Change Ups

Jeremy D. Perry

Description

Everyone has dreams they never reached. This is one of those stories. It is the story of lost dreams and the road that leads beyond.
Jason Boyd, a star athlete on his high school baseball team dreams of a Major League career. As he enters college, he is poised to capture the future he has always dreamed of. He has the love of his life and a baseball future within his grasp. As he plays baseball, the dream never materializes. He loses his girlfriend of four years and graduates with no future. After reestablishing a relationship with his high school sweetheart, his dreams begin to come true. But at what cost? Will Jason be able to hold onto his marriage? And what happens when once more his dreams are ripped out of his hands? Can Jason lean on those around him and find his way? Can a faith in God sustain him through losing what he treasured most?

Sujets

• Religious
• Virginia Occidental
• West Virginia
• Christian
• Fiction
• Virginie-Occidentale

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 14 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798385000470
• Langue: English

Extrait

CHANGE UPS
A NOVEL OF LOVE, LOSS, AND BASEBALL
 
 
 
 
 
JEREMY D. PERRY
 
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2023 Jeremy D. Perry.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations are taken from King James version of the Bible, public domain.
 
ISBN: 979-8-3850-0046-3 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-3850-0047-0 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023910661
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 06/12/2023
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER 61
CHAPTER 62
CHAPTER 63
CHAPTER 64
CHAPTER 65
CHAPTER 66
CHAPTER 67
CHAPTER 68
CHAPTER 69
CHAPTER 70
CHAPTER 71
CHAPTER 72
CHAPTER 73
CHAPTER 74
CHAPTER 75
CHAPTER 76
CHAPTER 77
CHAPTER 78
CHAPTER 79
CHAPTER 80
CHAPTER 81
CHAPTER 82
CHAPTE R 1
For most of his adult life, Charles Boyd had found himself at one end or the other of a tractor. He had worked his farm for the last 22 years, supporting his wife and growing family. He had been raised in Pond Gap, West Virginia, a small town that exemplified the “middle of nowhere.” From the time he was born, he had lived in a two-bedroom, ramshackle house with a collapsed front porch. He had two brothers who had shared the same bedroom as he until he turned 17 and set out on his own. He hitched a ride 30 miles to Charleston where he found work stocking at a Shire’s retail store. He spent each day unloading trucks and filling the storeroom with goods from places he would never see with his own eyes – even some as far away as Europe and Asia. Two years later, at 19, he met Brenda McMullen.
Brenda had started working at the soda shop two fronts down. While he had never been a soda drinker, Charles found he started having a taste for the sweet drink and the service. It took two weeks for him to work up the courage to say hello and then another month before he could ask her out. Part of the wait, he would tell his kids over the years, was that he didn’t have a decent jacket. He wanted to look good if he was going to take out this auburn-haired beauty. On a warm September evening, Charles Boyd accompanied Brenda McMullen on their first date. Two months later he asked her to marry him and two months after that, they became Mr. and Mrs. Charles Boyd. Now, 23 years later, they found themselves blessed with four children of their own. Together, they had watched as each of their children grew and became the boys and girl they were – the men and woman they were becoming.
Their oldest son, Mitchell, had his life mapped out completely by the time he was ten while their youngest son, Justin, didn’t know what he was going to do in the afternoon. Their middle son, Jason, had been driven his entire life to succeed in everything and so far, it looked like their youngest, Mindy – the only girl – was following in his steps. They talked about their children and dreamed the dreams of parents, wondering where they would all end up. They both assumed with a bit of sadness that one or two would end up far away. They were almost certain that Jason would move to far off places. It just seemed to be “in the cards,” as they say.
It wasn’t that Jason had any serious desire to leave West Virginia; he didn’t. He had been born and raised in the mountain state and had no real longing to be anywhere else. But someday he would leave; and he – like his parents – knew that fact from an early age. To anyone who didn’t know him, Jason was your average teenage boy living in rural West Virginia. He and his family lived outside the city of Charleston about four miles into the middle of nowhere where they managed a small farm. He grew up with two brothers and a sister. His brothers were on either side of him; one older, one younger.
His sister was the youngest of all of them and therefore the princess of the family. Most of the time, the boys hadn’t minded.They had doted on her almost as much as their parents had, Jason most of all. The Princess would complain later in life that growing up with three overprotective brothers was a bit of a pain, especially when it came to dating. She would talk about how horrible it was to share a bathroom with boys. She would complain about the smells and the sounds. But on the inside, she felt more than blessed to have grown up with them and loved each one deeply.
Jason’s older brother, Mitchell, was two years older than he was. Mitchell had graduated with honors from high school, receiving a full ride scholarship to West Virginia University. When he graduated college, he planned to attend medical school and become a doctor. Through his second year of college, he had thus far maintained his straight-A average and was well on his way to realizing that dream. Everyone knew Mitchell would succeed; that’s what he did. He was smart, good-looking, and extroverted. It was clear to his parents and anyone else that knew him, Mitchell would succeed at anything he wanted to do.
Since he had entered third grade, becoming a doctor had been Mitchell’s sole dream. He was the type of person who knew what he wanted and had his entire life planned out for himself. He had worked hard in school to earn a scholarship to WVU and would work even harder in order to go to the medical school he chose. To describe Mitchell as “Type A” would be an understatement.
Jason’s younger brother, Justin, was in his freshman year in high school. He was smaller than both Mitchell and Jason – standing only 5’10” – but strong as an ox. He played second string on the high school football team and wrestled in the 151 weight group. He was a better wrestler than he was a wide receiver, but he enjoyed both, knowing that neither would last beyond high school, or college, if he were lucky.
He studied because he had to, but had no real plans for the future. Justin was more of a free spirit and would go where the wind took him. Sometimes it meant wanting to be an artist, other times a forest ranger and at other times a missionary to foreign lands. His parents watched him and wondered what would come of him. He was a good kid, but he had no direction in his life, and he was okay with that. After all, he was only 15.
Mindy was in middle school. She was pretty and smart and athletic. Like Jason, she was naturally gifted when it came to sports and tried everything. Mindy played volleyball, softball, basketball, and was in karate. She was looking forward to high school in a few years when she could try out for the sports teams there. She felt pretty good about her chances, even though she was just in sixth grade. She knew she was better than most middle school girls, so by the time she reached high school, she felt she would be one of the best.
Being in sixth grade, Mindy’s plan for life was to be a teacher or a nurse or a cashier… From one day to the next she changed her mind, deciding to be whatever seemed fun at the moment. Like they did with Justin, her parents watched and thought about Mindy often, wondering what their little girl would do when the time came.
When it came to their second child they had little doubt about what the future held. Jason had poured his heart and soul into one thing almost from the time he could walk: baseball. He had started in Little League when he was old enough and had played baseball constantly ever since. As a junior in high school, he had been captain of the team and was being looked at by several college scouts and he thought that even a few farm teams for the big boys were watching. That year, he had led his team to a State Championship win. They had lost in the third round of the regionals and missed a shot at a national championship. This year – Jason’s senior year – the team wanted to go back, and ever