Missing Voids: The Road to Identity

By Taiwan Mixon

"Missing Voids: Road to Identity" details the life of Taiwan Mixon's road to refuge and self-discovery. Abandoned at birth, Taiwan spent much of his life at a crossroads fighting for fulfillment. From adoption to divorce to resentment and failures, Taiwan outlines the roadmap of overcoming different challenges that he faced.

This memoir recounts the adversities of his childhood and transition to becoming a stand out on the college football field and as a successful entrepreneur meeting the likes of rapper Snoop Dogg Dog, NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, Heisman trophy winner and NBA player Charlie Ward, rapper Lil Flip, NFL Hall of Famer Earl Campbell, NFL player Ed Oliver, NFL player Juju Smith-Schuster, and children from all over the world.

As you travel through Taiwan's struggle of identity, purpose, and wholeness, may you score the same treasure of peace and completion that he has discovered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781794877443

Book preview

Missing Voids: The Road To Identity

By: Taiwan Mixon

Copyright © 2020. 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author at [e-mail].

ISBN: 978-1-79479-508-2 (Paperback)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020900527

Portions of this book are works of nonfiction. Certain names and identifying characteristics have been changed.

Printed by Lulu Press, Inc, in the United States of America.

First printing edition 2020.

Dedications

This book is dedicated to anyone that has dealt with depression, divorce, abandonment, unforgiveness, insecurity, and heartbreak.  May you realize that you too can overcome any situation that you may face in life.

Acknowledgments

My mother always stressed to me that a winner would never quit and a quitter would never win. With that in mind, I would like to thank some of the folks that have been able to help me along my road towards finding my identity. 

I would like to say a special thank you to Casilya Smith for helping me with the challenging task of writing this book! You are truly special at what you do.

My heartfelt thanks go out to my Refuge Tabernacle family who has been a family that I can truly say that I never had. I’ve never been around people that are willing to lay down their lives for others. Thank you to each and one of my Refuge brothers and sisters.

To my adopted father and mother David and Ruthie Mixon, thank you for taking me into your household as one of your own. Your guidance and structure throughout my journey from a child to adulthood was truly amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better set of parents. 

My daughter Xarriah Mixon. I wrote this book so that you could find out how you too can overcome anything that has ever happened to you in your life and where you can find the strength to overcome all things.

Thank you to my biological dad and mom, Mr. Tucker and Jennifer Joe, for bringing me into this world. I would like to shout out my biological brothers and sisters Alberta, Katrina, Carol, Patricia, Courtney, Thomas, James, and my nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandmother. Alberta, thank you for finding me on the bus that day and for bringing me to meet my entire family.

Carol Davis, you took me into your home when you didn’t have to. You are a wonderful person that had a great impact on my life. Thank you to Freddie Davis for being there.. You have always been there for me and I truly thank you for all you have done and continue to do. You have always been someone I can count on no matter what state or county I was in.

I want to thank all of my coaches from Pee Wee football--- Coach Hart and Coach Mike. I want to thank my high school basketball coaches for always pushing me. Coach Green, Coach Sparks. My football coaches in High School Coach Toliver, thank you for always believing in me. Coach Crawford and

Coach Patrick for coming into my life at 18 and still bonding at 30 plus. To my JC coach at Cerritos, Coach Dean, and my Head Coach Frank Mazzota/Coach Caines, thank you for taking the time to show an interest in me going to your school and being apart of such a winning culture that rubbed off on me.

Michael Hubbard, thanks for helping me through my high school years being at Millikan. You always had something to share with me to keep me thinking positive. My childhood best friend Heyman. What can I say! We met each other back when we were in 1st grade and have remained in contact until now. I’m thankful for you and your family and all of the great memories that we share.

Thank you to coach Don Patterson, Mark Hendrickson, Frisman Jackson and Brian Turner at Western Illinois! You all truly gave me a chance to be the best football player I could be. Brian Turner, you look out for me from day 1 at the school. I want to thank all my teachers in school that impacted my life as well as the companies that I have worked for. 

Special thank you to Ms.Phillips. 

Thank you, Mr. Mcknight. I trusted you with my life in my darkest hour and you took me to the source of what helped you. Thank you for looking after me in all things. I am forever thankful for you helping me become a true, real person that is able to share with others about the true gift of God.

Special thanks to my Spiritual Leader and my pastor for being a perfect example of how to handle life and my situations in a Godly manner. I'm so thankful to have had you two in my life during my darkest hours of pain, disappointments, struggles and for always encouraging me to continue and overcome all things that come into my life. 

Last but not least, I want to thank God for being so merciful in my life. Thank you for being long-suffering with me. Thank you for never leaving me or forsaking me. I know that I am not worthy of all you have done for me in my life. I will walk in the ways you have established and lean on you to guide me every step of the way. 

Author’s Note

This is a work of nonfiction. The events and experiences detailed herein are all true and have been faithfully rendered as I can recall them. Some names and descriptions of individuals have been changed in order to respect their privacy.

To anyone whose name I did not recall or omitted, I offer sincere apologies.

Conversations and circumstances depicted herein come from my keen recollection of them, they are not meant to represent precise timelines of events or exact word for word reenactments of my life.

They are told in a way that evokes the real true feeling and meaning of what was said and my view of what happened to me, in keeping with the true essence of the mood and spirit of those moments that shaped my life.

Part I

As long as you are fighting, you are winning

—Wiseman

A person wearing a suit and tie Description automatically generated

THE BEGINNING

Arguments stopped sounding like arguments, and instead more like cries for help. The more I tried, the more I failed. I had begun shutting down. This battle was tormenting me. On days like this, the fighting seemed to have no end. All I wanted was peace—to fill this hole that had settled deep inside of me. Yet, just like with most things that are sought for, eventually, I found it. I found peace.

I remember those words distinctly. If you ever desire the truth, I guarantee that it will be something you’ve never heard before…something that will change your life. And it did just that. It truly changed my life. I didn’t know it then, but I know it now. I had to learn that in life as long as you are fighting, you are winning even when it doesn’t feel that way.

Do you want to know something else? Regardless of if you’ve never caught a ball or dribbled it, you are always being recruited. Whether it’s a profession,  a major league draft, relationship or friendship, people are always watching and waiting to decide on you. What you are being recruited for, may not be what it seems. You’ll never know what you really are a prospect of nor which road it is going to lead you on. In the end, you just learn to trust it.

For me, my recruitment started when I was just 4 years old. Like many young boys back then, I was a faithful lover of the World Wrestling Federation. In fact, you could bet on finding me somewhere running around with my infamous Hulk Hogan shirt on. It was the physicality and the explosive strength of the sport that I was most intrigued by. Throughout many of the vague childhood memories that I have, the love of sports was always there somewhere. 

I remember sometimes sitting in front of the radio not to jam or to dance, but to simply listen to sports talk shows such as The Jim Rome Show. 

Jim Rome was known for being one of the more opinionated, aggressive voices in the sports broadcasting world. Nowadays