My name is Lauren Levis and I started writing When I’m 64, after a particularly trying time in my father’s life. The man had always been there with a quick, or sometimes long, angst ridden story meant to show me that only one thing in life is certain, that if you’re breathing, you’re still fighting. Watching him forget that about himself was one of the hardest experiences of my life. I chose to write this book to remind him of who he was and what he had overcome but over time have come to realize that his story is worth sharing with the world. That through seeing his trials and tribulations unfold, that you too, may find the will to keep fighting for yourself, taking one step forward even after you’ve taken three steps back.

In these pages you will bear witness to the life of John Herbert Wagner III. These stories will take you on a journey exposing the past of a family, a generation, and most simply a man. The problems faced in the contents of this book are issues that most people can relate to in one way or another. The cycle that is abuse, can be difficult to watch, but it is even harder to break. The scars that are left behind through physical, sexual, and drug abuse never fully fade away, it is only what we choose to do with them that changes them into something we can be proud of. Please join me in searching for the silver lining, looking for the hidden treasures that life leaves us with, even in the midst of unspeakable pain.