A Father’s Gift to His Daughter: The Early Years

About the Book

On March 19, 1995, I was given the most wonderful gift that anyone could ask.  On this day, I was blessed with my daughter, Rachel-Anne Julia.  You really never know how small things are until a gift like this is given.  “Dad” is one of the most honorable titles that you could be awarded.  I have always struggled with making sure that my daughter always knows that I love her.  At first, I worked to make sure that she would have things, but growing up along side my daughter has opened my eyes.  I have come to realize that the one thing that I can give her, that will last forever, is memories.  Memories of, not only our life together, but the memories of the struggles and emotions that I had experienced as a young man in the hopes of helping to guide her.

Within this book you will find quotes and inspirational sayings gathered throughout my life experiences.  At times, you will identify the writings created by me.  Within these personal writings, I have conveyed my emotions, my feelings, and my love.  To my daughter, this book can serve as a simple guidebook of suggestions and thoughts from her Father.  For those who honor me with their choice to read this, I hope that I can inspire you…help guide you…and most of all provide some writings that will help to facilitate your evaluation of your life and choices. 

I hope that one can use this book as an inspirational and uplifting resource.  I know that the four years that it took for me to complete this body of work I was able to evaluate my life by using some of the readings.  I hope that each of you will be able to utilize this work for your own self-guiding and self-motivating purpose.   

About the Author

My life was filled with numerous “twists and turns” and “ups and downs”.  Being from a small town in Pennsylvania (Freedom, Pennsylvania), I believed that no one expected much from me.  My early years were convoluted with divorce, arguments, frustration, and an array of other issues.  I found satisfaction in always pushing myself to be the best.  My thought process at that time was “win at all costs…be the best”.  This thought process helped to propel me to accomplish things that I had no idea that I could.   My drive and determination allowed me to experience athletics at many different levels even after people said that I could never do it.  This “internal drive” allowed me to envision what my educational goals were and then to go after them.  My educational accomplishments combined with my unrelenting drive for self-improvement has provided me with a true sense self-accomplishment. 

I believe that things happen to us throughout our lives to help build a better person.  My life’s events, both good and bad, have truly contributed to improving the person that you read about today.  I will continue to focus on improving myself as a friend, a business partner, a counselor, as an individual, and, most importantly, as a Father.  Fatherhood, in my mind, is the most precious gift that is given to a man.  I hope that through this book, I have given to my daughter a gift that she can hold onto forever.  To those who have given me the honor of their time to read this book, I hope that you can take my experiences as expressed in my chosen readings and learn from them.  We will all make mistakes, but will we chose to learn from them?     

Life is given to us only once in this world.  What we chose do with it is all up to us!