HOW THE BOOK CAME TO BE

When people ask what the book's about, I say:

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A guy named Rory would come and speak to my classes as a motivational speaker for the past five years. I wrote his life story. He had a crack addiction and was living homeless on the streets. He ended up buying the laundromat he'd rest in and turned it into a million-dollar home improvement business.

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The students were always moved by his turnaround story, but as we met each weekend to document his life, I slowly learned that there was so much here. 

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It was his connections with others that lifted him and made him try. And he gave back to the recovery community by forming relationships with others struggling with addiction. He has now sponsored over a hundred men. 

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He shared his techniques that he'd use to form connections with those who were often the hardest to reach. And when I tried them out in my classroom, I had the best relationships with students in my nearly fifteen years of teaching in an alternative high school.

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The strengthened relationships, confidence, and sense of calm radiated into my personal life too. So I say to Rory: Your life has impacted mine so much, even in the way I remember to carry myself now–shoulders back, head held high, my walls down, and with a confident smile. With time, I’ll have to think about it less and less and just be. Your life continues to give, and my hope with this book is that it always will.

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​This is Rory's legacy.

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