Catchin’ the Sun and Moonbeams, Dad …: Play, Laugh, Love

By PJ Karr

To his family and close friends, author PJ Karrs father was affectionately known as J. J., John, Johnnie, Jack, Grandpa, and Gramps. A feisty man until his death at ninety-six, he embraced life and lived it to the fullest. In Catchin the Sun and Moonbeams, Dad , Karr provides a collection of snapshots that encapsulate her fathers sense of humor, love of adventure, and willingness to take what life threw at him. With each snapshot, her universal keepsakes captivate and offer the reader a rare opportunity to jot down a personal reflection and inspirations.

These stories showcase her fathers gifts of laughter, adventure, love, playtime, and attitude. They include reminisces of distinctive years, states, and settings. Play, laugh, and love each come alive in every chapter, even when life began to change in Johns early eighties. Karr embraces her dads lively spirit, which remained steadfast even during his last twelve years of progressive dementia and Alzheimers.

A celebration of a life well lived, Catchin the Sun and Moonbeams, Dad , Dad serves as a reminder to capture the present moment and squeeze as much enjoyment out of it as possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Nov 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781480803831

PJ Karr

PJ Karr earned an undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire and a doctorate from Ohio State University. She has taught at Texas Woman’s University, Ohio State, Tufts, and Northeastern. She is not only the author of several books, academic, and prose publications but also a Reiki-Shamballa master. Open mic venues, workshops and travel inspire her creative writing and open the unexpected doors for her mystical and playful journeys.

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Copyright © 2013 PJ Karr, Ph.D.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-0382-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-0383-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013919865

Archway Publishing rev. date: 11/13/2013

Especially for J.J. and Madre

Our play, laughter, and love still resonate

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter I   The Gift of Laughter

Chapter II   The Gift of Adventure

Chapter III   The Gift of Love

Chapter IV   The Gift of Playtime

Chapter V   The Gift of Attitude

Acknowledgments

When my Dad passed on, my sister and I worked on a celebration of Dad’s life for the wake and memorial services. Yet my heart knew. There had been no writing for the services, no remembrance. Time was ticking away…

I went to bed at the end of that week with no remembrance swirling in my head. I was worrying about what was missing. Suddenly, I felt a peace enfolding my heart. Somehow, Dad was talking to me. Stop worrying! Go to sleep, kiddo. You’re a writer, he coaxed. I fell into a deep, peaceful slumber, recalling his gentle voice and smile.

At breakfast, I sat at my café table. I put a piece of paper and pen beside my coffee cup. All of a sudden, I stopped eating and picked up my pen. My hand began to scribble away. Snapshot, snapshot, snapshot. I felt Dad in my heart again.

The remembrance… Dad was helping me to write in the moment!

My heart still feels an amazing grace for his gift of snapshots that literally morphed into a book across several months.

As always, there