The Irish triplets were together for the first picture you see here.
Three books.
Three stories.
Three chapters of my life.
What you cannot see in that photograph are the shattered dreams that sit quietly behind those covers.
Today I want to share a little of that story, because it explains where my mind and heart have been over the past three years.
The first of the triplets, Live Long and Prosper, was scheduled to launch on St. Patrick’s Day. Plans were in place. Momentum was building.
Then life intervened.
My mother’s brother, my Uncle Victor, passed away. Just weeks earlier he had been with us in Iowa, visiting the birthplace of his wife and enjoying what would unknowingly become his final vacation.
Instead of celebrating a book launch, we were gathering for a funeral in Arizona during the very week of St. Patrick’s Day.
That was about the time the fog settled in.
Grief has a way of stacking losses together until it feels like the world has been turned upside down. In a short span of time, three of my teammates at my day job were no longer with me. Two close friends in my inner circle both lost their husbands just four hours apart.
When I look back now, I’m not entirely sure how I made it through those days.
But somehow, step by step, I kept moving forward.
Sometimes perseverance doesn’t look heroic. Sometimes it simply means getting up the next morning and taking one small step.
If you remember the final scene from the movie It's a Wonderful Life, you might recall the angel second class, Clarence Odbody, leaving a small Christmas message for George Bailey.
George had spent much of his life believing he was a failure.
Clarence left him a simple reminder:
“No man is a failure who has friends.”
That message stayed with me.
It’s also why I ordered a small bell similar to the one in the movie—the bell that rings every time an angel earns his wings. That bell happens to be arriving today.
When it does, I plan to ring it in gratitude for the many angels who have appeared along my own journey.
Some were family.
Some were friends.
Some were readers.
And some were what I like to call the “angels in the outfield”—the one hundred people who stepped forward to help me complete my first book, God’s Black Sheep Squadron, when I wasn’t sure I could finish it on my own.
Looking back now, I see something I couldn’t see during those dark days.
The shattered dreams were not the end of the story.
They were the soil where something new would eventually grow.
The three Irish triplets sitting together today—Live Long and Prosper, The Adventures of Castaway Wilson, and the new coloring book—are more than just books to me.
They are reminders that even when the heart breaks, life can still move forward.
Sometimes slowly.
Sometimes painfully.
But forward nonetheless.
Scripture offers a quiet promise for moments like these:
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
— Psalm 34:18
If you are carrying a broken dream today, I hope you remember this:
Broken dreams are not the end of the journey.
Sometimes they are simply the beginning of a new chapter we cannot yet see.
If you’d like to follow along as this story continues, I’d be honored to have you join me.
Join me here:
https://substack.com/@michaelmulliganlivelong
And if you have a moment on St. Patrick’s Day, stop by the livestream. I’ll be sharing the newest member of the Wilson family and celebrating the unlikely path that brought these three books together.
🖖 Captain’s Addendum
Bones: “Captain, life has a way of throwing a few meteor storms at a man.”
Spock: “Indeed, Doctor. Yet the Captain appears to have navigated them with admirable persistence.”
Captain Michael: I’ve learned something important along this journey. When dreams shatter, it doesn’t mean the mission is over. Sometimes it simply means the next chapter is about to begin.
Thank you for walking this road with me.
May your path today be filled with quiet strength, faithful friends, and the courage to keep moving forward—one percent better, one day at a time. 🖖
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