PART 1

 “I didn't write my book for anyone else but me.  It sounds selfish, but after my mom died in 2014, I fell into a deep depression, no longer did I have my biggest fan to protect me from my three older critical siblings.  They learned to needle, criticize, blame from the best, our dear dad.  But dad was living in a nursing home with advanced stages of alzheimmer's.  I was estranged from him on and off thoughout my adult life, but eventually learned to forgive him, then when I had my stroke at 50, I learned to forgive the one person I could control, myself.  Over 4-years I wrote 1.2 million cathartic words that saved my life.  Each word, was breathing life into dysfunctional memories I hadn't faced since childhood, I had to "write" them to "right" my life.  I didn't' think anyone else would relate to these personal struggles, but my wife thought I should publish it.  I'd randomly walk up to strangers on the street "Want to read my book?" "What's it about?" they'd say "Well, the subtitle is apropos: How to Find Purpose Within a Dysfunctional Family." "That sounds like MY family!!!"  everyone would say "Well, every family has dysfunction, I just want people to know that it's okay to not be okay and that there is no perfect family and learn to embrace the family that God gave you, because life is a lot more dysfuncional, so in a way, the more struggle you had in childhood the better you'll do in life.”  J.C. Burkesmith

 J.C. Burkesmith, in honor of his late mom, Camilla Jeanne Burke-Smith, Jamie Smith created his pen name.