Her Godmother is the story of a young girl named Allie whose father is an alcoholic. His disease becomes so problematic that Allie’s mother decides to leave him. While she is planning to relocate with Allie, she sends Allie to stay with her unusual godmother, Brigid. I am the adult child of an alcoholic and,…
After completing thirty-nine years in hospital administration (in both California and Alaska) in 2003, I decided to retire. As a divorced man and having been a workaholic most of my life, I wondered what the prospects would be of having to throw in the towel devoid of further plans or goals. In pondering this (in…
The seeds for the book were sown over a decade ago when Dr. Paine’s baby sister lost her husband to obesity and obesity associated Type II Diabetes. She had been married for about ten years. At the time of her husband’s untimely death at the age of 40, she was a tender 32 years old.…
One night I went to bed asking myself a question that I believe every married man or woman asks eventually: how could I stay happily and passionately married for the rest of my life? The next morning I awoke as if I had been shaken. It was then that I first thought of Don Juan,…
The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference is a story of a portion of my own life I had to tell so that others could find hope and freedom, and knowing they too can heal their own lives, regardless of how shattered they feel they are. At first, I didn’t know what direction…
I began writing this book in an effort to begin a serious conversation and develop solutions to handling the issue of oppression in which some Muslims are reluctantly timid if not outright afraid and even terrified to seriously deal with. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Muslims were strongly encouraged and even…
The Story Behind the Book 