Information about the author:

I believe, maybe now, that I have achieved the American dream after a lifelong struggle, challenges, and hardships. Starting with my journey, from childhood, no one stood by my side. No one offered me words of encouragement, support, or even a helping hand. There were no mentors, and my family left me to support myself before I was seventeen years of age. Now, I am asking myself this question: What is the American dream? I have a home and a government pension, along with healthcare. I am in my retirement years, and I choose to keep working so my wife and I can travel the world for our well-deserved vacations. During my struggle, it took many years after high school to receive two associate degrees from a junior college. I also achieved three contractor licenses and a few International Building Code certificates. I am also the holder of four United States Patents. I am far from being a bright person, but I have a strong will for survival that pushes me forward, saying I can do this. During my struggle from childhood to now, I felt I had a choice to fall victim to addiction or become a welfare recipient like most of the children I grew up with. Sadly, there were only a few childhood survivors. I see a lot of homeless people on the streets, and I think that could have been me. I did run for county supervisor, and it really didn’t matter if I won or not, for the fact that I tried made me a winner. I hope you hang in there, and we can push forward on the other two books I wish to publish. If you're wondering, my parents stayed together despite the abuse dad dished out. If my mom hadn’t, my so-called Dad would have been just another homeless veteran on the side of the road. Also, I think she kept him around so she could work and not become another welfare recipient. I hope she had her reasons, and I will never know why. My handicap of not being able to write a sentence was overcome when I was twelve years old. On one Christmas day, before I turned twelve, I received a used typewriter from a secondhand store, which, in fact, was my only Christmas present that year. I still can’t write a sentence, but now I can type one. It took me six months to learn the keyboard on a typewriter. However, I was desperate to be able to put my feelings down on paper.