love poems for leah: love is larger than the universe but contained complete in you and me (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781717400468)

Much of my life and energy is focused on caring for my autistic daughter Leah. My two older sons have graduated from college and are starting their lives. I love them as dearly as I love my daughter.

My history has equipped me to handle whatever comes our way. Certainly, ever since a turning point admonishment / encouragement from my late father at the age of 16 and probably even before that, I have been an "active actor" in life as opposed to a "passive participant".

While I did not do anything great in my life (if measured by historical standards), I did a lot of little good things. This included being a Resident Advisor in college, Big Brother during and after college, tutoring in my children's classes, coaching baseball and soccer, volunteering with special needs children, and providing career counseling for young people. Along the way, I've built houses and baked bread (and lots of cookies too). I have planted hundreds of trees and hundreds of ideas.

I am very fortunate to have preserved on paper many of the thoughts that roamed through my then young, elastic, vigorous, and optimistic mind 30 to 40 years ago. It helps keep me grounded and prevents me from falling into traps that my young self anticipated back then ("realism will crush your idealism" and "when i grow up, do i wise up or do i give up?").