The Past. The Present. The Future.

To say 2024 was a tough year for me is an understatement. Between the loss of my brother along with three pets, this past year couldn't end quick enough for me.

My brother, Donny, was nine years older than me. He dealt with respiratory issues the past few years. He was one member of my family I visited in August. On November 4th, at 6:58pm, my sister called to tell me our brother had passed. His body just couldn't fight anymore. I was obviously shocked by the news, and to an extent, still can't believe my older brother is gone. He left behind a wife that is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet as well as three fantastic kids. I say kids, even though all are grown and successful in their ventures. My brother served 26 years in the Navy and had just retired from his civil servant job, working at the same naval base he was last stationed at. We were polar opposites as I'm the introvert and he was definitely an extrovert. He had stories to tell about his life you would think were made up, but they were all true, even if he did embellish some details. I can't believe I'm starting the new year without him, but just like when I lost my dad in 2005, I will find a way to move on in life, while that hole in my heart grows just a little wider.

The three pets we lost were Mamma, Johnny, and Callie. Mamma was the first. We came home one day seven years ago (going on eight, now) and saw a very skinny Tuxedo cat in our driveway. She was somewhat skittish, but when we set a bowl of tuna down for her, she gobbled it up like she had first seen food in her life. We didn't realize it at the time, but she was pregnant, and had her kittens at a neighbor's house. Because she was so malnourished, only two of the five kittens survived. However, those two kittens think they are humans and have so much personality. Mamma moved her kitties under our deck, and eventually into our home. We took her to the vet and discovered she had FIV, basically, a feline form of AIDS. We were told she could still have years of a quality life until the virus finally took her. That day was in May of last year, and she went down quick. She was the sweetest, goofiest cat I had ever seen and would literally lie in my arm, upside down like a baby. We still have her kiddos, and they remind me of her every day.

Johnny was one my wife brought home as a rescue. He was a talker and quickly decided he was my wife's buddy. He followed her everywhere he could. He had a larger than life personality with big, orange eyes. He began to slowly eat less and less. We thought he had bad teeth, but we learned he had an aggressive form of cancer that was not curable. We gave him the best few weeks he had left and would take him outside and he would lay under one of hour trees like he belonged there. The morning in July that we took him in, we made sure he had one more chance to lie in his favorite spot for awhile.

Callie was a four-month-old puppy when we got her from a shelter. Talk about a pain in the ass, she was all go, all the time. She had literally ate a hole in our wall while we were at work. She was so wild, we almost gave her up, but decided to try to get through this crazy stage with her. She eventually calmed down somewhat, and just like Johnny, was close to my wife. Callie always liked me, but she absolutely loved my wife. She had been chosen by Callie as her human. We had her for fifteen years and had multiple slow-growing tumors removed during that time. One day, Callie jumped out of my wife's SUV, like normal, after she parked in the driveway from taking her for a ride. She immediately started limping. We took her to the vet and discovered her leg was dislocated. We were told she would get better, but she never did. X-rays showed no fractures or any reason why Callie shouldn't be healing, but she only got worse to the point that she struggled to go outside and stopped eating. While I was in Georgia, visiting my brother and other family in August, my wife decided she couldn't let Callie suffer any longer. It was a shock when she called and told me, but realized afterwards that she just wasn't going to get better.

If you are still reading after all that, thank you. I imagine that was as tough to read as it was for me to write. Shifting now to the present, Book 3 is with an editor, and I will be unveiling the title soon. Once I receive the manuscript from the editor, it will be sent off to the publisher to be published. Also, I have begun writing Book 4 and have about 28 pages written so far. 2025 is starting out to be a decent year so far. I still carry the loss of my brother with me, but it doesn't hurt as bad as it did. I will be dedicating Book 3 to him.

Ah, the future. Who knows what the future holds. I know I have a Book 5 planned, and I already have a villain in mind for it. This may expand to a two-part series within the main series. So, that means I have six books planned before wrapping up the series and moving on to something else. Who knows, though? The future is constantly evolving, so I might form more ideas to continue The Raven Chronicles series. I guess we'll see when I get to Book 6.

If you read all the way through this, I sincerely thank you. This blog was harder to write than my other ones for obvious reasons. Once again, I want to tell everyone who has read my books, thank you. Seriously, thank you. You are the reason I write. I love writing, but to know there are people out there that actually takes valuable time out of their lives to read my creations is humbling to me. However, whether it's my books or other authors that you love, keep reading and keep the magic alive. Until next time...