A big thanks to the anonymous Southwood Knights fan who remembered Peter during this magical season!
As 2017 draws to a close, we start seeing TV and news articles about the “Top Ten Stories of the Year.” For me personally, my number one is a no-brainer—I wrote my first book! It’s about the life of our late son Peter, He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football). As a kid, most of us imagine any number of things we might do as adults. But being an author? I really never saw this…..
This year was the first year that our oldest grandson, Randy, 12 years old, played tackle football. In this grandpa’s totally unbiased opinion, I thought he did pretty well (before he broke his finger). And most importantly, he had fun. But as I watched him, I often thought about our late, special-needs son Peter, and how much he would have enjoyed seeing his nephew Randy play. In our house, there’s something special about football. But Peter’s nephew…..
In my new book about our special-needs son Peter, He Made Us Better: A Story of Faith, Family, Friends (and Football) I told the story of Laverne Peak. For probably a couple of decades, Laverne was our contact person for coordinating all of Peter’s home health supplies. None of us ever met her in person, but as a telephone representative for IU Home Health Care, she faithfully did an excellent job for us. Always patient and kind, not only…..
I was 27 and my wife 26 when our second son Peter was born with a serious birth defect. Looking back over the decades, we were just kids—kids who had just had a bomb dropped on us. I could write a book about the things I’ve learned in the intervening decades that would have been helpful to know. But here are just a few of the things that I wish the me of today could have told myself in those…..