Timothy Patrick Means

I was born in the same year that Disneyland was built in Anaheim, California. I grew up close to Newport Beach, only ten miles away from the wealthy and famous movie stars. Although I can`t say I was born poor, I had to work seven days a week beside my father, delivering newspapers from the time I can remember.

Going to school made it rough because I suffered from a lack of sleep most of the time, as I was working the entire night. We didn’t have riches, but my four sisters and I loved one another deeply and were a very tight-knit family. We protected one another and grew up taking no crap from anyone. Our mother had a rough childhood being raised by an alcoholic father who often beat on my grandmother until the day when my mom said it was the last time, and if he did it again, he wouldn’t be living much longer.

I lost my loving father at the age of 19 on fathers day of all days. I cannot say that I will ever get over that horrible time in my life, but I can say that I visited his gravesite for the first time three years ago. It brought me heartache all over again but closure at the same time.

If it wasn’t hard enough to experience the loss of a parent at such a young age, it was equally horrified when I lost my son Joshua just two years ago, and as a parent, one should never experience these types of things in one lifetime, but we do.

Just as my dear mother Maxine, when she was pregnant with me, lost my older sister Debbie at 18 months old. The whole reason that I believe I was premature and almost died.

This anguish has caused me to search for a release for my pain and through my writing. I get lost in the stories that I create, and I hope you as a reader will too.