Better Days

If you could know how your life would turn out ten years before it happened, would you still do everything the same? Would it change the way you lived your life? Would you make the same choices? Would you have the same friends, date the same people, live the same life? Would the life you lead be a reflection of your desires? Of who you want to be? Would the person you are now be the same person you are then? What would you change? What would be important to you? What would people say your life was, productive or incomplete? Brady McEwing is the dependable one. The shoulder his friends lean on, the one they go to when things are bad. However, over the course of 10 years, Brady comes to find that he is no longer the source for their comfort, for their joy. His search for his own happiness in his life leads him down paths of disappointment and unhappiness. What will it take to bring him the joy that he is missing? Where will Brady find the ultimate source for his joy and see... Better Days?

"It is America in the 1950s. Four different families play out their individual lives in different parts of the country.... Circumstances compel three of the families to head West to California for a fresh start for their children. No one can predict the high-stakes drama and devasting results that ensue when their lives intersect. This tale, the first in a trilogy, follows the families as they struggle with their lives, loves, and longings."--Cover, p. 4.

This book was written to inspire and uplift others who may face many struggle, issues, or situations and those who can’t find the right words to encourage themselves or pick themselves back up after a certain level of painful experiences through their lifelong journey.

Arthur Briggs's life was Homeric in scope. Born on the tiny island of Grenada, he set sail for Harlem during the Renaissance, then to Europe in the aftermath of World War I, where he was among the first pioneers to introduce jazz music to the world. During the legendary Jazz Age in Paris, Briggs's trumpet provided the soundtrack while Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and the rest of the Lost Generation got drunk. By the 1930s, Briggs was considered "the Louis Armstrong of Paris," and was the peer of the greatest names of his time, from Josephine Baker to Django Reinhardt. Even during the Great Depression, he was secure as "the greatest trumpeter in Europe." He did not, however, heed warnings to leave Paris before it fell to the Nazis, and in 1940, he was arrested and sent to the prison camp at Saint Denis. What happened at that camp, and the role Briggs played in it, is truly unforgettable. Better Days Will Come Again, based on groundbreaking research and including unprecedented access to Briggs's oral memoir, is a crucial document of jazz history, a fast-paced epic, and an entirely original tale of survival.

This book helps those aspiring toward recovery and wellness and also those in recovery, because it addresses and challenges the individual - in very real, basic and honest ways - to make significant cognitive adjustments in how they live their lives. The beauty of this curriculum is that people like to do it and don't consider it a chore, a demand, or a requirement, because every page subtly encourages the individual to think in realistic and forward-moving ways. This allows them to feel good about doing the work. This book is for any person who struggles with their mental health and who wants to live a happier life as well as for any person who wants to improve their quality of life, how they deal with stress, obstacles, difficulties and other people and live a happier, healthy and much more stable life. I based this book on my personal life and recovery, and every page has been used successfully in peer group settings.