Our last post shared a welcome reprieve from Josey’s hiatus from writing. He has thankfully been feeling more motivation to put his thoughts into stories again.

Several years ago, Josey was requested to provide peer support for first responders involved in a massive explosion. The explosion claimed the lives of several first responders and injured many others. At that incident, Josey was introduced to a fellow agent he nicknamed “City Girl”.

City Girl has been a part of Josey’s circle since that event. My first introduction to her was while reading Josey’s first book collaboration “Crucial Moments”. In the book is a story called Tears from Heaven, where readers are introduced to some of the people effected by the tragedy in a small town. The City Girl and Josey meet here and form a strong friendship while putting others on the path back into the light.

Over the years, Josey and the City Girl have shared the roller coaster of events that make up a life. Speaking to each other of issues that need a particular insight, or a friend’s ear, they have shared a lot. So as Josey was sitting in his tree in the pines of his childhood home, his mind fell into a peaceful return to old writing habits. Looking out into the misty treetops, every breath widened the gap in the wall keeping him from writing.

He first typed out a short message to Jessica, the breeder of the family’s new addition. Taking the first piece out of his thoughts, his next was to be a message to his friend City Girl. Josey looked out over the trees but saw the year that has passed. He wrote to his friend, but his words could be coming from the experiences of many this year.

Josey wrote,

                “I know it’s early but I’m in my perch like some bird with a full belly, and a broken wing on a constant mend. But my passion for the ability to fly again stops me from accepting the ground below.

                Your tar-and-feather break through inspires me. No matter how old we are, no matter the layers of tar cast upon us by those with misguided intentions of poor twisted judgement. We can heal to fly another day.

                The fight, the grit, the removal, may take what seems like a lifetime. But as we dig our feet into the earth, we center our bodies with the plate before us. We look ahead at the life coming at us like a speeding bullet. We rely on our past, our lessons, our training, but it simply boils down to timing. Our choice must be made in a matter of seconds.  You my friend, swing as hard as you can because it is better to miss than to have never tried to live a better life despite the tar and feathers that weigh you down.

                Yes, you inspire me. A simple man sitting on a perch.”

It seems to me, the most accessible emotion for Josey to write about is gratitude. In everything he does, Josey looks first to what others have done before him. His service to others is only a path he has accepted the call to follow. The thoughts that have broken out of the darkness to be written first are thanks. Thanks to Jessica for a tenacious fur-ball that brings joy and healing, and thanks to his friend City Girl for inspiring him to keep healing to fly through the rough stuff life puts on him.

As the stories continue to break the barriers in Josey’s mind, we will bring them here to be shared. If you would like to read more before then, feel free to seek out one of his books at crucialmoments.org