The Book is Coming

📚
Jason was a master storyteller.

He spoke on international stages about overcoming hard things and being happy about it.

He dreamed of writing a book.
We hired an editor.
We started the process.
I took this picture during one of our sessions with our editors.
Jason did most of the work and I was his sidekick.
Nudging, prodding, reminding, laughing, celebrating at all the good stuff with him.

Then Jason died.

In the middle of the project, one day he was here and the next day he wasn't.

The editor wondered what I would do.
I wondered what I would do.
Then I said, "Yes."

The book is coming.
It has Jason in it.
It has me in it.
It looks different than the one he started. But it's still ours.

Maybe I'm crazy to tackle a project like this right after Jason died.
But I didn't really see another option. It had to be done.
And I have learned that this project is a gift.
A chance to have purpose.
An opportunity to feel deeply, intensely.
Time to remember him and remember us.

I have gathered Jason's stories.
I have gathered mine.
They all exist on 4x6 index cards.
A whole pile of our life together, rubber-banded and ready to say something.
Those cards are making their way into chapters.
My voice. Jason's voice. My voice.
Intertwined.
Working together to record our imperfect journey side by side.

Sometimes we stumbled. We fell. We forgot to keep our eye on our goal.
Then we fixed it. We tried again. We kept rolling forward.

I hear him telling the stories I have heard a hundred times over the last 27 years and it brings me comfort.
I’m grateful I have the stories.
I’m grateful that they are so familiar to me.
When Jason would plan his talks and speeches I always asked, “What are you using?”
That meant, “What stories are you telling?”
We knew them by titles we made up: “Sunday Driving,” “Hands,” “Slurpees,” “Pick Your Nose.”
It was always about the stories.

I’m grateful that Coleman will have things that both of his parents have learned in life recorded in one volume.
It’s my chance to celebrate what we did together. All that we are together.

Thanks for your encouragement!
You’re my cheering section!
You’ve helped me to have the courage to move forward with it.

THE BOOK IS COMING.