Retirement, Transitions, Tantrums & New Projects…

The thing about compartmentalization is you “put away” or try to forget bad things in your life but also your memory loss affects other things you weren’t trying to forget.

Working on our autobiography I find myself asking Cindy “was it raining then?” Or “how old were we?”

You see Cindy remembers our entire childhood. Sights. Sounds. The weather. Smells. I don’t. At about 7 years old, I stopped speaking and chose to put away things I couldn’t accept.

For over 20 years we’ve been told to write a book and last April we thought we had found the perfect ending but by May Steph had relapsed again which led to an 8 month homeless stint ending with me finally getting her to a hospital on December 8, 2023.

You will never know the misery of loving a child who becomes an addict until you’ve lived it. I’m serious. It’s raw & it’s painful.

For years now my son, his wife, my other niece and most of our family are and have been distancing themselves from my niece who has now relapsed 26 times in 20 years.

Currently a blow up last week has separated & segregated this entire family.

Meanwhile I decided to semi retire after working my entire life and write this book as well as restructure all of my websites.

I referred and refunded many clients to accomplish the task of freeing up my schedule and while I will still perform a few weddings here and there, since last month it will be far fewer than 20 or more weddings a month.

Cindy remembers everything I chose to try and forget about our childhood. So while I’m writing it, Cindy is refreshing the timeline and events.

As many of you know my blogs have been the only outlet for many years and a diary of sorts. The conflict and chaos were never hidden from my clients, media or anyone else intentionally.

Thus as I adjust to semi retirement and the next phase of my life, I should have the book finished in the next 3-4 months.

Like anything else in my life I schedule hours each day for writing to stay within my deadline while juggling other aspects and I’ve had to step back from trying to save my niece, Stephaney.

Yesterday