Separated by Dreams: A Novel

By Elizabeth Ann Guevara

When two separate lives intersect over the random theft of a briefcase, what lay inside was powerful enough to save a life and change both of their worlds forever.

What youre about to read is incredible, but true: my life is inextricably entwined with a man I choose to call Miguel, yet weve never met. We know of each others existence, but have yet to say or write one word to each other. This book is my way of reaching out to him. Letting him know that from day one Ive know of his terrible pain, suffering & ultimate redemption.
-Elizabeth ann guevara


El Camino is a feature length motion picture inspired by the novel SEPARATED BY DREAMS.

In collaboration with the author, this independently produced drama, written for the screen & directed by Sean Daniel Bauer, has received numerous awards for its retro flair & distinct composition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504985659

Elizabeth Ann Guevara

Elizabeth Ann Guevara was born and raised in a small town in Southern California. After leaving home, she began working full time at a young age, when most kids were still in high school having fun and dating. Twenty-six years later, after a successful corporate career, she left it all behind to pursue her creative dreams, and spent a few years doing positive writing sessions. Something she didn’t know at that time was that leaving the workaday world would finally allow her to spend quality time with her mother, since she hadn’t been able to do that while raising her son and flying all over the country on business. From 2001 on, Liz began spending more time with her family. They didn’t do anything special, and it was never planned. Every chance they had, they were together, just enjoying the moment and sharing laughter. Over time, she eventually stopped doing the positive writing sessions because she didn’t want to lose any precious time with her mother. The years they shared were wonderful, until her mother passed away in April 2005. Her mother had long encouraged Liz to write her story and find Miguel… and in fact that was the last thing she said to her prior to passing. And so, in 2008, she wrote and published the first edition of Separated by Dreams. Liz served as Executive Producer on the film EL CAMINO which was inspired by her book. Today, she continues to write additional stories that she hopes one day will inspire people just as she did with Separated by Dreams.

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© 2016 Elizabeth Ann Guevara. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse    03/23/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8566-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8565-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016904306

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Chapter One:  The Stolen Briefcase

Chapter Two:  In Dreams

Chapter Three:  A New Beginning

Chapter Four:  Miguel’s First Real Job

Chapter Five:  Tamale Dinner

Chapter Six:  Job Training

Chapter Seven:  An Angel Named Nancy

Chapter Eight:  High Stakes Competition

Chapter Nine:  At the Scene of the Crime

Chapter Ten:  Nancy’s Surprise

Chapter Eleven:  Asha’s Visions

Chapter Twelve:  A Vacation of Firsts

Chapter Thirteen:  Where’s Miguel Now?

About The Author

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my beautiful loving Mother, whose soul was filled with wisdom, knowledge and pure love. Your spirit will always be with me.

~

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are a number of people who made the writing of this book possible for this first-time writer.

Huge thanks to Sean Daniel Bauer for taking my story and brilliantly writing/directing and editing it into an independent feature film EL CAMINO from the opposite point of view of the character from my story. He did such an amazing job!

My heartfelt thanks as well to Jessica Mann, who came along in October 2015 to help me finesse the book, which had been previously published many years before. Jessica came to my home and we sat and talked about how I envisioned the edits and changes to look and feel, and then she took my information and went back to her office. After reading her first chapter of edits, I knew I had made the right decision! Her writing is absolutely beautiful, and she was able to capture my deeper vision on paper. Her company is called Write-Angels, and what an angel she is!

My hat is off to Sara Anne Fox, who took my original and difficult-to-read manuscript and skillfully put it into a readable book format. You had an amazingly difficult job, Sara. I’m grateful that you loved my story and understood what I was trying to say. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication.

My mother, Pauline Garcia Olson, gave me the gift of pure love from the moment of my birth. All you need is love really applies here. We didn’t have much in the way of material things when I was growing up, but I wasn’t really aware of that because of the source of unlimited love from my mother. She was a strong woman who inspired me to keep going when I wanted to give up. Even though she’s gone, she will always be with me. If it wasn’t for my mom, I would have never written this book. She asked me to put my story out there for people to read.

My sister, Elaine Muro, raised us while our mother was working long, hard hours to provide for us. Thank you for showing me how to take care of myself at a very young age, when you were still a child yourself. I’ll never forget all you did for us while we were growing up.

My sister, Eleanor Guendert, as best friends we spend a lot of time together either on the phone or just out for a walk. We have fun talking and in our conversations we seem to come up with solutions to the things going on in our lives. 

Much gratitude goes to my Aunt Yolanda Curts whose assistance came in quite handy towards the end of this adventure. Being the avid reader that she is, her input truly helped me with the final touches needed prior to originally publishing my book. Thanks, Londi, for your help!

Thank you to the rest of my family, my sister Joy Piatek, nephew Martin Piatek, my nephew & niece Rick & Michelle Muro and brother in law John Muro for all stepping in as back ground actors in the film EL CAMINO!

Thank you to Sherry Hopson who helps me keep my energy balanced, and her daughter Makenna, as they both stepped in to play background actors as well. Thank you to all my friends and relatives (too many to mention) who stepped in to be part of the film.

Many thanks to Asha, who walked up to me that fateful day and urged me to write my story as well. Asha, even though you now live far away, I feel your love and our bond of friendship across the miles. Thank you for sharing your insights with me.

Thanks to my best friend from 3rd grade, Miami Judson. She and I have stayed close friends all these years. Miami was with me the day I met Asha and most importantly, convinced me to meet with a lady named Marilyn and that experience changed my life. Thank you, Miami, for being my friend all these years. I’m grateful that we didn’t outgrow each other, but grew even closer together through our ups and downs in life and we continue to have some great belly laughs and adventures along the way.

My gratitude goes to Marilyn who I met with in Dana Point on April 11, 2000. She re-reminded me about positive writing and spent a lot of time with me that day, pushing me to write out my dreams as I really truly desired them.

Thanks to Gary Anderson from Iowa who has since passed away. Many years ago, prior to first self-publishing my book, Gary read my story and provided some very nice touches that seemed to perfect what I was trying to convey.

Thanks to Ashley Gonor for being my daily phone buddy back when I was originally writing my book. We met when both of us were about to go through major life changes, but got through it together, Ashley, I’m grateful to you. She was kind enough to bring her two beautiful little daughters so the three of them could be back ground actors in a scene in the film.

I’m not sure if I can thank a song, but I’m grateful for Beautiful Day, which was performed by U2. It’s from the All That You Can’t Leave Behind CD, and it played over and over while I was working on this book. That incredible CD, filled with many wonderful songs, was the background music for the birth of my story.

Thank you to my son who allowed (I’m not sure of another word besides allowed) me to be his mom and just be myself during the process of raising him which in turn allowed him to be himself ~ which is sometimes one of the greatest gifts in life ~ something my mother taught me. To this day we have a wonderful loving relationship!

Thank You God, Jesus, Mother Mary and all my guides and angels, who are with me each and every day and guide me through life. Even when life gets tough, You somehow show me my lessons so I can move along and live my life with gratitude.

FOREWORD

What you are about to read is incredible, but true: my life is inextricably entwined with a man I choose to call Miguel, yet we’ve never met. We know of each other’s existence, but have yet to say or write one word to each other. This book is my way of reaching out to him, of letting him know that from Day One I’ve known of his pain and suffering—and ultimate redemption.

In September 2000, I was shaken to the core by the theft of something very precious to me. Like so many others, I became a statistic—a crime victim.

Looking at those two words, I have to smile and shake my head, because I’ve come to believe that I was chosen to be victimized, because the person who took what was mine needed it more than I did. The crime was a turning point, not only in my life, but in the life of the desperate man who broke into a van and stole my computer briefcase.

I can say today that I wasn’t a victim and Miguel wasn’t my victimizer. Rather, I believe that stealing my briefcase saved his life and taught me many valuable lessons.

Time brings perspective and often, surprises. If anyone had told me back then that I’d eventually feel a deep gratitude for a criminal act being perpetrated on me, I would have laughed in disbelief. Today, I’m a believer and see that I was put in a certain place at a certain time for reasons that were bigger than me—and out of my control. I see now that I’m part of a story that’s a piece of a much larger plan—a plan not of my making.

Here is that story.

CHAPTER ONE

The Stolen Briefcase

It was a warm and muggy morning on September 12, 2000 as I slipped into a taxi outside my San Antonio hotel. I was headed to a Texas branch of a computer component company for an engineering meeting. My company, along with more than a dozen others, was bidding on a large project and my task was to bring back the specific engineering requirements. I’m a saleswoman, not an engineer, but all the technical types were tied up with other pressing matters at our San Diego headquarters, so I’d been deputized to fly to San Antonio and take copious notes.

Ten minutes later, I walked into a large meeting room teeming with engineers. The meeting began, and as I took notes, I found myself getting a kick out of listening as Texas accents described the project and its requirements. I wrote furiously, transcribing technical jargon that was difficult for me to understand but would make perfect sense to our engineers back home.

The meeting ended several hours later and I couldn’t have been more ready to catch a flight back home to San Diego. My hand was sore and my head was filled with technical information. Gathering up my things, I hoped to catch a cab right away so I could take an earlier flight back home. But just then, one of my clients walked up and asked to go to lunch with me.

Sorry, Dana, I said, I’m just about to catch a cab to the airport.

I always rented a car on my business trips, but for some reason, I hadn’t rented one that time. It was a strange choice for me, and one I can’t explain to this day.

Don’t worry about it, Liz, Dana replied. We can grab a quick bite and then I’ll take you to the airport.

Are you sure? I asked.

Absolutely, she said. Then she added, Liz, every time I see you, it’s always business. Do you realize that you and I never get a chance to just sit and talk about something other than work?

Okay, I replied somewhat reluctantly. You’re sure you can take me to the airport?

No problem. It’s on my way home, she reassured me.

As we drove away from the city, Dana told me about the benefits of working part-time from home. How about you, Liz? she asked. Do you telecommute?

No, I said. I’m about fifteen minutes from the office and I enjoy the environment there. I spent ten years on the road, traveling and working from home, so this is actually a nice change for me.

Hungry? Dana asked.

Starving, I replied.

Good. I think you’ll like where we’re going. It’s a great place— the Botanical Gardens. They grow all their own veggies, and it’s on the way to the airport. You’ll love it.

Sounds great, I said, hoping we were almost there, since I hadn’t eaten anything that morning.

A few minutes later, Dana turned the van left and we drove up a long driveway. I noted there were signs posted every ten feet or so, reading: Lock your vehicles. Not responsible for valuables left in vehicles. Do not leave valuables in your vehicles. There were so many signs that at first the whole thing seemed comical to me. As we looked for a parking spot I glanced over at Dana, but she was just talking away, and apparently had not even noticed the signs even though they were everywhere. I looked around, and realized that the Botanical Gardens were actually located in a large park, full