About the author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born and raised in southern California. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. We had quite a unique life, because most of it involved music. My grandmother played piano for the first silent movies, and she also played guitar, banjo, fiddle, and other instruments. My uncle was considered one of the best drummers around, and even recorded some of those old 45 records.
Our family was close and we both loved, and respected each other. My mom was the hub of all, and she was and always will be my inspiration in life. It was a very close and happy life we lived, until in 1964 we found out that my mom had cancer. She never showed us kids that she was hurting or having a bad day or anything, as a matter of fact, I don't ever remember my mom and dad argue.
Then while I was in the Navy, at 19 years old, I was called home because my mom wasn't doing well. It ended up that she passed away to the Lord in 1969 at 39 years old. My mom and dad had been married for 25 years, and all of us kids knew nothing else than love from them both.
So we kept going and we still kept playing and singing music. It has been very hard for all of us but, we knew she was with the Lord, and wasn't in pain anymore.
In my first marriage I was blessed with three wonderful children. My second marriage I was also blessed with three children. I worked as a foreman or superintendent most of the years as a rebar ironworker. But things took a turnabout in 1992 when my son from my second marriage, Christopher was having pains in his stomach. I took him to the doctor and later that day they called me and wanted us to come in right away. We did and that's when they told me they want to do further testing because of his blood cell count. They retested and the results came back positive for all-lukemia, and he had brain tumors, and my heart just melted in my chest. Christopher at that time was 9 years old. They put him on a regement of medications, and appointments. This all became alot of stress for me, him, and his two sisters and his mom. The doctors told me that if he can make it for four years in remission, that he would be out of the woods. So for four years we were doing the chemo and doctors appointments, I can't even remember how many, plus all the radiation for his brain tumors. Finally four years came and the doctor told us that he was out of the woods, you could imagine the relief and joy we all had. Later on that day they called me and said that we need to talk, and I should come in right away. They told me that Christopher had a relapse, and there is nothing they can do. Within two months Christopher passed away to be with the Lord, he was 13 years young. That is what has inspired me to write the poems I did about him, and there are more but it is just too hard to redo all of the feelings and thoughts.
After that it was the hardest time I ever have had in my whole life. The only thing that kept me sane and not being very hateful was the fact of knowing that Christopher was with the Lord, He had His reasons and I was humble enough to accept that, and it has made me alot stronger in the Lord. I just remember the times that we had with Christopher and how strong and brave he was through all of this. He loved being around all the music, the pizza, and all the things that we all did together.
Within that year my youngest daughter, at 9 years old started losing all of he hair, she had long beautiful curly blonde hair. And then she was diagnosed with Alopecia Universalis , and ended up losing all of her hair, everywhere. She was teased and had a horrible time in school. I finally took her out of public school and she ended up finishing her schooling at a private school.
Now everyone is getting their lives together, they all have good job security and their own family's.
I was injured on the job in 1992 when I was hit in the head by a 500 pound commercial freezer door that fell, no fault of my own, so needless to say I became disabled and can't work. It took along time for me to get use to not being able to do much, but after a few years I adjusted, which brings me to what I'm doing now. No my life hasn't been all bad, actually I am very happy with my total life.
Through all the things I've been through, I've learned alot ( of course I hear age does the same thing), but it has lead me to this book, and my new album that has just been released, and have my own company as a new record label called, Blu Streets Records, and a really good relationship with Jesus Christ, which is my everything now.
So that is why I decided to use the things that the Lord has gifted me with and publish this book and complete my new Christian CD.
And I decided to dedicate this book to Christopher, and we will be caught up with him as we are lifted up to meet the Lord, Amen.