Please read “About this project and the Author” for more information on my project. This is part 2 of the beginning of Daryl’s radio show as he prepares to tell his story:

“Good night and a great new day to all of you. This is Daryl Hart with you until six o’clock with music from the seventies and eighties. As my regular listeners have come to expect, in addition to the music, I usually present and reflect upon inspiring real life stories. I read these stories hoping they will help us pause the insanity of today’s life and remind us of what it’s like to simply be human, even if it’s only for a few moments. It’s the stories of others put into words so their lives could help us be more aware of the meaning of our own. Not for the drama of it, not for envy and certainly not for pity. It has always been about reflexion and I promise you tonight will be no different in that respect.

The stories I read to you were real, they were handpicked and carefully reviewed so I could present them to you in such a way they would fit into the vision I have always had for this show. “Mindful Radio” as my billboards read. My intentions were good and honest. But if honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom as Thomas Jefferson said, I have no other choice but to admit this : the way I went about choosing these stories was hypocritical at best. You see, I spent countless hours researching books, magazines and articles all written by complete strangers, most of whom have been gone for years if not decades, when all along there was one story I didn’t need to look or prepare for, because it was already written inside of me. Mine is exactly the kind of story I read to you every single night except until now, I simply chose not to share it.

Tonight, the music of Cat Stevens will be heard in the background of a story I never really told, not even to those who matter the most in my life. A story written not by me, but by the people who surrounded me in the early years of my life. An entire chapter I felt was too complicated and yes, too difficult to share but which became very recently, too costly to hide.”

Just as I finish that sentence, I’m startled by my phone vibrating. It’s a message from Annie who writes: “I’m listening”.

I feel an sense of relief knowing that she is there but I also fear her reaction to the way I chose to finally tell her what she has been so desperately wanting hear. I need to take a deep breath for the last sentence of my intro.

“When we return after this first song from Cat Stevens, the beginning of my story, Citizen of Ville Joie…”

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Contact: steve.marchand@rogers.com