Lucky Little
Copyright © "I Am Little Wins" A Pursuit on Purpose - All Rights Reserved 2016
22
“Ok, so your telling me, let me get this straight, because I know you and your math, your numbers always seem to be in some fantasy world where everything goes perfect. Bottom line, I’ve got seven weeks to sell 200 policies and I make fifty grand, is that what you’re telling me?” I ask my longtime friend and fellow selling machine of 20 years. That’s what he was telling me, and since 2010 he has been correct and I have been proven wise in taking him up on the offer those many years ago. It all came about on a camping trip. read more...
8
Virginia Interview 1. Phone interview June 2015. Interviewer: Thank you so much for calling me back, I know you’re busy out there running your Montessori school in San Francisco, and that’s great, congratulations. I want to take just a couple of minutes of your time like we told you, like my producer told you we’ll make it short, we hope to have more interviews and eventually maybe even get out and meet with you.
Virginia: Well I don’t know about that but I have a few minutes now.... read more... click here to hear actual audio of first interview...
25
“Have you ever seen the sticker that they put on some used cars that says ‘As Is’?” I hadn’t seen my mom in probably five or six weeks and she only lived about 15 minutes away. I was blowing and going. I’d put in 60 plus hours a week at the dealership making stacks of cash and then on my only day off I would be recovering from Saturday night half the day then squeezing the most out of the back half of Sunday before it was back to the grind early Monday morning. Oh I had seen the stickers all right. Just a couple years prior to that I was one of the used car managers at a car lot that was moving about 400 used cars per month over the curb. A good chunk of those were those exact cars we referred to as beaters, clunkers and sleds. The preacher went on, “The cars are usually in very bad shape."
to be continued...
3
“I love you”, Steve says to her as a last resort. Spring 1965, Ashland, Kentucky. He hadn’t told her that before when he had managed to work his way up between her sweater and bra just a week ago. Ginny still had a bad feeling in her gut about that day but at the same time she remembered the buzz it gave her also. Before Steve, she had only once been kissed on the lips and that was a few years before by a boy in her bible study class. At 14 she knew good and well that it was not right but allowed Jimmy to give her a quick peck anyway just to prove that she was not a ‘prude’. read more...
18
‘A fool despises wisdom’, it has been written. Don’t be a fool. Seek wisdom. Of course the big things can found in the little things. You’ve got to find your person before you can find your purpose. One letter, I. Two letter, Am. Now three letter, The. It should be taught right beside A,B,C,1,2,3. A B C, 1 2 3, I am the. Not simply ‘A’ child, daughter, farmer, husband, father, salesperson, minister, brother, friend, employee, hero. I am THE son, brother, fighter, lover, dreamer, producer, etc. down your list. Down our lists from the previous chapter. Now we’re talking real ownership. I know you are feeling different. If you are truly grinding and doing the homework then I know you have a new fire that is fueling you to do the supernatural! Bonus Time. Those who have become members will receive their first book this week. Watch for the UPS guy ringing your bell. I know I have super hyped it but I want you to know that you had to be specially prepared to receive this book. I couldn’t just throw this book at you and expect you to devour it like I and many of my associates have. IF, IF, you have been motivated, IF you have been inspired, and IF these lessons have caused you to press through with all the work in the previous chapters, I GUARANTEE, you will have cultivated the mindset to be able to take this book like I did and launch your life to all new levels, 10X levels! Do your research like we went over. The book is ‘THE 10X RULE’ by Grant Cardone. Read through page 77 and send in your worksheets.
9
"I can’t explain now, but you don’t have to worry about the long process this time. All of that will be taken care of. Please, don’t answer now, and don’t, you know, don’t tell Mary Ann about this until you’ve heard me out, ok?” he pauses, “okay, goodbye.” And he hangs up the phone. The doctor looks frazzled to say the least. He is frazzled. “Lane!” a lady calls from atop a spiral staircase just outside the double doors of a lavishly decorated bedroom. One of five bedrooms in this 4200 square foot home in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Houston, Texas, a neighborhood called River Oaks. read more...
15
I’m feeling a little queasy.
For one thing, I don’t like coming to downtown Houston. The traffic is terrible, buses keep cutting me off, people are honking their horns like they’re in New York or something. I hate going downtown. I’d have my route all mapped out in my trusty orange Key Map book. Page 432 would have just a little bit, then I would have to turn to page 436 where the route would pick up for about a half a page, then I would have to go back to page 434 to see my destination.
16
Despite the devil’s plans, despite an unplanned pregnancy, despite an attempted abortion, despite a boggled adoption, she would be giving birth to a baby this day. It wasn’t just another day, not that day, in the Hermann Hospital maternity ward in Houston, Texas. Feb 22, 1966. For one family it was a day of great joy and new beginnings. For the young preacher’s daughter it was a day of sorrow, yet also new beginnings. “Nurse!” she cried out but received no reply. She was starting to think clearly now. Not exactly clearly but clearer. They must have given something because she couldn’t remember much about the birth. She remembered the doctor’s voice, “Push Ginny, Push!” It was coming back to her now. She runs her hands under the covers and over her stomach. It’s gone. Just like that, it’s gone. “He’s gone” she thinks. “She’s gone”, she whispers. The heartbeat. The kicks. “It’s the best thing for the baby” she speaks aloud convincing herself as she has done so many times over the last months as she has grown closer to the human living within her. At least he’s alive she ponders. “She didn’t deserve this baby”, she thought to herself. After all, it wasn’t just for the high that Steve introduced her to heroine. read more...
- Above3:17
7
‘I’ brings back the memory of my wedding vows some 25 plus years back now. “I”, (state name) do take thee…” ‘I’ was committing to ‘We’. I was far from having my ‘I’ figured out. Once I ‘got it’, my ‘I’, everything else started to fall in place. Unfortunately, it was about 8 years into my marriage before I would start to actively pursue becoming all the man and husband that my wife expected and deserved. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter on ‘I’ and I hope the lesson helped you find your ‘I’ as easy and profoundly as it did for me. read more...
5
“Damn Bobby, what the hell did you do"? I mumble to myself. Summer of 1985, South L.A.(NOTICE: R Rated story) You’re gonna die out here tonight. Think Bobby think. Stayin’ alive baby, stayin’ alive, think baby think”. My thoughts are racing. “Damn, I can’t make out their colors but I know they’re selling drugs, that was the fourth car to stop and get their stuff, and I know they’re a gang, this is south freakin’ L.A. for crying out loud. Damn red shirt! What the hell was I thinking? Damn bus routes.
10
“Get the phone!” I hear Kenny scream from the other room. “Somebody pick up the damn phone!” It’s about 1:30 am on a Sunday morning which is still an early Saturday night in Alief, Texas 1983. We didn’t have cordless phones at the time but just a long chord that could accommodate any place in the house. Just follow the chord. Start at the jack in the kitchen, around the ice chest that sat where a refrigerator should have been, follow, over the table with the overflowing ashtray and empty beer bottles, follow, up across the cable TV wire heading the other direction. read more...
12
Southside of Houston 2013. He leaned back to the right in his chair on the heavily cushioned armrest thinking through the question as though the answer would soon appear, and his job was to catch it out of the air, with his mind. When he leaned over to the left, just a little bit, jolts of pain ran from the middle of his back down through his legs to his knees past his ankles before the shock went out through his toes.
17
"That's right baby, you'll be fine. You’re going to stay with your Aunt Pat now okay sweetheart? Mommy will be back a little later on.” Mary Ann bends down to give Boyd a kiss as he plays on the living room floor with his Tonka truck that stayed at Aunt Pat’s house for times like these. It was his favorite toy but he couldn’t take it home. It was strategically used for his benefit so he would be rewarded for getting out of his comfort zone at home and being dropped off on occasion. “Vroom vroom!” Aunt Pat chimes in as she takes another drag off cigarette. Boyd stands up to get one more hug and kiss from his mommy. “Are you going to get my little brother” he asks with a tender glow in his voice. “Yes Boyd, I’m going to get your little brother.” Unsatisfied as a child should be he presses on, “and you and dad and my new little brother and me and all of us are gonna be home together and be a family?” he says without taking a breath or giving any correct speech punctuation. Tears rise in his eyes as he looks up in anticipation only a child could have. Anticipation of receiving the perfect answer to his biggest dream, home together and be a family. “Yes baby, home together and be a family.” read more...
Welcome! Thank you so much for dropping by. I hope I can impact your day, in one way or another, for the better.
Bobby
21
“Nurse! Nurse!” I gathered myself as best I could staggering down the hall. It was just about 22 hours ago I was getting up to go to work just like any other day. I put in a long day at work and then head over to Phil’s for rehearsal about 9:30 pm. I get the call that Sonya is being rushed to the hospital about 11:30pm, Vincent is born at 1:25 am, Sonya’s liver stops growing and even starts to reduce in size and we get our own little room about 3:30am. Just like the doctor said, everything would be fine after the baby was born. What do Sonya and I know? read more...
13
“Scott, Robert Steven!” the officer shouts out. Steve quickly snaps out of his daydream and hops off the top bunk of the jail cell bed. Houston city jail. February 22, 1966 7:00 am. “Right here law man”, Steve replies waving his hand for his cell door to be opened. As the officer opens the door Steve wipes both hands down the front of pants as if to wipe off the entire cell from his person, pulls his shoulders back, runs his fingers through his hair once, cricks his neck to the right once making a sound like a bear stepping on a branch in the woods... then steps out of the cell.
6
“Talk to me like I’m a 6 year old.” It was the first time I had used the Denzel Washington line from the movie Philadelphia and I used it only because I did not have enough room in my head to take on a bunch of detailed doctor speak, my wife was dying and the baby inside her, our son, wasn’t doing too well either. I could tell that she was trained in how to deliver bad news to would be, may be, new parents. This wasn’t the place where all the family gathered to see the baby behind the glass just a short time after delivery. No, that was on a different floor.
24
Adopted. Along with the card I mentioned earlier, the Littles told me that my birth parents probably couldn’t take care of me and wanted me to have a better life. I guess it’s about as good a story as you can give a kid. Over my life I have met people on every side of the issue. Those that were adopted. Those that gave their baby or even young child up for adoption. Those who have adopted children. Those desperate enough to fly to Russia and come up with tens of thousands of dollars to hopefully leave with a somewhat healthy child. Even to this day, even this day, Mary Ann told my wife and I that she thinks the reason she could not have children was so that she would be available when the time came to adopt me, and my brother as well. read more...
20
I remember it like it was yesterday, one summer playing in the back yard with my brother Boyd. It was the summer before I started going to school for the first time. He was 10 and I was about 6. We had a great time. We would run and play and wrestle around, jump through the sprinkler then roll around in the dirt until we were both covered in mud. Life was all laughter and play. We loved our mom and dad and they loved us. Our dad was our knight in shining armor all dressed up with his badges and patches, handcuffs and pistol. Our mom just loved to laugh so we would always be putting on some act or just being silly to get her laughing. There’s just a joyous twinkle in her eyes when she gets to laughing. Those were great days. Even though we didn’t have much there was plenty of love in the house. read more...
4
“Dammit Mary Ann, what do you want from me?!” Bobby Ray yelled from the bedroom as he slapped on his massive belt. It was Christmas day 1965. As a police officer you can get a little extra pay if you work on Christmas and the Littles needed all they could get. “I’m sorry”, Mary Ann said as she walked into the bedroom and put her arms around him. Well she put them around him as far as she could. Bobby Ray was a big man. His width was a little off from his height but he was a jolly kind of big and that fit Bobby Ray Little just right. Mary Ann was a tiny thing. Still is for that matter.
23
Off we go, with a stream of others on the highways going west. The Stoned Ponies, Donovan, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Beatles, The Way to San Jose, tunes kept us moving on down the road, all 6 of us in an old beat up station wagon. At that time I was still unaware of the directional force. We just happened to drive up the coast highway to check out the canneries in Monterey the very same day that the Monterey Pop Festival was being set up for the first time. I had no idea that I was walking into the very heart of an historic event. read more...
19
I’m like, “Bro, you got to get out here”, these California girls are just like you see on TV and every one of them is just fine!” I turn around to see a cute girl go breezing by me on roller skates. “I’m talking gorgeous!” I was on a payphone on Venice Beach. Right on the sidewalk where all the action was going on. Summer 1985. I was in paradise. At home we owned the beach, or we thought we did anyway. Even though Galveston was a long way from southwest Houston, if you had a few bucks on you and some determination, you could make a weekend out of it. We had just got in town. Joey was one of my very first friends when I moved to Alief in 1973. We rented a car so we had wheels for the week and a place to crash for the first night. All the people up and down the sidewalk, the beautiful sand and ocean. All these beautiful girls! I was like a kid at the zoo for the first time. Joey and I had been side by side for the whole journey thus far and were needing a little space so had each gone our own ways deciding to meet up at the car in a few hours. Back to my call, “Shawn, bro, I’m telling you, you will never want to go back home.” I listen as he tells me that he had a little fender bender in my car. It didn’t matter to me. I was never planning on going back. I didn’t tell anybody else. At least he told me about it. We hang up and I’m just looking around taking in the view when some young guy approaches me. He looks to be about my age. Looks like a cool California dude type. He asks, “Hey man, this your first time out to Venice Beach?” It is so easy to see now how green I was when I went out to L.A. I probably responded with something like, “Uh, yeah, I’m from Texas.” Like anybody gave a spit about Texas. It just showed them you were a hick showing your cards. Your terrible, un-examined hand. Doopy, doopy, doo. Even though I was street smart in my little neck of the woods, I was green in Cali. So he says, “So hey we’ve got a little party going on, you like blow?” “No, thanks, not my deal.” I’m sure I sounded as ‘country’ as he had heard in a while. Right away he says, “You want a beer?” Boom, he’s got my attention. “Sure”. He leads me up to this beautiful house, right on the freaking sidewalk that is up against Venice Beach! I was all of a sudden in this house, door closing behind me. read more...
11
“Sir, you’re going to need to step back please”, the nurse snapped at me as he pushed in the giant glass shell, the glass box. This baby was not going to be going into the arms of the new mother. He would be immediately placed in the battle box. Time to battle! “Bobby! Bobby!!” Sonya cried out. “Ok, sir, I’ll need you to stand over her please” the nurse scoots me out of her way. “Ok Sonya you need to keep pushing”, the doctor says as she walks in the room. “Breathe now, baby”.
2
I. My Self. Not the Roman numeral but the letter ‘I’. The ‘self’ word. The selfish word. Self-consumed, self-absorbed, of one’s self, of one. ‘I’. Not a bad word or at its least, letter. Not a bad word at all or should it ever be. Without adding thinking, without adding doing, without adding believing, it is not bad at all. In fact it is in essence the beginning of all of us. ‘I’. Before any, before anything else in our existence, is the birth of ‘I’. Your ‘I’ is given to you by God. Who can take away something given to you by God? Nobody, unless you let them. read more...
1
“Ohhhh! Ohhhh! Oh God…it hurts! Bobby, it hurts, I can’t take it! Bobby!!.”June 1999, Houston, Texas. Sonya’s crying out. She was doubled over in pain, excruciating pain. The doctor and nurse kept telling her it was gas. I know Sonya and she’s a lot tougher than that. Her mom is full blooded Mexican and her dad is full blooded Norwegian, hot and cold, no in between. She either loves me passionately or wants to kill me with a giant hammer. This ain’t no gas pains, my baby is dying here. read more...
14
“It was no problem at all, are you kidding me? It’s your big day today Partner!” Kenny says. “Have you picked out a name for him yet?” Their in a Houston Police Department squad car driving through the rapidly expanding network of freeways being constructed. Houston was booming. The uniformed officer speaking and driving the car reaches over to the passenger seat and gives Bobby Ray a hearty couple of slaps on the shoulder. February 22, 1966. 7:15 am.
Excerpts - Reader Feedback What a story!! Love it. Wanted more! Love this … Wow. Wow!!! Can’t wait to purchase and read!!!
...engaging and captivating! Awesome read! Can’t wait to buy it! OMG I just cried my eyes out… FANTASTIC read! Yes, I am ready to read more!... TEARS... Ok…no fair!– I have to read more! How long do I have to wait? Love it so far! Gave me goose bumps. I want to hear more! Moooooooooore please!!!!! Wow. That's powerful. Sooooo moving! Wow! "I" love it... Wow! Can't wait to read more.... One more for the night please!!!!! Extremely intrigued can't wait!!! Cliff hanger...love it... Leave us wanting more... I want more ...always wanted to know how that Hollywood gig went! Just so you know I actually had to pull my car over to read this - I couldn't even wait until I got home. I am really enjoying the excerpts your sharing but am impatient and want the rest of the story.... Solid!!!!!... WOW!!!!
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the long way home