Foreword

The following should actually have been placed before "The Beginning", but as they say, "better late than never".

Like all stories, this one has a beginning and an end, with a whole lot of activity in between.  Most stories have a relatively slow start in the beginning – establishing characters and places and how those characters interact with each other – that helps build a story line to keep the reader's attention. Some time later in the story there will be a climax, often toward the end of the story, and finally the end of the story to tie up most of the loose ends and some profound point about life as we know it..

The end is where the main characters of the story go on with their lives and business.  In fairy tales – the end is where they say “And they all lived happily ever after.”  But this story isn't a fairy tale so it won't be ending with “And they all live happily ever after”.  Don't get me wrong. some of the players in this story will be happy, some will be not so happy and some will continue to be unhappy – in spite of the good things and good people that come into their lives over the years.  Oh we'll try to not have any fatalities along the way in this story, except perhaps from natural causes or diseases, but not everyone will go happily on their way at the end.  (Here's a little secret – I am one of the lucky ones in this story, that does go happily on his way.)

Near the end of this story (and I'll try to not ruin the ending for you), I walk off my dream job of 32 years simply because I couldn't work for ______ one more day.  Sometimes you do what you have to do, even when you are truly dedicated to the radio stations you work for and the great employees that work for and with you – but sometimes there is no other way to deal with a situation,  than to say, “I've had enough and I just can't do this anymore”.  Even when doing so may be the most difficult thing you do in your entire life.