Dear Reader,
     This book you are holding in your hands has been a labor of love, and sometimes insanity, started alone but finished with the help of many others. 
     When I started this project in 2013 I had no idea what I was getting myself into. And so, completely naive to the task I was undertaking, computer open, I gathered my thoughts and began to write. Taking the book apart, again and again, dividing it up and then massive rewrites after I completed my first round of word spillage. Printing up copy after copy as I X-ed out sometimes entire pages, trying to get the right feel for the story I was telling.
     It was my intention to bring you the story of my life, not as someone looking back, but from my singular point of view, as it was happening. I tried very hard not to foreshadow upcoming events, nor did I want to interject the present into the past. I wanted you, dear reader, to experience my life as I did, unknowing of the future, learning as I went, growing and maturing in each story. I am not always the hero of my narrative, I did not always make sound judgment calls, and I have made some truly astounding mistakes. But life is like that for everyone, and it would not be an honest telling if I did not share the dark moments along with the light. 
     After two long years and many rewrites, and what was beginning to seem like forever lost in my own past, I had what I thought was a copy worth sharing. Gathering my courage (and postage stamps), I sent it off to friends and family, asking (begging) them to read, edit and make suggestions. At around the same time the book was sent off, I enlisted the help of a friend who designed the illustrations for the book, asking him please, please, pretty please, help me out. And he graciously agreed. Then, I sat back and waited (squirmed with impatience). 
     After months of input, I put together the first copy of the book and submitted it to Amazon. I was (and am) proud of what I had created. But, like many Indie books, no matter how hard my small group of dedicated helpers and I had tried, there were still many errors to be found among the pages of my book. 
     And that's when strangers who had read my book, stepped up and said, "I'll help." Each believing in what I had written, they offered advice, editing and spelling corrections, and promotion/marketing pointers, each in their area of expertise. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to each and every one of them, for all their help and encouragement to an unknown author, simply because they believed in my book as much as I did. 
     This is (I hope), the final re-edit of my work. 
     If there are any further editing errors, I am truly sorry. English is an unwieldy language, even for native speakers, only made worse by my dyslexia, and my fast & loose use of the language at the best of times. To paraphrase James Davis Nicoll, "English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and rummages through their pockets for loose grammar." I hope that in this incarnation, English is done having its way with me, and there won't be any more pilfering needed. But, if there are, please know that I have put my heart, soul and every minute of spare time I had over the last several years into the creation of this book. It was not for lack of care that any mistakes remain in the book, and that you will forgive me for them if there are still any lurking within these pages.
     Before you begin this book, I'd like to share this with you as well. I almost stopped at my graduation. Those final chapters were taken out and put back in a dozen times before I finally decided that I was ready to share those stories with the world. Many of them I had never confided to anyone, and now I was considering exposing them to the world. It left me with a painfully naked feeling even while writing them. But in the end, I knew that they were stories worth telling. And so, after many agonizing weeks, I placed them back in the final copy, and there they stayed.
     In the beginning, I wrote that I did not know if there was any wisdom nor inspiration in this telling, but with my choice to leave those final chapters in perhaps that is not entirely true, there may be a bit of both hidden within these pages. You'll have to judge for yourself if that is true, and I leave it to you to decide.
     But mostly, what this book is about is laughing at the absurdity that is life, feeling joy in the simple act of being, accepting that even when life isn't perfect, it can be wonderful.  It is simply, my life as I have lived it, and I hope that along the way you will laugh with me, maybe roll your eyes, groan and shake your head, eager to turn the next page to see where the train wreck ends. That as you reach the end and close the book, you pause for just a moment and think, "Damn, that was a helluva ride!" And that in that brief moment, you can imagine me standing before you, with a grin on my face, nodding in agreement. 
     Before I end this, I would like to thank every person who willingly read my first drafts. Alex for his wonderful illustrations. Cory for helping me laugh when I wanted to cry. To Best Kept Secret for allowing me to use their music in my promo videos. To Bill for his editing help and also to Steve for his as well, and their support along the way. To Amanda, my soul-sister I've never met, and all her help in getting the word out about my book. To my family, who at first reading, hated it, but later realized that an honest account can't always be kind or flattering, and then decided to love it anyway. But most of all, I would like to thank you, dear Reader, for taking a chance on an Indie author. I know that you have chosen to spend your hard-earned money, and precious time with me, and it is sincerely appreciated.

     And now, without further ado.... 
                     It'll Feel Better when it Quits Hurting
                                  I promise
                                             â˜º