Many families do not have the opportunity to take just one photo of a series of generations within a family. The above photo is of my family’s four male generations, beginning with the patriarch all the way to the newest member of the line of Greenlee’s – Brogan. What a heroic name, which will certainly find its way into one of my chronicles stories. I want you to consider the following quote, which appears in book two of my trilogy, Bound to Forbidden Lands:
“Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted.” Paul Pearshall
This picture immediately became very special to me, for a variety of reasons, most of all, it helps me get a point across about the story I spent 10 years in writing. It is a fantasy story wrapped around that basic instinct of family. Arimar the hero is separated at birth by evil forces because it has been foretold he will free the lands of the seven races and reunite the family’s of the living. Arimar does not know of his family’s fate. If he had a photo, he stands alone, he has no connection to family, but he has been promised by the Lord of Light and Life that he will learn of their fate. He becomes distraught as a teenager when he feels there is nothing to live for and almost commits suicide, but his faith and his basic instinct to know of his family’s fate drives him forward. He will endure great sacrifice even until the end, questioning his own being.
My highest goal in writing this story was to rip the heart and soul out of a reader, just for a moment, to bring some clarity to life. For we have much to lose in this world. This world that we have taken for granted. It is a story filled with evil, war, and death. Yet at its central theme is life and family. I gave a monumental effort to bring the reader to a point where they will no longer take for granted the precious moments and people in life. For Allivar means “The One Family”, and is an allegory of the time we share on this great miracle of the heavens we call earth.
I have a close family that is passionate for life. We argue like crazy and sometimes we yell and hurt feelings, but there is no power in this realm that can separate us from being ready to stand for each other. In the coming years the patriarch will disappear from this photo and only memories will fill the void. This is the unavoidable consequence of being mortal. He will be missed greatly, but he set the foundation for all that is to follow. His legacy, his spirit will never die and will rest in each successive generation, if we are good and wise stewards.
Hopefully, I will stand long enough on this world and will move to the top of the photo, when my great grandson arrives, with hope that he shall carry on a line of men of high values and ethics in a falling world. As with Arimar, I too, will one day leave this physical world to enter an ethereal world, where those that preceded me will welcome me with open arms and there will be no more pains of the mortal life. So I stand for my faith and beliefs. My story of family, as much the photo above, is very dear to me, and yes, I would lay down my life for any and all of them, just as Arimar would. This dedication and quote appear in the last book of the trilogy, Last Stand of the Living.
I dedicate this final book to my parents, Wayne and Dixie. There will come a day when we must part this physical world and enter the ethereal. This separation will be short and we will gather for new celebrations amongst the heavens.
“For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” William Penn
Please, today, tell a family member of your love for them and take nothing for granted.
