Life After a Terrible Relationship

By Shaun Smith

"I don't care how long it takes. Just come back to me." That's how much of a hopeless romantic Brent Howard was. A good-looking man, Brent never had any problem attracting women, but he did have a problem with attracting trouble. Have you ever been in a terrible relationship? Have you found yourself wanting to pull away, but just not being able to? Of course, nobody wants to be lonesome. "But there is a big difference between being lonely and being alone," Shaun "54" Smith aptly puts it. Brent Howard wanted love. He wanted it so badly, but does love want him back? Anybody can love, but not everybody is lucky enough to love the right person. Could Brent be one of the lucky ones?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781628385427

Shaun Smith

Shaun Smith is founder and partner in the consulting firm Smith+Co which works with brands around the world. A thought leader on the subject of customer experience strategy, he has appeared often on CNBC's "Ask the Expert" program.

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Life After

a

Terrible Relationship

Based on a True Story

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Shaun 54 Smith

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Copyright © 2014 Shaun 54 Smith

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2014

ISBN 978-1-62838-541-0 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-62838-542-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

This book is not for sharing purposes,Get your OWN copy!!

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Based on a true story

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No! This Is the Story.

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Life Before a Terrible Relationship

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Boy meets girl. Wait, wait, life after a terrible relationship won’t add up to make any sense if you don’t know the life before the terrible relationship, so let’s go backwards first. Meet Howard, Brent Howard to be exact. Most people called him by his last name because Howard sounded manlier than his first. Howard was one of those people who had a baby-like face who looked younger than most of his peers but acted as mature as most of their parents. For that reason alone, Howard got a kick out of throwing people off when they tried to figure his age. One of Howard’s most popular responses when asked how old he was, was I’m about the same age as you, and he usually said it with a sarcastic grin. Howard was the type of person who wasn’t great at anything in particular, but was pretty good at most things he attempted. Because of that, a lot of people labelled him as a jack-of-all-trades type of person. He was a fairly decent guy most of his life, but just like anyone, Howard had his hang-ups. Being diagnosed with a lifelong disease as an early teenager is where most of his hang-ups came from. Shortly after his thirteenth birthday, he was hit with the news of his sickness that would immediately change his direction on the way he was living his life. Howard went from a perfectly normal, active, smiling, sporty little kid to what most people viewed as a monster, so to speak. I’ll explain why. Howard at home was the baby of four boys. He was very respectful and obedient towards his parents and other elderly people in his surroundings. At school, Howard was always an honor student. He was always top of his class, very quiet, but even more attentive. Since he grew up under the shadows of his three older brothers, Howard found himself doing most of things they did, through which he ended up learning things at his age that most wouldn’t learn until five to six years later. That would explain why he acted so mature. Because he was very friendly, there weren’t many people who came across Howard that didn’t take to him instantly—a heart-warming smile, cheeks like a teddy bear, and the way he treated people was nothing less than respectful and genuine. Now knowing this about Howard would raise the question, How could a person like that appear as a monster, so to speak? Well, let me explain. The very day Howard woke up out of that hospital bed and was surprised by the shocking news that he had just received, his attitude, his thinking, and his entire life changed in an instant. The doctor entered the room slowly while Howard and his mother, Vivica, sat with a look of concern on their faces. The doctor closed the door and said, Mr. Howard, I have something to tell you, but don’t let it get you down in spirit. His mother knew at that moment that it wasn’t good. She grabbed her son’s hand and held onto it tightly. Both their hearts were pounding rapidly and the doctor stepped up and said, Howard, you have what they call type 1 diabetes or juvenile diabetes, and things are gonna be a little bit different for you from now on. His mom dropped her head for a few seconds, and as she raised her head up, tears were rolling down her face. Howard just stared into the doctor’s eyes, while still holding his mother’s hand tightly. The doctor proceeded to say more about the symptoms and effects of the disease.

Suddenly, Howard turned to his mom and cried, Mama, they gave me this. Mama, they gave this to me!

His mom replied, No, son, some bad things just happen to good people.

At least a dozen more times, Howard cried, Mama, they gave this to me! In Howard’s mind, he didn’t have a clue what diabetes even was because he had never heard of such a thing. After continuous minutes of emotion from Vivica and her son, the doctor was able to calm them both and explain the disease in full so that they could understand a little better. As the doctor began to discuss the changes in Howard’s lifestyle, his mom carefully took notes so that she would have a better understanding on what they were going to have to do once they left the hospital. Howard, on the other hand, just stared with an emotionless look, still repeatedly saying to himself, They gave me this. Quite naturally, Howard was angry, but he was even more terrified that he was going to die soon. That thought alone caused Howard’s heart to begin to rapidly pound again, and again become teary-eyed. His mom leaned to hug him and whispered in his ear, You’re going to be fine, son. You’re going to be fine. They gathered as much information as they could and headed toward the exit.

As soon as they reached the parking lot, Howard stopped, looked up at his mom, and said, Mama, am I going to die? in a soft concerned voice.

His mom replied, Son, we’re all going to die someday, but this is not going to kill you. Howard didn’t say so, but for some reason he didn’t believe her. Once they had gotten home, Vivica had broken the news to the family about Howard’s condition. That was the first time he could remember receiving any kind of sympathy from his older brothers, because they picked on and beat him constantly, mainly to toughen him up. After he saw that he could get sympathy from the three people who treated him the worst, he began to use it to his advantage. At this point in Howard’s life, he was very small and frail. He was the smallest person in his neighborhood and even at school, most of the girls were bigger than him, so he got picked on and bullied rather often. All of that would soon change.

Howard had to start living a more orderly, organized life and anytime something that he needed to be on schedule with was off schedule, it showed in his attitude. He would get cranky if he was either late on taking his meds or if he was behind on eating based on his newly scheduled time. The patience that he did have when it came to dealing with negative activity grew short, very short. The same things he used to let pass started to bother him very easily. His facial expressions went from smiling to laughing, something he would always do, to a constant frown, something he rarely did. His personality went from easygoing to hard to get along with.

Since his principal at his high school granted him extra time out of school so that he could adjust to the changes, by the time Howard returned to school, it was clearly noticeable that it wasn’t the same little pushover smart kid returning. The very first student that approached him asking him how he was doing, he gave a brief stare and replied in a sarcastic manner, I’m still living, then he walked away. As he patiently walked to his first class of the day, numerous students attempted to approach him with the same concern, but Howard sensed it, so he swiftly took a different route just to avoid having to repeat himself. He finally made it to his first class a minute or so late and was able to sit at his desk without anyone else asking him something, which was strange because the class he was in was taught by one of the most strict teachers there were at that school, and he didn’t play too tough on