This book is a collection of true short stories which captures the childhood adventures of a mischievous boy who grew up in South Georgia. Several of the stories are near-death adventures, and each story has a value based message that reinforces the importance of great decision making in young people. All the stories are true. This is the first book by this author who had an exciting, but healthy and happy, childhood. Readers will find these stories believable, funny, shocking, and dramatic. The intended audience is 8 to 15 year olds and the life tips contained in the articles are experience-based from a boy who sometimes learned the hard way and sometimes was just a victim of fate. The author acknowledges that he does not understand why God has chosen to continue his life, even though there have been multiple near-death experiences. In one story, the author was shot in the forehead with a razor-sharp deer hunting arrow at a distance of about 100 yards. In another story, he was making money by picking pinecones near the top of a tree and contacted an electrical power line with his aluminum pole. And, in another story, he narrowly escaped near death or serious injury from a cottonmouth water moccasin. Each story has been told hundreds of times by the author and time after time, people who hear these stories of near death are shocked and on the edge of their seats. You will not believe them, but there are articles in newspapers documenting two of the incidents and the balance are not documented, but true. The author has an established blog site with some of the newspaper clippings therein.
About the Author: Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Dave Merritt was born in Tifton, Georgia, in 1954 and remained there until his graduation from high school. In 1972 he joined the United States Army and rose from Private to Staff Sergeant and then from Second Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. He retired from the army after 27 years of service and then worked for seventeen years in corporate America, primarily in the project management field, where he managed large-scale information technology projects. In 1977, he married Shelia Diann Tomey from Waynesboro, Virginia. He and his wife of over 40 years have two fantastic children, Kelly and Christopher; one amazing daughter-in-law, Ryan; and five magnificent grandchildren: Hunter, Casey, Mackenzie, Noah, and Charlotte. These stories are written for them and for all who cherish short stories based on real-life experiences. The stories, several of them near-death stories, tell of a mischievous child whom God blessed with fantastic parents, a wonderful wife, a splendid family, and two great careers. Dave retired in 2017. He and Shelia live in Chester, Virginia.