Excerpt from the Preface of “Sometimes That’s Just the Way It Is”

(Opening and concluding paragraphs)

I’ll be honest: I’m reluctant to read memoirs. I’ve often found them to be inaccessible or irrelevant because their focus on an aspect of the author’s life is meaningful for a limited audience. So when a couple of friends encouraged me to write mine, I froze.

“Why?” I asked.

To which they replied with some prattle about how I’ve lived an extraordinary life.

“You’re kidding me, right? Who hasn’t?” I retorted.

No, my life hasn’t been extraordinary. What it’s been, as it’s likely also been for you, is just life. It’s been filled with joys, challenges, heartaches, crashing and burning, thrills, and successes. In short, it’s been a story, one worth recounting for personal reasons. But whether it’s worthy of putting into words and then publishing the work required a deeper consideration.

As I mused about the possibility, what struck me were the lessons I learned and how I became the man I am because of them. Hmm, I thought. Maybe I can explore and share personal anecdotes and reflections that readers can relate to in essay format. So I decided to tap into my teacher and storyteller archetypes and give it a go.

I firmly believe that we sell ourselves short if we think what we’ve experienced isn’t remarkable, even if we consider ourselves to be everyday people. Much of what we’ve done was more than common, some even phenomenal. I believe that we’re human holograms with our human experience wrapped in a unique biomass with a story far more intriguing than any silly stuff presented for our entertainment in the form of reality TV…

…This is not a manifesto that proves my life has been extraordinary. Rather, it is meant to encourage you, the reader, to spend some of that precious resource you have remaining—time—reflecting on your own life, all the while asking why you are here and what the purpose and meaning of your life has been.

With that in mind, it is my hope that my anecdotes and essays trigger something in your psyche or memory bank that makes you say, “Oh yeah, I remember the time when . . .” or “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” And that those memories, in turn, remind you that you’ve lived an extraordinary life and prompt you to dig deeper into your life’s experiences.

In truth, you have quite a tale to tell, which should be told before it’s too late. Not only so your family can color in more of your family’s tree but also because your story, like everyone else’s, is an integral swatch of the tapestry of our larger human story.

Imagine what your swatch will look like.