Outskirts Press, INC.

In 1992 I had a car accident and was paralyzed from the waist down. At the time my daughter was 2 months old. The night of the accident, I knew that I was supposed to die but He kept me. It’s hard to put words around it yet I know it to be true. Wow! My life had changed in an instant. I realized quickly that this was not a dream. I was in midst of my toughest challenge. I was totally overwhelmed by the awesome task that lay before me, but in this vast amount of confusion the victory rested just beyond the horizon. I could not clearly see the victory, but I felt it at the core of my inner being. This was the inception of a cataclysmic boom in my soul that caused a magnetic connection between these disconnected chapters that made up my life. The stars lined up and I smelled clarity. My internal compass pointed to “be a father.” I never intended to tell my story, but I did. My story is a reflection of my past and more importantly how it motivated me to be the dad I never had. I open this story on the night of my car accident where I was paralyzed. The first chapter I titled a Dimly Lit Room. The only real thing that I remember about that night was the horrendous sound of demolished metal during impact of a car accident at 75th and Outlook in Boulder, Colorado. I was on my way home. It was late, and I was tired. At the time I was an IBM computer programmer, working 60-hour weeks on a major project that was behind schedule. It was tough because I had left my wife and child in New York during the holidays to come back to Colorado early and continue working on the project. I had spent the evening with a friend of mine at one of the more popular nightspots in central Denver and climbed into my Volkswagen Jetta to make the 30-mile trip to my home in Boulder. Here are the remaining chapter titles: • I’m Not Afraid To Carry The Pink Diaper Bag • The Undercurrent • Education Is Not Enough • You Move Me • Wheel Off The Ground • An encounter With God My Life’s story starts from the inner city of East Oakland, California in the belly of the beast. My father left my mom when I was 6 months old. When I was 12 years old my aunt taught me to play golf. I fell in love with golf and went to college on a golf scholarship. In this memoir you’ll take a journey inside my world anecdotally and see how these life lessons were transferred to my daughter, Asha; and more importantly how she responded to them. You will get a glimpse of how my internal compass found its bearing. And last but certainly not least you’ll be reminded and encouraged of your worth as a parent and the vital role you were built to play. I’ll leave you with this: “If you don’t stay in the game, you’ll never know your worth!”