Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction and Non-fiction

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A life well-lived

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I’m thinking of an old friend and his family today. Denny Dawson is laying his mother to rest.

One of my favorite memories of Phyllis was seeing her cooking breakfast for everyone onboard the sternwheeler Hobby III at one of the sternwheel regattas. There were pans of biscuits, sausage, sausage gravy, bacon and whatever else was around. In the middle of it all was Phyllis with a smile on her face. She fed everyone around. It really didn’t matter who you were or what you were doing. She expected you to eat. The last time I saw Phyllis was about a year and a half ago. I had dropped in to see Denny for a few minutes. Phyllis convinced me to eat some beans and cornbread while I was there.

I’ve always wanted to live my life well. In my mind, that doesn’t mean money or excitement or big contributions to society. I will not be the person who cures cancer. It means being loved, and being remembered for your contributions, especially the little, everyday contributions. It means believing in something, and respecting those who disagree with you.

Yesterday I spent the better part of the day listening to two veterans describe their lives. Both men happened to be about my age. They talked about careers of service and spending time in war zones with the simplicity of someone who has been there. It’s not that either man wanted to go to war. It was simply that both men believed that is where they could best serve their country, their fellow soldiers, and most importantly their families and friends.

Often we get wrapped up in the minutiae of our lives and forget to live them. And I mean really live them. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes the passing of a loved one to remind us. I know this is a difficult time for the Dawson family right now. I will keep them in my prayers. But I also find some inspiration in these moments. It becomes a wake-up call to remember to live. Remember to live for others and use the talents given to me by God and not to squander them.

I’m headed to the visitation to pay my respects to Denny and maybe share a smile with him. I doubt he feels like laughing right now but I’ll bet there will be some smiles there, too. That’s what life is about, and how to honor, a life well-lived.

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Helping others and learning lessons

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Last Friday, my girls and I sat on the couch watching a massive thunderstorm march across the television screen and the country, wreaking havoc and turning lives upside down. There was no Dorothy or Wizard of Oz in those thunderstorms. Just fear and pain. Fortunately, we were spared anything but some lightning and rain. Still, we watched.

As the stories of survival and loss have aired on the local television news this week, paired with stories of people pulling together to help out, my daughters watched that, too. And everyday they’ve said they wanted to help out. Of course, “things” got in the way, or we ran out of time. Finally, last night (in the rain), we ran to the store to get some things to donate. It’s all simple stuff. Mostly cleaning supplies, gloves and some paper plates (again, one of the girls came up with that one, but it made sense to me). Nothing exciting or flashy. I hope it helps.
It just so happened that yesterday a friend sent me an email about parenting that included a story on raising empathetic kids. You can read the story here. My kids’ interest in helping others became an object lesson for me. At times, I get frustrated because I feel that as a people we have lost that feeling of empathy—on a day-to-day basis, anyway. We blister others for their political beliefs, distrust religions and can be generally hateful to each other. But when things get tough, we do remember to pull together. Empathy comes out and we want to help each other. I wish all of us would remember that feeling on a daily basis and pull together—not just at the bad times, but during the good ones as well.
I know a lot of others are pitching in. The employees at my fiancée’s company (about 40 people) donated $1500 out of their own pockets, for example.
My thanks to the staff at WCHS/WVAH TV and the Union Mission for organizing the donation drive and many thanks to the staff from the newsroom who came out at 7:15 am this morning to let us drop off the supplies on the way to school. It meant a lot to the girls to see where their donations were going.
I’ve learned from this experience, too. I know if it hadn’t been for their insistence, I probably would have put it off and put it off and never gotten around to donating anything myself. Instead of trying to raise empathetic children, I need to remember to take a breath from my own schedule and remember others.

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Blog 101

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When I was at Marshall, classes with the number 101 after them meant “introductory”. I will assume that’s fairly universal. So, is this an introduction? Not really.

This happens to be the 101st blog I have posted to “Adventure with a Purpose.”

I explained early on that I believe life is supposed to be about more than just marking time. As I scan back through the previous 100 posts, I see some common themes: travel, exploration, discovery, talking about issues, examining the things that are important to me and experiencing new things. I think I’ve kept to my theme pretty well, if I do say so myself.

About three months ago, I refocused this blog away from international toward local when I moved back to West Virginia. I think of it now as a chance to rediscover my roots and allow my creativity to flow in a new direction.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about seeing live music. Yesterday, I was listening to the song “Twin Rocks, Oregon” by Shaun Mullins. This lyric struck me:

I said “I don’t reckon i’ll be makin it big, you know it’s hard to get rich off a tout of coffee house gigs”
and he said “yeah, but ain’t it a blessin to do what you wanna do…”

While my music ability is extremely limited, I identify with people who perform music in the small clubs and coffee houses. They are doing what they love and they keep hammering away at it. They might dream of fortune and fame, but they know it isn’t going to come from playing for 20 people sipping coffee. They are playing for themselves, honing their skills and working at their craft, hoping that one day they will make it. If they don’t, at least they can say they tried and had some fun along the way.

I think of myself as a story teller. Some of them are fiction, some of them are true. In some other cases, the lines get a little blurry. Several years ago, someone asked me why I haven’t written much about West Virginia. I didn’t have a good answer for that question. Maybe it was too close, and maybe it was too far away. I get the feeling that’s about to change. Every day new idea pops into my head…so many in fact that my fiancée has taken to rolling her eyes when a conversation starts with “I have this idea for a new project…” and the dry erase board I use to track projects is getting pretty full.

Eye-rolling aside, this is when I’m happy. When ideas are flowing and I’m excited about creating. In the last couple months, I have finished up a new novel (and am currently shopping it around), two new kids stories and am working on a new diving short story. I’ve also started a documentary project interviewing veterans about their experiences. I have “lots of ideas” for that project. And I do have this new kernel of an idea bouncing around inside my brain about a fiction project set in West Virginia (finally!).

So, maybe this is my “101” course. I’ll definitely be proud to identify with the “creative-types” who are out there every day, working on their craft. And, of course, day dreaming about what it means to make it.  

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Meeting new people

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A “long-time” friend of mine (I’ve been told I can no longer use the phrase “old friend” especially when it relates to a female friend) contacted me yesterday and asked if I would photograph a friend of hers. He needed pictures for his website. He is running for political office and needed them as soon as possible. And that was how I ended up on the state capitol grounds today. I had forgotten that the legislature was in town so parking was a bit of a challenge, but I found something eventually. And I was early anyway…this will come as a shock to no one.  

I’m going to avoid identifying this politician. He is new to the political game, and I didn’t ask his permission to mention him here. But I had the great pleasure to meet a person that struck me as a genuinely nice, cerebral and gentle man. We were only together about half an hour (we had to shoot these photos during his lunch hour) and during that time I took nearly 70 photos. In spite of having my camera to my face nearly the entire time, I enjoyed the meeting. We talked and joked. It was fun. I hope he does well.

My first reaction on meeting him was, “he doesn’t seem like a politician.” I hope that comes through to the voters in a positive way. Politics today is way too full of people who are way too full of themselves. I will definitely keep an eye on him. I have no clue about his party affiliation or his stance on anything. He just seemed like a really good person. As I have grown more and more disappointed in the tenor of politics lately, both from the politicians themselves and the partisan sniping among the general population, it was nice to meet someone running for statewide office who didn’t seem to have any pretenses.

Afterward, I decided to stop for lunch. It was 65 and sunny today so there was no way I was going to eat inside. I got a seat on the deck at the Tricky Fish on the east end-just a few blocks from the capitol. This is one of Jon Steele’s three places. He advertises it as a “beach shack.” Just a moment later, a woman came in, sat down and asked me to tell her about “this place.” I assumed she meant the restaurant since it is somewhat unique. After a moment, I realized she actually meant Charleston. She was just passing through, heading down I-64 on her way to Louisville, Kentucky. We ended up talking through lunch as I told her about the town, things to see and places to go. It was fun for me. As I have written, I have just moved back here after being away since 1998. I hadn’t even thought about my hometown in that regard for a while. Fun to dredge up the tour guide memories.

As we talked, she told me that she that she liked to go places and experience them from the local perspective. She likes to travel and stay in hostels or in people’s homes. I told her that was the theme of my website and this blog…experiencing life and having a purpose. We agreed that life is much more fun that way.

I’ve had the tremendous good fortune to travel and experience a lot of really interesting parts of the world. But I like an adventure wherever I can find it. Sometimes you find it at the other end of a plane trip. Other times, you can find those new experiences and the energy that comes from them just down the street.

All in all, I’m gonna call that a good day.

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Real Spirit of Christmas

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I have to admit I’ve been frustrated the last few weeks as people have used Christmas to grind axes against political parties, politicians and each other. All in the name of what is supposed to be a holiday about peace and love.

But then again, there are conversations that make me proud of my fellow man again.

·         I’ve had this conversation twice in the last two days with totally separate families. That tells me the feeling is more common than I realized. People are talking about cutting back or skipping the exchanging of gifts because there is “nothing we need” or “we have so much already.” Then they talk about finding ways to help other people out with the money knowing that there are people who need the help. And I’m not talking about rich people. Face it, most of us go buy things when we want them. We aren’t waiting on Christmas for someone else to buy it for us.

·         A good friend of mine went to Goodwill yesterday and cleaned out nearly every coat in the place. Today she is giving them away to anyone who needs them at a party for people who are struggling. She isn’t asking for any recognition and would kill me if I said who it was. That isn’t why she’s doing it. She is doing it because it is the right thing to do and she wants to do it. Simple as that.

·         I was blown away when I read the story about people paying off the Kmart layaway accounts for other people. That’s pure genius. Most people are doing it anonymously or are walking up to strangers in the store and doing it on the spot. Not for any personal gain, but because it can help out someone who might be having a tough time this year. If you didn’t read this story, here is thelink.

For years people have gone together and sponsored families or donated toys to toy drives and I think that stuff is great. I just see people really getting involved on a personal level and that sort of thing makes me really proud. They aren’t waiting for an organization or the government to do something. They are doing it themselves.

That is really what Christmas and this season is about for me. Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves. I can’t think of a better way to do it than to put aside our own “wants” and do something for someone else. You never know, you might just get a bigger gift in return.

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