Two weekends ago, our girls came home. Hannah, who lives just down the road about an hour away, had some items to make for her upcoming wedding. Emily, who lives four or so hours away, wanted to come home. Being the maid of honor, Emily wanted to help with the wedding decorations.
Right now, I’m sitting at the kitchen table banging away on the keyboard while Kim is upstairs. Our two dogs are keeping her company. It is quiet. I can feel the sun on my back as it creeps along the sky. Looking out the little windows at the front door, the sky is perfectly blue. There are shadows where the sun hasn’t shown yet. The sun will create other shadows in due time.
A car drives past the front of the house. Engine and tires, the only sound. At times, a car with an enthusiastic driver will blare his or her music through open windows. Not so on this morning. It is quiet. Peaceful.
As much as I enjoy the silence of mornings, the peace and the quiet, there is a part of me that will always, always want to be near people, especially my kids. Always. I miss them, and I think about them often, more times a day than I can count.
Two weekends ago there was laughter and stories. Hannah talked about her third graders, what they are learning- or not, as the case might be. She shared their childlike wonder, their innocent questions, along with their funny, nonsensical questions, making all of us laugh. She worries about a couple who struggle to read and write, wondering how she will get through to them, help them succeed. They are her kids, after all.
Emily shared stories of her internship, the growing responsibilities she has taken on at the request of her supervisor. She has offers of two different jobs, if she wants them, after her graduation in the spring. While she can’t share specifics of what she deals with, both Kim and I know it is a heavy load to carry. Drug addiction. Homelessness. Poverty. Abuse. Indifference. Sometimes I wonder if she will be able to shoulder it all, knowing she is a tough young lady. Her heart is soft, but she is tough.
Proud of both girls. What they overcame. What they accomplished. Where they are headed. They make me smile, and honestly, I shrink in comparison to what they have done and are doing with their lives. Immensely proud.
And then, they left for home.
Alone. Kim and I and our two dogs. The silence of the sun crawling across the sky, only to fade to dusk and dark as the moon and stars take up the mantle. Hannah’s and Emily’s stories still parading in our heads, in our hearts.
The unspoken worry Kim and I share about their future, their lives. The immense pride of what they are doing, will do. Wondering how we can help. Wondering if we did enough.
And missing them.
As much as I miss their stories and their laughter, their teasing each other and us, I miss their presence. I enjoy each second, each minute, they are here with us.
With all that is in front of them, all that they will yet do, behold, and become, I am in awe. Did I mention I was proud of them? Yes, I think so.
I think as parents, each of us looks with pride at our children. Each child is unique, yet the same. As parents- young, old, somewhere in between, we have the same feelings, the same joy, the same heartbreak when things don’t go as we/they would like. We want the same things for our children, just like our own parents wanted for us.
It is a cycle, a journey parents take blindly. After all, kids don’t come with an owner's manual. We do as it was done to us. Sometimes, we deliberately don’t do what was done to us. We lead our children as much as follow our children. Believing in our children as much as hoping for our children. All children. Yours. Mine. Ours. 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: www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author
I
received several 5 Star Reviews for a couple of my books. Diane Donovan, a
Senior Reviewer for the Midwest Book Review, and Editor of California
Bookwatch, wrote one for Stolen Lives, Book One of the Lives Trilogy,
and one for my newest book, Blaze In, Blaze Out. Stolen
Lives also won a Literary Titan Gold Book Award, and was an
Editor’s Pick by BestThrillers.
Stolen Lives represents an exciting probe of
abduction and unusual connections between fourteen-year-old victims, and is
recommended reading for thriller and intrigue fans who enjoy stories that focus
as much on rescuers and victims as it does on the perps. Joseph Lewis builds a
compelling tale filled with satisfying twists and turns.
As the boys struggle
to survive and the police attempt to find answers and hope in a seemingly
impossible situation, readers are treated to a scenario firmly rooted in the
author's research into child abduction and real-world events that translate
well to thought-provoking fictional milieus.
Human trafficking and
murder are difficult issues to tackle, yet Lewis does so with astute social,
psychological, and investigative insights that keep his story realistic,
involving, and unpredictable.
Even though Stolen
Lives is part of a trilogy, it ends on a satisfyingly complete
note, which makes it highly recommended as a stand-alone story for readers who
typically eschew series titles.
Collections strong in
social issues, mystery and intrigue, and novels of survival tactics will
find Stolen Lives a fine addition.
For Blaze
In, Blaze Out, Donovan wrote:
Blaze In, Blaze Out is a detective story that takes place in
the aftermath of the conviction of a Ukrainian crime ring, where Detectives Pat
O'Connor and Paul Eiselmann have finally brought the perps to court and justice
has been served.
Neither detective
expected head honcho Dmitry Andruko to organize a vendetta against them from
jail—but this is what takes place, and the quiet repose each officer seeks
after their challenging case takes an ominous turn as elusive contract killers
enter their lives to threaten everything they love.
Joseph Lewis
specializes in a fast-paced action story that takes the time to build
compelling atmosphere around its events. He also presents the point of view of
the contract killer challenged to do his job. This nicely rounds out the
dilemma and viewpoint of the detectives as they face their pursuers and
struggle to survive long enough to capture them.
There are also many
surprises, as when the killer proves to have a heart, saving a potential victim
even as he plots to complete his assignment.
It only goes to show
that proving guilt is sometimes the beginning of the journey—not the end.
Blaze In, Blaze Out is highly recommended for detective
story readers and libraries catering to them. Mystery readers seeking a
compelling saga will find this story of detectives and four teen adopted
brothers who face a clever killer to be fast-paced, involving, and filled with
satisfyingly unpredictable moments, tempered by fine tension that builds up to
a thought-provoking conclusion leaving the door ajar for more.
BestThrillers wrote:
The Bottom Line: A superb crime drama simmering with suspense
and deep character studies en route to an explosive finale. Lewis employs
chapters told from the killers’ points of view to great effect, building
suspense as both groups stalk their prey. Featuring a taut, deliberate
plot that builds to a crescendo, Blaze In, Blaze Out is
a welcome break from end-to-end breathless action thrillers. Rather than
relying on gimmicks, Lewis has created a village of sturdy characters that he
moves in and out of his novels, and he centers their development around
engrossing police procedurals. Since much of the boys’ individual coming-of-age
stories begins in Betrayed, readers are strongly encouraged
to read both books in tandem.”
Blaze In, Blaze Out, is now
available for preorder. Use the promo code: PREORDER2021 and order it at the
publisher’s website at: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/mystery/blazeinblazeout
Eiselmann
and O’Connor thought the conviction of Dmitry Andruko meant the end. They forgot that
revenge knows no boundaries, vindictiveness knows no restraints, and
ruthlessness never worries about collateral damage. A target is a target,
and in the end, the target will die.
Betrayed: 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. 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. 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, 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 Now 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. MS-13, a violent gang originating from El Salvador,
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, 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
The Lives Trilogy and Prequel are now
available in both paperback, kindle and nook through both Amazon and Barnes
& Noble! The links are below! I appreciate all the texts, requests, and
messages I have been receiving. Thanks for your support and interest. I edited
and revised each book. I am pleased with the results. I am thankful to BRW for
their continued belief in me and in my writing. I hope you will rediscover or
perhaps discover the Lives Trilogy and Prequel.
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!
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 possible
death? http://bit.ly/SplinteredLives
Photo courtesy of my wife, Kim, or me. Not sure.