Those who read this book in the prime of adolescence will no doubt be able to identify with much of it. But for those of you who are past the tinseled years of teen-agerdom, go back, if you will and relieve with me all the glory, the giddiness, the turmoil of adolescence and the search for answers to life's questions and the desire to be complete in this thing we call love.
There was much laughter, a few tears and a lot of growing up when I was fourteen. I knew what it was to be painfully shy with an uncomfortable knot in my stomach, on the first day of a new school in a brand-new situation.
As it turned out, it was wonderful, the kind of year when memories are made to last a lifetime. And how could it be otherwise with such fun folks as Ryan the Rodent, Karen the Heron and Old Lady Llewellyn around? Live with me through my year in Willow Run. Laugh with me through the Mission Escapades and the Little Calamities, New York Style. Cry a bit through Growing Pains, and step with me into the freedom I was seeking in a developing relationship with Jesus Christ.
I am happy to present this revised rendition of my original publication "14 - The Story Of A Wonderful Year."