Endless Summer Creations

* The Unexamined Brutality of the Male Libido, By Stephen Marchenov, November 25, 2017

It's not blood that makes family – it's love. Without love, blood might just as well be ice. What would it have been like if you had been truly loved? And what would your children say to them if they could? Charlotte and Johnny were born of not only these questions, but of a mourning process. Charlotte came from a dysfunctional but very artistic and creative family. While there were often pain and struggles, there were also happy times. Charlotte never imagined that one day her family would no longer be there. Her family was far from perfect, but it was her sanctuary. And then one day it was just gone. Over. Charlotte was left reeling. She was in shock for so long she wasn't sure for exactly what. But eventually she came to realize that it was a death. That she had to mourn it as such. And to do that, she needed to share these vignettes; scenes from this family that once was. Then we meet Johnny, Charlotte's eleven-year old son. Johnny has been given so...

See the newly revised Charlotte and Johnny: A Series of Vignettes in the Amazon window below!  I have added back in previously unreleased content.  I decided the book wasn't complete without it and found a way to make all the stories work together, by dividing the work into Part One and Part Two.  My first edition was comprised of the current Part Two (my favorite part of the book).  But I think you'll have a better appreciation of Part Two after you read Part One.    Love, "Carly" and Endless Summer Creations

My "Johnny" has now been published in the Kindle Store!

Blood alone does not a family make... I began working on this project two years ago. I followed the directions this project took me. I originally had much more written but have pared most of it away, down to the essence. I am indebted to my beautiful son for concepts and inspiration. It's fitting that I'm publishing this on the day Hurricane Irma is bearing down on us. I love my husband, son and my family of colleagues. I am blessed to have that love. And my wish for all of you is that you feel the irreplaceable love of family every day, no matter who your family may be or how you came together. Love, Carly Purchase Kindle Edition Purchase Paperback Edition  

two years ago i stood before that door of the man who was my hero who i loved to my core who captivated us all with his stories of endless wisdom and wit who had been kept from me “he’s not well” “he can’t see anyone” yet he welcomed me just like always my heart jumped for joy next time my son could be there it would be alright again my son could take his place at those bustling tables of family holidays that i had always known they would always be there, right? but for that brief precious afternoon we were reunited i had found what was lost stay longer, they all said we’re having pizza and salad it’s ok, i said didn’t want to overstay my welcome they insisted so i took my place and for a while all was as it had been before we still felt her absence voids that could never be filled the house with all the familiar trappings gone but somehow the same table reappeared the same spirit i could feel her with u...

By João Pimentel Ferreira via Wikimedia Commons Well I was able to get back to my writing project which I started almost two years ago.  I have to be vague about the details right now - I feel like the finished product could be so good that I don't want to spoil the surprise.  I have my son Carl to thank for much of the concept. It's something that I need to finish.  For me.  Many things that would never be said otherwise.  Many conversations that need to be had.  Even if only in bookland.  I know these things will most likely never be said in real life.  All I need is for them to have been said on paper, either real or virtual..I have been mourning certain things.  And I know that to complete my mourning process, this book needs to be written.  It's been several years in the works already.  It's not something I can rush.  But I do need to finish and move on with my life. I've been sick and bedridden all weekend long. ...

This is the post I wrote on Facebook in early September 2015 when I realized we needed to return to Florida.  I wrote these words with a very heavy heart because in coming north, I had just wanted to come home.  But I had to eventually face the reality that the places which had always been home to me no longer were.  I came to realize that home is wherever Jim, Carl and I may be.  Even if it's in a hotel room.  Or an RV.  We learned to cling hard to each other.  Like hikers lost in a snowstorm, we kept each other warm to survive. There's a part of me that wishes I could just wash my hands of my old home.  It is no longer the source of comfort, companionship and merriment that it once was. However, I would not take back our time up north.  There was so much beauty there.  I saw it when the heavy snowfalls descended outside our motel room window, and Carl looked out to sights he had never seen in his life.  I saw it when Ca...

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack And you may find yourself in another part of the world And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife And you may ask yourself – Well, How did I get here? “Once In a Lifetime,” Talking Heads And you may find yourself living in a 1978 Champion motorhome in an RV park in the Washington forest.  And you may find that the family you thought would always be there was gone.  And you may find yourself in a life which makes no sense, in which the train jumped the track long ago and continues to hurtle helter-skelter through the wilderness heading to destinations unknown, leaving behind a family that once was.   Carla used to wish so badly that train could be stopped, turned around and returned to the life that made sense, in which Carla knew who she was and didn’t have to keep adapting herself anew just to survive.. ...

Sometimes the question is not "Why do I want to accomplish this goal"?  Sometimes it's more like "Why shouldn't I just do whatever I feel like doing? Why do I want to bother myself with goals when I could just be relaxing instead?" You might then ask yourself, if I forget the goal what do I miss out on?  Am I ok with that?  Will I have regrets one day?  Which will cause me more stress - abandoning the goal or following through on it? What will my life look like next week, next month, next year if I do/don't accomplish the goal?  Sometimes when it's the desire for accomplishment that falters, it's the fear of loss that keeps you going. 

If "If I were an older man and met a younger woman I would have just wanted to be her friend I wouldn't have wanted to ruin her life" a haze of shock confusion and hurt descended upon her had it all been a mistake when they first met he even told her she should dance with the younger guys and because she didn't her life was ruined? if she danced with him night after night if his kindness washed over her in healing waves if he told her she wasn't crazy if he told her there was nothing wrong with her if she knew he would never leave her side if he called her out for being the jackass she was when she talked about giving up throwing all her dreams away believing the lies if he fulfilled every last vow if he should have been long gone but never quit her if he could always crack her up if that wacky humor still lived on through the Parkinson's if she knew the disease might take his body but never touch his love that none other could ever match if that's a rui...

By Joseph Jacobs John Dickson Batten [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Shelley and I were friends almost immediately.  However her father did not like me.  The only reason I can imagine is that my family was too poor for him and that he did not consider me fit to be around his daughter.  Despite how her father felt about me, the moments when he was away at work as a lawyer, and when Shelley and I were together were the thrill of my life.  We did everything for fun, it seemed like there was nothing we couldn't do, no fun that we couldn't have.    Her house was an entire wonderland within itself.  An enormous granite-walled mansion, there were four floors of enchanting adventure for us.  The first floor held a kitchen where we made all kinds of goodies, an adjacent playroom where we played house, Barbie, watched "It's A Living," "Silver Spoons," "Small Wonder," "Dukes of Hazzard," "Laverne & Shirley," two mag...

Right now my son and I are reading Pax by Sara Pennypacker.  The chapter we read last night got me to thinking, how the character Vola says she didn't remember one single true thing about herself after she had left the military, after going to war and then coming out as a civilian. Has that ever happened to you?  Where you just lost yourself, forgotten when your core values are?  I have.  I've been in the military too but that's not where mine were really waylaid.  That didn't come until much later. Whenever I feel like I've forgotten what my core values are, I think back to my 16-year old self first.  After that would be my college self, where I began to come into my own and make choices as an adult for the first time.  I'm then refreshed as to my core truths, when I am my honest self - some of which are: 1) If you can't count on family and know they will always have your back, that's not a family. 2) So-called "love"...