He was turning 89 years old and his wife was nagging him about leaving his socks in the den where the grandchildren liked to play and watch their shows.

“It is really gross for them to have to smell your socks.” She said.

“My socks don’t smell and if they did they would smell beautiful.” He said laughing.

She smiled and said, “I’m going out to the supermarket – I’ll be back in an hour or so. Stay here in case the kids come.”

“OK.”

Later on that afternoon his grandson came by with his son, they got around to discussing life and its difficulties.

“Grandpa, have you ever felt as if the universe was conspiring against you ever being successful?”

He laughed, “Have you ever read any of my books?”

“Yeah but you are a successful writer – you’ve been on the circuit and around the world for the past, 35, 40 years?”

“Yeah but remember I am not just 35 or 40. I am 89 years old come next week. I had 55 years or so of feeling that the universe was turning its head away from me. Everything I tried, the different industries, jobs and whatever – just failed me or I failed them.”

“So what was the difference?”

“The difference was I was out of options. No one was hiring me to work for them and the only thing I knew how to do and to do it well was to write. So I began by writing biographies as an author for hire. It was doing well but the jobs were too inconsistent and the money was not enough. So I took a different road to the work – I added something that was not expected and that made all the difference.”

“Was that the audio books?”

“That plus some other stuff that made more personalized and gave it a warmer feel to it. Once I had the business up and doing well I was able to write my fiction.”

“It sounds easy.”

“It wasn’t, I was down to my last dollars and suddenly I got one job, then another and it snowballed. But I had been in a very tight position for almost 20 years. I lost a lot of – not weight I’ll tell you that much, but pretty much a lot of things I still feel sorry about. I should have listened to your grandma more in my life – she is the real superstar.”

“She is amazing; M, my wife doesn’t know how she still finds the time to invite the whole family and she makes it look so easy.”

“She is easy to look at too!”

“After all these years you still think I am beautiful – you should get your eyes redone.”

“Grandma!” Their great grandson ran to her and she brought him to the kitchen.

“You need to believe in yourself, God and ask for whatever it is you want – believe you will get it and it will come to you.”

“I have so much – but sometimes it gets so hard…”

“I know…I know better than you would imagine. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“You just did.”

“I mean financially or anything else?”

“No, grandpa, you just helped me by giving me the tools to believe. Its hard sometimes.”

“That’s what I said!”

“What?”

“Nothing that’s an old – forget it. I am here always if you need anything. Believe, kid, believe.”