Jul 20
13
(2) In the Beginning
The novel, Leapfrog, has five sections including the 100 plus page Appendix which is comprised entirely of the Leapfrog “Manuscript,” the almost wholly factual basis for the novel and which played an important part throughout the novel.
In the Appendix, freelance “author,” Jean Stockwell, another figment of my imagination, interviews Brad Cullen via email exchanges. All of “Brad’s” replies are based on my actual experiences with the names of people and places all changed.
The idea that spawned the Appendix came from an actual interview of me that began, in-person, initiated by our corporate attorney and I agreed to a continuation of that “real” interview by email since I was traveling widely at the time.
That interviewer was a woman and a freelance writer …and she had a very real “Leapfrog” experience, during our exchange, with her going way beyond my spiritual understanding at that time.
The sequel to Leapfrog has, just this minute, been re-named In the Beginning …and here’s why.
I wrote what I thought was the first part of the sequel, with the reappearance of Jean Stockwell, back in 2014, waiting for six years to be shown an appropriate ending.
Since the writing of it came from far beyond my conscious abilities, I can easily and truthfully say that not only was it inspired, but the writing of it was also every bit as inspiring to me as was the writing of Leapfrog.
What I wrote six years ago, however, was not the opening of the story, but a beginning to every reader’s own ending. I had glimpses of that, but until now didn’t have full awareness.
The spiritual adventure and transformation of Darlene Adams, her husband Jack and their two teenage daughters Debbie and Rachel are the focal point of the entire novel, ending with the understanding that the world upheaval of 9/11, 2001 and its aftermath, was about to take place.
The world has not been the same since.
Leapfrog opened with Darlene’s thoughts while driving towards the office of a Psychiatrist who had helped her brother-in-law to overcome a loss of confidence and downward spiral toward being suicidal back to normalcy.
Darlene had been going through a year of depression culminating in her older sister recommending she visit the same psychiatrist that had so quickly helped her husband; and which had led her to this moment thinking about “why” she was going through all this.
Just a few short weeks later, Darlene’s thoughts are considerably happier:
“It struck me as we went down the stairs how easy life was when you made a decision to let God control it. I realized that there would be tough decisions and questions soon enough…but right at that moment happiness flooded my mind and heart. Little did I know what was rushing toward us.”
In every new beginning something is rushing towards us that changes everything …and that becomes our new beginning . . . in (3), coming right up, we’ll be looking at a lens through which to look that makes every change a new, exciting and pleasurable adventure, in spite of some bumpy stretches of the road over which we have to travel.