"one of a father's primary responsibilities is to teach values and ethics to his children"
Messages for Anthony, Daniel, and Leah tells the story of an empowering philosophy of living as explained by a father to his children through nightly discussions of quotations. Follow their journey of development - discussions with my children, making the world a better place, love and relationships, the power of the individual, live life to the fullest, the individual as an artist - as some of the more beautiful ideas that humanity has engendered are explained in the father's own words to his children.
Surrounding this collection of poems is the story of a young woman who is non-verbal and has severe or "classic" autism, and her father/caregiver (the author) and how his development prepared him to provide for her unique needs and love her more than words can say!
The Leah Books
The Leah Books series tells the story of the care and development of a young woman with severe autism, provided by her father, the author. The heart of the series is a cookbook of the meals that he prepares for her daily (Cooking for Leah) and a book that details the techniques he has developed to provide her care (Caring for Leah). Supporting books of poems (Leah is a Masterpiece and Love Poems for Leah) and quotations (Messages for Anthony, Daniel, and Leah) shaped the author's growth and prepared him to care for Leah. All proceeds from the Leah Books will go to her special needs trust fund.
About the Author: Much of my life and energy is focused on caring for my autistic daughter Leah. My two older sons have graduated from college and are starting their lives. I love them as dearly as I love my daughter.
My history has equipped me to handle whatever comes our way. Certainly, ever since a turning point admonishment / encouragement from my late father at the age of 16 and probably even before that, I have been an "active actor" in life as opposed to a "passive participant".
While I did not do anything great in my life (if measured by historical standards), I did a lot of little good things. This included being a Resident Advisor in college, Big Brother during and after college, tutoring in my children's classes, coaching baseball and soccer, volunteering with special needs children, and providing career counseling for young people. Along the way, I've built houses and baked bread (and lots of cookies too). I have planted hundreds of trees and hundreds of ideas.
I am very fortunate to have preserved on paper many of the thoughts that roamed through my then young, elastic, vigorous, and optimistic mind 30 to 40 years ago. It helps keep me grounded and prevents me from falling into traps that my young self anticipated back then ("realism will crush your idealism" and "when i grow up, do i wise up or do i give up?").
