Most big occurrences in my life seem to be linked to two things: pop culture and kismet.
When my wife and I decided to start a family more than a decade ago, my love for Saturday morning TV played a mammoth part. As a huge fan of “H.R. Pufnstuf,” that trippy live action kiddie show from the late ’60s, I was stoked to interview Joy Campbell McKenzie, who played Orson on the program.
It was 1997 and my wife, Andrea, and I took the Joy and her family, who were visiting Atlanta at the time, out to dinner. All three McKenzies have dwarfism, and we were so inspired by their optimistic outlook on life that it eventually led to us to adopt a 5-year-old Russian boy with dwarfism. His name was Max, our favorite moniker for a boy, and he was born on the day I proposed to Andrea. It was meant to be.
More than 12 years of adventure has followed peppered with success and tribulation, belly laughs and tears. Our family has grown, and we’re still close with the McKenzies to this day.
I’ve been working on a book about our story, talking with agents and getting great response, but haven’t found a publisher. Yet, kismet came into play once again when Suzanne Van Atten and Ken Foskett, a pair of amazing editors at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, gave me a chance to tell our tale, giving readers a sneak peek at the book I hope to publish.
Part one of “Finding Max” hit newsstands on February 17, with part two on its way February 24. Here’s a link to part one for you to read, if you’re so inclined.
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