MEMORIES TO CHERISH, MOMENTS TO LIVE

A Happy New Year to all my readers

As you continue to journey with me into the worlds of romance, adventure, mystery, and myths for incredible, exciting stories

DYLAN slowly turned the pages of his sketchbook and smiled at the childish drawings.

The pages were a priceless collection of a child’s sentiments.

He closed the book and walked over to the window; he looked across the green lawn and walkway to the gate. It was raining just the way it did on the day of the funeral service. The pain he had felt that day had stayed with him over the years.

Now a young man, he could think with better understanding, more than the little boy who had sketched the loss and the yearning in his heart on each page. It had been hard for him to let go because he had been too young to understand why his mom and dad were not coming back home. How many days had he not looked through the window from his room in the beautiful, white Colonial-style house to see the two people most dear to him walk up the pathway? Duke, their golden retriever, would be the first to welcome them but now he sat sad and forlorn.

It had been the Christmas holiday weekend and they were coming home from a resort off the highway when tragedy struck. Dylan had been riding with his cousins in the car behind when a Toyota Cruiser coming at a dangerous speed slammed into his father’s car. It was a dark day, too hard to forget, even for a seven-year-old child.

Many days after, he had stood at the gate with Duke watching the shifting clouds, wondering how far heaven was and if they could see him and Duke. The years slowly passed by. His was a young life to live, to bloom; a world of opportunities to explore. But nothing truly pleased his heart and he cared not for what the world had to offer even though there was enough love and care from the families of both parents. He could have followed great ambitions to be a scientist to help save the world or a doctor to save lives, but he chose instead to flirt with danger and became a motorbike racer.

He wanted to be brave and daring, and even though he became a champion, it drove deep fear into the hearts of his grandparents. The skills and the