When we had moved from Wisconsin to Virginia, our daughters, Hannah and Emily, lobbied hard and heavy for a dog. It didn’t need to be a puppy, but they both wanted a dog.
They reasoned that since we moved, a dog would help. Hannah went online and found a dog for sale. She plastered pictures of the dog everywhere: on the refrigerator, in the refrigerator, on our bathroom mirror, on doors, in cupboards. Name it- a picture of the dog could be found. There was conversation. There were pleas, and a fair amount of bargaining took place.
Both Kim and I grew up with dogs. I knew Kim wanted one, though she didn’t voice an opinion one way or the other. But she knew I did as well.
We relented. We drove to pick up Bailey and paid the person $50. Not much when it came to dogs, especially a Golden Retriever.
We put her in the car and Kim and I didn’t know Bailey was going to last. We could see her ribs. She was quiet, a little shy. Seemed friendly, though certainly not outgoing. Worse, Kim and I could see she was malnourished and we could see her ribs. We didn’t mention anything to the girls, but both of us wondered how the girls would react if Bailey passed. We figured maybe two weeks, tops.
The person who gave us Bailey told us she was turned over to her by a Turkish military couple and she suspected the dog wasn’t treated well. A lot of yelling, at the least. Not much care. Not much love.
But Hannah and Emily, and Kim and I loved her. In time, Bailey understood we were a much different family than she was used to. It took her a good two months before Baily even barked, and that was because she wanted table scraps. Until then, we thought she was mute. We never heard a noise coming from her.
It didn’t take long before Bailey picked a favorite. While the girls and I loved her and treated her well, Bailey and Kim bonded. Bailey became Kim’s dog. (It should be noted that any dog we ever had, Kim was the favorite.)
It all began with Hannah and Emily asking, pleading, and begging. The cute pictures plastered all over didn’t hurt the cause, either.
Eric Church has a song, Some Of It. That song happened to be the last graduation song I sang to my graduating seniors in 2020. In the song, he has a lyric:
‘Mama ain’t a shrink, daddy ain’t a bank,
and God ain’t a wishin’ well.’
Church certainly got it right about God. You can ask, but one of three things might happen: a yes, a not right now, a no. And generally, the no comes with an “I have something better for you.”
But as for mom not being a shrink, I can tell you the girls (and I) get measures of wisdom from Kim. Sometimes, merely her listening to us yammer on is enough. As for me not being a bank, well, I admit we’re not the wealthiest of folks. I’ll never compete with the likes of Musk or Bezos, but we’ve done pretty well. And there are times when Kim and I have done without, so Hannah and Emily and Wil could ‘have.’ Many parents do that. We all do that, and I’m certain that Hannah and Emily will do that for their kids. Parents do that. I know I certainly tried to do that.
Parents also say “Yes,” or “Not yet,” or “No,” but almost always, we try to do better for our kids, don’t we? To me, that isn’t spoiling them, it’s loving them. It’s in the job description of being a parent. Something to think about …
Live
Your Life, and Make A Difference!
To My Readers:
My newest book, Fan Mail, is Available for
Preorder at https://www.blackrosewriting.com/thrillers/fanmail Use code
PREORDER2023 to receive a 15% Discount. If you head over
to my author website at www.jrlewisauthor.blog/ you will find the cover to Fan
Mail, along with the book trailer, and the first two chapters to
preview.
I
received some fantastic news!
Blaze In, Blaze Out received the Best Action Fiction of 2022 Award by Best
Thrillers! I can’t possibly express how happy and humbled I am to receive
it.
If
you have read one of my books, I would like to ask a favor. If you could go
online and write a review or, at the least, give a rating on the book, it would
be of great help. Both a review and a rating would be wonderful. The review
could be one or two lines. It doesn’t have to be long. Just let others know you
read it and hopefully, enjoyed it. Obviously, 4s and 5s are the best. Thanks
for this consideration.
Connect with me on Social Media:
Author Website: www.jrlewisauthor.blog/
Twitter at @jrlewisauthor
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author
Amazon at: www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI
/
Fan Mail: New Release!
A
barrage of threatening letters, a car bomb, and a heart attack rip apart what
was once a close-knit family of adopted brothers. Randy and Bobby, along with
fellow band member and best friend, Danny, receive fan mail that turns
menacing. They ignore it, but to their detriment. The sender turns up the heat.
Violence upends their world. It rocks the relationship between the boys and
ripples through their family, nearly killing their dad.
As
these boys turn on each other, adopted brother Brian flashes back to that event
in Arizona where he nearly lost his life saving his brothers. The scars on his
face and arms healed, but not his heart.
Would
he once again have to put himself in harm’s way to save them? And if faced with
that choice, will he?
Blaze In, Blaze Out: Best Action Thriller of 2022 by Best Thrillers!
A Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Readers’ Favorite Award Winner! A
Reader’s Ready Recommended Read! A BestThriller’s Editor’s Pick!
Eiselmann
and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko, the head of a Ukrainian crime family, meant the end. It was only the beginning.
They forgot that revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no
restraints, and ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage.
Andruko hired contract killers to go after and kill O’Connor and Eiselmann. The
killers can be anyone and be anywhere. They can strike at any time. They care
nothing of collateral damage. Andruko believes a target is a target, and in the
end, the target must die. https://amzn.to/34lNllP
Betrayed: Two Top Shelf Awards: 1st Place Fiction-Mystery;
and Runner-Up Fiction-Crime; A PenCraft 1st Place Winner for
Thriller-Fiction! A Maxy Award Runner-Up for Mystery/Suspense! A Literary Titan
Silver Book Award Winner! A Reader’s Ready Recommended Read Award Winner! A
Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention Award Winner for Fiction-Crime-Mystery!
Betrayed is Now Available in Audio Book, Kindle and
Paperback! https://amzn.to/3AfUUpS
A
late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family, but no one is talking.
A promise is made and kept, but it could mean the death of a fifteen-year-old
boy. Greed can be all-consuming, and seeing is not believing. No one can be
trusted, and the hunters become the hunted. https://amzn.to/2EKHudx
Spiral Into Darkness: Named a Recommended Read in the Author Shout Reader Awards!
He blends in. He is
successful, intelligent, and methodical. So far, he has murdered eight people.
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, do not know 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! Named “One of the Best
Thrillers of 2018!” by BestThrillers.com
Caught in a Web is also available in Audio Book, Kindle and
Paperback! http://bit.ly/2WO3kka
They
found the bodies of high school and middle school kids dead from an overdose of
heroin and fentanyl. A violent gang, MS-13, controls the drug trade along the
I-94 and I-43 corridors. They send Ricardo Fuentes 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. 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. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKF7696
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 live in separate parts of the country, the lives of 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 Kelliher holds in his hand.
The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their
futures grow dark as each search for a way out. https://amzn.to/34nXBH5
Book One, Stolen Lives: Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers!
Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner! A Crime Thriller finalist in
the 2021 Best Thriller Book Awards!
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 will end
up like the other kids they found- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and
nothing to go on. To make the investigation that much tougher, Kelliher
suspects that one of his team members might be involved. https://amzn.to/3oMo4qZ
Book Two of the Lives Trilogy, Shattered Lives:
The boys are home, but now they have to fit back in with their families and
friends. Their parents and the FBI thought the boys were safe. They were until
people began dying. Now the hunt is on for six dangerous and desperate men who
vow revenge. With no leads and nothing to go on, the FBI can only sit back and
wait. A dangerous game that threatens not only the boys, but their
families. https://amzn.to/2RAYIk2
Book Three of the Lives Trilogy, Splintered Lives:
Three dangerous men with nothing to lose offer a handsome reward to anyone
willing to kill fourteen-year-old Brett McGovern. He does not know that he, his
younger brother, and a friend are targets. More than anyone, these three men
vow to kill George, whom they blame for forcing them to run and hide. A fun
vacation turns into a nightmare and ends where it started, back on the Navajo
Nation Reservation, high on a mesa held sacred by George and his grandfather.
Outnumbered and outgunned, George will make the ultimate sacrifice to protect
his adoptive father and his adoptive brothers- but can he? Without knowing who
these men are? Or where they are? Without knowing whom to trust? Is he prepared
for betrayal that leads to his heartbreak and death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives
Photo Courtesy of Marcus Wallis and Unsplash.
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Thank you for your comment. I welcome your thought. Joe