Prologue

Everything begins with pain.

Many people believe beginnings start with other things: love, chaos, etc. The universal truth of beginnings, however, is pain.

This is not a negative or a positive thing. Pain is a catalyst, and it motivates every living thing into action. With action comes-- beginnings.

The pain of unspoken love moves us to speak with the object of our desires. The pain of virginity abandoned for the hope of love opens the way for conception. The aches and pains of carrying a child motivate a mother to prepare for the birth, the pain of contractions initiates the push of birth. The slap on the ass, forces our first breath.

At 3:15am on October 27th 1968 the slap came for me. It was the first breath and first lament of Michael Dane.

I obviously have no recollection of this, but that first breath (which I can only imagine) was very sweet, and painful at the same time. Lungs accustomed to a warm fluid, were now being assaulted by the purified and sterilized air of the Mercy Hospital delivery room. Yes, it must have been very sweet, and quite painful.

At the same instant, I was growing accustomed to the wondrous sensation of air circulating through my lungs, ninety-nine heads raised to the sky, ninety-nine sets of pupils dilated as they looked sky ward, ninety-nine minds began the painful cycle of having questions with no answers and worrying about what the future may hold.

In an ancient place, inhabited by an ancient creature, an eye opened. A claw marked the stone floor, and the painful process of awakening began.

What follows is the account of my life, a life filled with joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, love and loss.

For those of you interested, I welcome you.

It is my hope that by committing the story to paper, some may be moved by it, others will find some solace within it; and a few-- just a few-- will be pained enough by their inactivity, inaction and insolence, to take action and live a life filled with passion, and be not afraid to face the pain life offers as signposts for the moments of beginnings.