Not All Step-Parents Are Evil...Though We Might Be Crazy

By Ira Jacques

In 2009,my stepson, Greg Holcomb-Jacques, was diagnosed with DIPG, which is short for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a type of brain cancer. We shared a very special relationship, and I would argue that even though he was a stepson and not my blood, he was every bit my son as any biological son could have been. I loved him and miss him dearly.

I wrote this book to help put into perspective what his life meant to me. Just because fairy tales portray step-parents as being inherently wicked, I wanted to set the record straight at least on this account that it's not always that way, nor does it have to be.

On a side note, however, DIPG is not what killed my son. I wrote this book to preserve what memories I have until I can find the truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ira Jacques
• Release date: Mar 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310214233

Ira Jacques

How does one consolidate their life into one short blurb and do it justice? I'm a guy on the nerdy side of the spectrum. You remember the movie Revenge of the Nerds? If Buzzfeed ever gets around to determining the nerd I'd most be like, I have no doubt I'd end up as Gilbert, the one played by Anthony Edwards. Incidentally, Gilbert and Lewis were best friends in the movie, and Gilbert Lewis was one of my idols in chemistry as a high schooler. But I digress. I am a mechanic. Why? Because I enjoy the work. I'm not some Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged-esque engineer on strike. I actually do a good bit of design and engineering work in my shop. But that's to modify cars and trucks. I do live in Southern California, after all. I started writing after my stepson's death in 2010. This first book, "Hey God, Maybe it's Your Plan, but I Don't Want to Die" is written by my stepson, Greg Holcomb-Jacques, but it was published posthumously by me. It was originally published for Kindle in 2012, but I have decided to make a free version on multiple platforms now via Smashwords just to have the story told. Thank you for reading. Ira

Book preview

Not All Step-Parents Are Evil…

Though We Might Be Crazy

Ira Jacques

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Ira Jacques

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

ISBN-13: 978-1310214233

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my wife Jennifer Holcomb-Jacques, and my late stepson, Greg Holcomb-Jacques.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Part 1 Early Childhood

1: The First Years part 1

2: Testing the Waters Again After the Ship Had Sunk

3: Jennifer’s Backstory

Part 2 Present Day

Daymares

Part 3 Our Baby Grows Up

1: The First Years part 2

2: I wish all kids were aged six through ten

3: Ghost Dad

4: Big Greg

5: Dying Greg

Part 4 Present Day

1: The Trip I Asked Him Not to Take

2: Walter Janusz

Afterword

Foreword

In 2009, my stepson Greg was diagnosed with a terrible disease called DIPG, which is short for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma. This horrible disease is a form of brain cancer and is nearly always fatal within a couple years. Greg was 17 at the time of his diagnosis. Most patients with DIPG are younger children, but Greg’s was not an isolated case. This book, however, is not about cancer or how Greg died. In fact, my wife and I recently chose to publish his diary so that others could see the insider’s perspective of being a teen with terminal brain cancer. It’s a free e-book you can get here:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/413442

The title is Hey God, Maybe it’s Your Plan, But I Don’t Want to Die, by Greg Holcomb-Jacques.

This book is about how Greg lived and it’s about my relationship with him as his stepfather. It’s not meant to be didactic—I’m not trying to teach anyone about parenting here—if anything it is meant to be an anecdotal retrospective of my time with Greg as his stepfather. Maybe some other step-parents will share some of the experiences I have had, or maybe some will just think me to be a crazy and/or sentimental old fool, and though I don’t think I am either, I hope that at least you find the story to be worth your time. Enjoy.

Oh and one last thing: I know that the correct way to spell step-parent is stepparent; however, I did not like the way it looked on the cover of this book, so I took the artistic liberty to change it.

~Ira

Part 1 Early Childhood

1: The First Years part 1

I first met Greg’s mother, Jennifer, when Greg was teething. She had come to my newly opened garage to get her car inspected. I remember thinking to myself at the time, Boy, that kid has got some fantastic lungs on him, as she sat in the waiting area trying to cheer up the screaming kid. Fortunately, I didn’t have any other customers waiting, as it was a slow day because of the terrible weather. I assigned the car to my partner Jack so that I could get some paperwork done in the office, but it soon became apparent that the little screaming tyke was louder than Jack’s impact wrench, and I wasn’t going to get any of it done until they had left. I decided to take a break and talk to the lady and try to help cheer up her boy, whose name I learned was Gweggy Weggy.

Does my wittle Gweggy Weggy want his NeeNee? she kept saying over and over as she nuzzled her nicely shaped nose up against his tiny red button-shaped one. I kept thinking that any second, little Gweggy Weggy was going to bite her nose right off.

Um, would you like a drink or something while you wait and er, provide entertainment for little Gweggy Weggy? I chuckled.

But the little boy stopped crying at the sound of his name and stared at me with an open mouth smile full of drool, and in that brief instant of time, measured in milliseconds, perhaps, I fell in love.

I quickly snapped out of it and just smiled at the boy. But something had overcome me for that briefest of instants… something which I hadn’t felt in over a year.

The lady smiled and said, "You must have that special way with kids. Greg usually doesn’t take to