to/2RBWvTm
Caught
in a Web:
A
PenCraft Literary Award Winner!
The
bodies of high school and middle school kids are found dead from an overdose of
heroin and fentanyl. The drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors and the
Milwaukee Metro area is controlled by MS-13, a violent gang originating from El
Salvador. Ricardo Fuentes is sent from Chicago to Waukesha to find out who is
cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has
an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay, who had
killed his cousin the previous summer.
Detectives
Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the
drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else,
especially George or members of his family. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696
Caught
in a Web is now available in Audio format. You can find it
at: https://www.beaconaudiobooks.com/audiobookreleases/high-school-drug-rings-gangs-and-revenge-are-all-encompassing-in-caught-in-a-web-by-joseph-lewis
Book
One of the Lives Trilogy, Stolen Lives:
Two
thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and
his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they’ll end up like all
the others- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. And the
possibility exists that one of his team members might be involved. http://tinyurl.com/Stolen-Lives-J-Lewis
Book
Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
Six
men escaped and are out for revenge. The boys, recently freed from captivity,
are in danger and so are their families, but they don’t know it. The FBI has no
clues, no leads, and nothing to go on and because of that, cannot protect them.
http://tinyurl.com/Shattered-Lives-J-Lewis
Book
Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
A
14-year-old boy knows the end is coming. What he doesn’t know is when, where,
or by whom. Without that knowledge, neither he nor the FBI can protect him or
his family. http://tinyurl.com/Splintered-Lives-J-Lewis
The
Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI
Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of
six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they
don’t know one another, the lives of FBI Kelliher, 11-year-old Brett McGovern,
and 11-year-old George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys
become interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand.
The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their lives
are in jeopardy as each search for a way out. http://tinyurl.com/Taking-Lives-J-Lewis
Photo
Courtesy of Unknown
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Thank you for your comment. I welcome your thought. Joe