Being Thankful by Patricia Logan

Being Thankful

First, I must thank my friend Dawn Roberto for letting me be thankful all over her blog today. As I sat and contemplated a blog topic this week, it somehow stood up an whacked me right in the face. It’s Thanksgiving week, silly girl!

The last few years have been a challenge in my life…ah let’s see…times 20! It began in 2007 when my mortgage career of 20 years was no more. My husband was also employed in the mortgage business, and we were suddenly without any income. He has continued to eke out a little money in the business here or there but, whew, what a difference in lifestyle. 

I also lost several people close to me. In 2007, I lost the father of my best friend, who was like a father to me. Then she passed away in 2008. In 2009 my mother died and then this year, my father passed.

My little daughter became very ill last summer, requiring that she undergo brain surgery and then followed up with months of chemotherapy and temporary blindness. The doctor’s had given her a 5% chance of survival, but we didn’t know that until much later. 

Because money is so scarce, I was very happy that I had a past career in the jewelry business because I had collected so much gold and precious stones during that time, I just knew that I’d be able to sell it when and if the time came. It was stolen just days before my father died, by a cleaning crew that my husband had hired as a Mother’s Day present for me. 

I tell you these things because I want you to see just some of the obstacles that I’ve had to deal with over the last few years. I am certain that you or someone you know has had to deal with a “season of loss” as I like to call it. 

Thanksgiving made me think about how all of the events above have changed my thinking. First of all, I have a few close friends that are unbelievably optimistic and that has helped me along this rough road. They always look on the positive side of life and when I throw a pity party, they don’t join me, they point out just what I do have to be thankful for. 

For example, if I hadn’t lost my job, I wouldn’t have my author career. I would never have gotten the notion that I can do something different…because I just wouldn’t have had the time to do so. If my mother hadn’t died, my father wouldn’t have come to live with us and put us on his health insurance. Without our health insurance, we wouldn’t have gotten our precious baby taken care of by some of the finest doctors in the world. Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the incredible pediatric neurosurgeons and infectious disease doctors, literally saved her life. 

If I hadn’t lost all of my jewelry in the robbery, I wouldn’t be grateful for the things I do have. As it was, the thieves left behind my grandmother’s engagement ring and my mother’s wedding ring, the two things I truly cherished from the entire collection. 

One of my optimistic friends told me a story recently. When she was in school in New York City, far away from her family in California, she used to go sit in church after work. Sometimes it was late at night. One night she was sitting in the chapel and thought that she was completely alone. She saw some movement out of the corner of her eye and looked over to see a man sitting on a pew in the shadows. She got very scared and decided to leave.

As soon as she stood up to leave, she could hear him following her. She decided to confront him rather than run, so she turned and said, “Can I help you with something?” The man, who was at least a foot taller than her, said, “yes, ma’am. It’s very cold tonight. Could you give me enough money to get some coffee?” She looked him over and could see that his shoes were very old and that his clothes were tattered. His hair hadn’t been cut in a long time and he had a ratty beard. 

She reached in her purse and pulled out some money and gave it to him, saying, “Here, buy a sandwich with your coffee.” He thanked her and she left. She got home driving through the pouring rain and could not get the man off of her mind. Finally, she went out to an all night store and found a very large, and very warm jacket and bought it for him. Then she went home and put a few more things in the bag, a blanket, a towel, a new toothbrush, some soap and then she went back to the church. 

The man was standing under the awning to stay out of the rain and he was drinking his coffee and eating his sandwich. She got the bag of things for him and took it to him and said, “here, you can take these home with you.” He smiled at her and said, “This is my home.” Well, that shocked her. He was truly homeless and she’d never met a homeless man before. So she said, well, why do you come to church?”

He said, “Because I have so much to be thankful for and I wanted to thank God.” Well, how about that? Being thankful is all in our own perception. This man was cold and hungry and homeless and he came to church to thank God for his life. He was thankful just to be alive. 

So am I. 

About Patricia Logan:

Patricia comes from small town America where people still believe in true love. In a house filled with family, friends and pets, she sometimes laments the lack of time just to sit down and write, though surrounded by those she loves, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Patricia’s writing and characters are real stories and real people, well to her they are, and this makes putting their lives down on paper and bringing them to life, a joy. She realized a very long time ago that the world is filled with people who live diverse and amazing lifestyles and she tries to capture the beauty of such diversity in her writing.

Living in a home with family from eleven to eighty-five, two ugly dogs and one beautiful cat, she deals with a little diversity of her own every day. Her best friends hail from Greece, Iran, Michigan, Pacoima and New Jersey and loves more than anything to be surrounded by them laughing and enjoying life. On any given day you’ll find Patricia pursuing her favorite past time, curled up on the couch with a book in one hand and often with a glass of Cab in the other.

Email: pattilogan.author@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.torquerepress.com/orders/logan/author.h

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Captive Lover by Patricia Logan

Rebel Ink Press

M/M Contemporary

Buy HERE

Dylan Yates isn’t a bad person but he’s fallen in with the wrong guy. Marcus Tucker is a big, bad and very beautiful biker who runs a huge criminal empire. Dylan hooks up with Marcus for a night of all out hot sex and only too late realizes that Marcus is into young boys, kids in fact. Dylan backs out of their planned evening together after meeting up with one of Marcus’s very young lovers and fearful that Dylan will expose him for what he is, Marcus decides upon a plan to make sure that the handsome Dylan will not expose his dark side.

Marcus kidnaps Jared Yates, Dylan’s nine-year-old brother and threatens to “break him in” if Dylan doesn’t do exactly what Marcus wants. Dylan’s assignment is to kidnap and guard a man named Connor Black until Connor’s very wealthy family can pay to get him back. What Marcus doesn’t suspect, is the attraction that the two men feel for each other, the instant that they meet.

While in Dylan’s custody, Connor is at first afraid and then becomes angry. And who better to take out his rage upon than his kidnapper, Dylan. What surprises Connor is that Dylan, his big tough kidnapper refuses to fight back. Dylan is powerfully attracted to Connor but won’t allow himself to become attached to the man that he fears he will eventually be ordered to kill if he wants to get Jared back safe and sound. 

Little by little Connor realizes that Dylan is reluctant in his task to guard him and he begins to trust Dylan. Even more powerful than trust, Connor finally realizes his own deep attraction to the beautiful man. Is it just Stockholm Syndrome or is it something more? As the two men are forced to live together in the cramped surroundings of Marcus’s hideout, the walls between them crack and finally fall. Dylan gives in to his longing and he and Connor become lovers. When Connor finds out the truth of who’s behind the kidnapping and the hold that Marcus has over Dylan, he is determined that they face the menace together.

Marcus has waited long enough. Day after day Connor and Dylan have begged Connor’s father to raise the funds needed. The problem is, Connor’s father is wealthy but his wealth is tied up in real estate that is impossible to liquidate in such a short period of time. 

Faced with his worst nightmare and desperately in love with Connor, Dylan must now decide how to handle the situation and keep Connor alive while keeping Jared safe from Marcus’s clutches. Dylan goes to Connor with his dilemma and they decide that they must escape so that Jared isn’t harmed. Trying to get away from a man like Marcus Tucker and his armed guards isn’t an easy thing to do.