After walking the 400-mile pilgrimage journey to Santiago of Compostela, Spain, in 2005, I was inspired to write this book. I did not know then how I would do it. I simply knew I had to. I am not a writer, nor is English my first language. Translating feelings and emotions from Spanish to English presented me with many linguistic and cultural challenges. I simply held the pen and pushed the tabs on my computer, listening through my soul and writing the message from with in, trying to create what for a long time seemed like "Un sueno" a dream - an impossible and unrealistic dream. With the publication of this book, that dream has become reality, and with it, I can finally close the door on the past, live in the present and look forward to the future.

There are many stories in this book, at least one for every one of you who reads it, regardless of who you are or where you come from. It only requires that you find yourself in these pages. In the writing, I relived "el pasado" the past, as I knew it through the eyes of a lost child, an immigrant teenager and a man who has journeyed from addiction to the life of a community activist. As I recounted my journey through life, I uncovered many personal demons and fears - love, hate, passion, obsession and dependence, to mention just a few. By doing so, they can no longer control my life or my destiny. With the completion of this book, I am free.