Something I Need to Say is a beautiful book of portraits, stories, and inspiring messages from people whose lives have been affected by someone else. Every day we meet people with uncommon life stories, people who have transformed history in small ways by touching the lives of others. Too often, their remarkable accomplishments are unknown to us. They remain locked in the hearts of those whose lives have been changed because, somehow, the “right time” or the “right words” just can’t be found to capture the uncommon truth or, simply, to say “thank you.”
Something I Need to Say is a treasury of unlocked hearts, a tribute to all those important people who have shared themselves with the world and given the world something special along the way. The uncommon life stories captured here are a result of search and serendipity. Some came to me by way of intention and dedicated research. For instance, 15 years ago, when I was in Amsterdam, I met a woman who told me how her grandmother’s life was saved by B-17 bomber airmen during World War II. When I began compiling material for this book, I knew I had to find a crewmember of a B-17, so I wrote nearly 200 letters to VFW posts across three states. That’s how I met Ben and learned his story, which led me to Charles E., a Tuskegee Airman.
Other uncommon life stories have just come to me by way of friends or acquaintances, or news items, or conversations overheard in a restaurant-the seemingly random ties of interrelationship that connect us all.
