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109 pages

English

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The House of Remember When focuses on a middle-aged man, Neil Moreland, who is dealing with a broken marriage, a boring job, and an estranged father suffering from dementia. Written in first-person narrative, the story weaves significant life events into his present-day problems as Neil attempts to put his life and family back together. From the beginning, Neil is drawn to an old abandoned home that turns out to be a time portal that allows him to go back in time to relive past moments in his life. With the help of a guide, Dobie, he chooses events that had a significant negative or positive impact on his life and personality. Unlike with a theoretical time machine, Neil is not able to change his actions or the outcome of the previous event, but he is able to review the experience and see it from a new perspective. In the process, Neil is better able to deal with the death of a significant loved one and to fill the emptiness in his life. Learning that faith and trust are critical to any relationship, Neil takes one last trip back in time to his wedding day to review his vows to his wife, Rachel.

Informations

Publié par	Book Venture Publishing LLC
Date de parution	24 septembre 2018
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781643481296
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0154€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE

HOUSE

OF

REMEMBER

WHEN

SCOTT JAMESON SANDERS
Copyright © 2018 by Scott Jameson Sanders.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
BookVenture Publishing LLC 1000 Country Lane Ste 300 Ishpeming MI 49849 www.bookventure.com Hotline: 1(877) 276-9751 Fax: 1(877) 864-1686
Ordering Information: Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address above.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Control Number 2018951150 ISBN-13: Softcover 978-1-64348-126-5 Hardback 978-1-64348-127-2 Pdf 978-1-64348-128-9 ePub 978-1-64348-129-6 Kindle 978-1-64348-130-2
Rev. date: 09/07/2018
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
Time Is Linear, Life Is Not
Chapter 2
Life is Like a Crossword Puzzle (We Figure Out the Pieces as We Go)
Chapter 3
Life Is No More Than What You Perceive It to Be
Chapter 4
Despite Appearances to the Contrary, We All Have Something Wrong with Us
Chapter 5
Dreams Always Mean Something
Chapter 6
Memories Remain Locked in Our Minds Forever
Chapter 7
I Am a Lot Like Howard Hughes
Chapter 8
If You Can Imagine It, It Is Possible
Chapter 9
Bad Memories Are Like Cuts That Never Heal
Chapter 10
We Are All Going to Be Wrong about Something
Chapter 11
Good Memories Only Get Better with Time
Chapter 12
Our Personality Is Mostly Defined by the Things We Fear
Chapter 13
“Whatever” Is the Worst Word in the English Language
Chapter 14
Dreams Are Experiences as Real as Life Itself
Chapter 15
A Synonym for Any Family Is “Dysfunctional”
Chapter 16
The Surprise Is Always in the Last Piece of Cake
Chapter 17
If It Reminds You of Eddie Haskell, Don’t Do It!
Chapter 18
The World Is a Very Lonely Place When You Lose Your Best Friend
Chapter 19
Being Different Doesn’t Make You Wrong
Chapter 20
Trust May Be the Most Valuable Commodity on Earth
Chapter 21
A Wedding Vow Is a One-Way Street
Chapter 22
Is It a Sin to Want to Be Dead?
Chapter 23
A Hospital Is a Great Place to Go to Get Sicker
Chapter 24
Airlines and Hospitals Are a Lot Alike
Chapter 25
In the Simplest Terms, Prayer Works
Chapter 26
Who Would Choose an Apple over a Ho-Ho?
Chapter 27
The Difference between Being Alive and Dead Is Like Comparing the Ocean to a Desert
Chapter 28
The Truth May Not Always Be Easy, but It Is Far Better Than a Lie
Chapter 29
When Someone Dies, the Book of Their Life on Earth Closes Forever
Chapter 30
There Are Times in Life When You Just Can’t Cry Anymore
Chapter 31
The Most Important of All Virtues Are Faith, Hope, and Love,
Epilogue
Preface
I t was the fifth inning and the other team’s best hitter was at the plate. He was a left-handed batter and I played right field, so I knew to be prepared for the ball to come my way. There was one out. I was fifteen years old that year and only a sophomore, but I started for the high school varsity baseball team. We weren’t that good, but I was having a decent year for a kid who didn’t work at the skills of the game very much. Nevertheless, the coach believed in me and let me start in the outfield even though I wasn’t a very good fielder. I learned later in life that I had a vision issue in my right eye that affected my ability to judge distance. This is not a good thing for an outfielder. But in those days, right field was the area where the least amount of hits traveled (given that most hitters were right-handed, and they usually pulled the ball to the left side). As a result, I often went full games with nothing more to do than chew on a blade of grass and dayd ream.
But this guy at the plate was big and he was left-handed, and we knew from the scouting report that he had good power. There was a runner at first who had walked in the previous at bat. My coach motioned for me to move back a few steps, so I backed up extra deep as it would be easier to come in on the ball than to go back. For the first two pitches, our pitcher was trying to keep the ball away so he couldn’t make too much contact if he hit it at all. And walking him would not be the worst thing. There was already one out with only one on, so no need to give him anything good to hit. But the third pitch of the at bat was a mistake. It was a fast ball that leaked out over the middle of the plate and the batter swung and connected solidly with the ball. I knew instantly that it was coming my way and that it had been hit well. I started running back as the towering shot traveled toward me. But this was more than hit well. This ball had been cru shed.
It was a home game for us and strangely, the varsity field at our school had no outfield fence. The only barrier in right field was a street, but it was very far back and down a small declining hill. So home runs on this field were mostly a matter of the speed of the runner as all hit balls (no matter how far they went) could be retrieved and thrown back into the field of play. Thus, there really wasn’t much of a limit on how far back I could run unless I hit the street . . . which was so far out it had never been reached by a hit ball in a game.
The ball continued to travel toward me and I ran back farther and farther. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I could ever get to it, but I continued running back and then suddenly I felt that the flat surface of the outfield become harder. And then I felt my steps start to descend and I realized that I had somehow reached the hill that angled down toward the street. The ball was very close to me now, but I wasn’t sure what to do. If I kept running, I could run into the street and slip or even be hit by a car. Instinctively, I threw my left arm up toward the ball that was now arcing its way down to me. And then the seemingly impossible happened. The ball hit solidly into my glove and I closed my grip around it before hitting the street pavement a head.
I turned around and saw my coach yelling something and waving his arms to have me throw the ball back. It was either too far away to hear him or I was still in a daze from catching the ball. I ran up the hill and threw the ball as far as I could throw it. It was a terrible toss that curved badly away from the cut-off man and toward second base. But it was then that I realized that the guy who started on first had already rounded second and was heading to third. He could not have imagined that I would catch that ball. It would have been a home run easily at any other field with a fence. To this day, I don’t think anyone thought I could catch it, much less catch up to it. Yet, despite my poor throw, there was still plenty of time for the second baseman to retrieve the ball and double off the man who started at first base. Double play. Three outs.
As I jogged back to the dugout, I first noticed the huge smile of my coach. Then the other players came up and patted me on the back.
“Great catch,” remarked the coach. “Nicely done.”
“Great play, man” shouted an elder teammate as he patted me on the back. “How the hell did you catch that thing?!? Fuckin’ awe some!”
“All right, guys, let’s use this as motivation to get back into this game. Come on now. Let’s get some runs!” the coach shouted out, still beaming with joy.
I took a seat on the bench before I was nudged by our catcher that it was my turn to bat. I was still in a fog wondering if it had actually happened. I was not the guy who made the great play or shot the last second shot to win a game. I was an average athlete with less than average confidence. But this had truly happened, and I realized then that it was a big deal. People would be talking about my catch in school the next day and maybe for a while after that. I lazily walked up to the plate with my bat and considered this could be a moment that I might never forget. And I never have.
I don’t remember if we won the game or if I did anything else good that day or even that season. But I will never forget that catch and the feeling I had for several days and weeks after. If it could have been on video, I know I would replay it often, but video cameras were not yet common in those days. It is one of my favorite memories and I can replay it in my mind as often as I want. No one can take that accomplishment away from me. If only there was a way to bottle that feeling so you could keep it with you, especially when times get tough. And we all know that no matter who you are, life is going to totally kick you in the ass at some point. This story is about one of those t imes.
Chapter 1
Time Is Linear, Life Is Not
W hat would you do if you learned that there was a way to go back in time? If you could, would you choose to go back and relive one of the best moments of your life? Or would you choose instead to correct some past wrongs? Would you want to meet an important religious or historical figure? Jesus? Mohammed? Mr. Rogers? Would you go back to a significant event in your life? We all think about it, r ight?
Many books and films from the past have explored this time travel topic with incredible creativity. I love these stories, but no matter how they describe the time-traveling experience, there is a critical flaw in all of them. Put simply, it is impossible and against the law of nature as we know it to go back in time. Once we have lived the moment, the moment is past and gone forever and it becomes history. And besides, even if we could go back, it is also impossi