CanonTom Loc: Birmingham

Wonderful story! Great pic also. I live in a suburb of Birmingham, approx 10 miles SE of Downtown.........and no more than 50 miles or so from your story's location.....thanks for taking the time to post this! Tom

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

That’s quite a story--wow!

Archboo3 Loc: Central Florida

Great story, I think if you have a face book account you need to share it there and anyplace else you can think of. I would love to share it with not only my photography friends, but with all my friends, We just don't know who when are where we are one of our photo's might have a live changing impact on someone at the right time in their lives. Thank you.

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

Tom, I lived in Hoover, too. Off Jack Hawkins Parkway by the church (can't think of the name... Hunter Street... is that right?) and Interstate.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

A wonderful story, and thank you so much for sharing it. It reminds me once again to never judge a book by its cover, but by what's on the inside.

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

I do have a Facebook account, and it is all public. You are welcome to visit and look at the albums if you wish. I will also give you permission to copy this photo and story if you would like to share, as long as I am given credit. Thanks for your interest.

Wuligal Loc: Slippery Rock, Pa.

Sort of reminds me of a Jack London tale. Thanks for sharing. By the way......great shot of Mr. Williams.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Great story Mark, as the old saying goes, "You can't judge a book by it's cover".

tboro

Great story. What adventures in your life took you from Alabama to China? I would imagine that would be an interesting story also.

John Lawrence

A very moving tribute to Jack, Mark. I liked it very much.

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

@tboro... It is not a really long story... hahaha! wink, wink... Several things happened in my life. First, I divorced my wife of 17 years. After this happened, she high-tailed it with the kids and I spent a lot of time and money looking for them and still have not found them, although I know roughly where they are. Have not seen or spoken to them in nearly 7 years, and it breaks my heart. Her ex (after me) and I had a conversation about all of this and he said she forbid them to contact me. So, anyway, I was quite angry. I love my three kids and not a minute of my life goes by that I don't think about them. My attorney called me one day and asked me to meet him for lunch, and at that meeting he said "I know you're not going to be happy with me for saying this, but you need to hear it. You're a good guy and I KNOW you are very, very angry about all of this, but you have to let it go because it will eat you up inside. Mark my words, I have been a divorce attorney for 30 years and I see what you're going through all the time. It is common, and because you are a male and living in Alabama, unless your ex is a crack whore having sex in front of the kids, they will stay with her under the court system. It is why I haven't tried to file for custody, because it is a losing battle. You need to go live your life and I promise you, the kids WILL come back. They always do. It may not be tomorrow or next year or even 5 years, but when they need their dad, they will be back.". He sipped his tea and looked at me in silence. I left without saying a word. It took me about a month to cool off and I came to the realization that he was right. I was angry all the time and it WAS eating me alive. I was also working as a teacher at a wonderful high school (and I say that with all sincerity, too) I had an amazing principal, worked with great teachers and had some really kick ass students who I still keep in touch with (One sent me a wedding invitation to me here in China. :-) ) I also drove a school bus and like many other teachers, worked another job. I was getting up at 4:30 a.m. and getting home at 11 every night. I loved what I was doing and felt called to teach high school, so the hours never bothered me. Looking back on it now, I was exhausted and am not sure how I did it. I was at school one day in the hallway during a class change and a young man who was in my class and upset with his grade came up behind me and pushed me hard enough to knock me to the floor. I hurt my back and the young man was called into the office and was sent to the main school system office and was told not to do it again. Nothing else. well, a few weeks later, he did the same thing, and this time he got one full day of suspension. My principal asked what I wanted from all of this and I said "an apology". It never happened. What most people don't understand about the American school system is that it is a cornucopia of law suits just waiting for lawyers. Schools are easy pickings, so everything in schools is done to avoid law suits, and having him apologize to me could violate his civil rights. And schools have no money anyway, so they can't afford the law suits, so they settle. My first year of teaching I had NO equipment and was give (get this) $3 per student for the YEAR. Don't spend all of that in one place, huh? Well, year two changed and we were in a new school with new equipment and it was groovy. We got into 3D animation and the kids got pretty good. The third year, My classes were given an opportunity to go to a national animation competition. We swept it. 1st, 2nd and 3rd. My program got a lot of attention after this and out of the blue, I got a call from the Chinese consulate in Atlanta asking if I would be interested in teaching in China. They were looking for "outside the box" programs. I said thank you, but no. They called 2 more times and the third time, it was a great deal. On july 28th, 2015 I went to the Birmingham airport and went to my gate to fly to China. Guess who was at the gate? My hero, "Frank" from American Pickers. The plane was delayed, so I talked with him for a couple of hours. He is as nice in person as he is on TV. A good guy and I took it as a good omen. I landed on July 30th (China is ahead by 12 hours from the east coast, so you lose a day) and have been fascinated with this place ever since. I had my first date with my wife on October 14th and we got married the following July 7th (I joke... very romantic. Just the three of us. Her, Me and the Communist Party. Foreigners have to go to a specific building to get married.). If we get back to America, I have this crazy dream of taking her to the bottom of the Grand Canyon by the Colorado river and marrying her again with all of God's splendor around us. Maybe one day. She also has a son from her previous marriage named Johnny and I adore him and consider him my own.

Needless to say, it has been magnificent. I still miss my kids and ache to hear their voices, but it is what it is and I have (somewhat made my peace with it. I was a good dad (in Alabama the kids are represented as well and their attorney told the judge I was the best dad he'd ever dealt with...I was quite proud of that.). And it only has to be said once, when I told my former principal in America that I was moving to China, she looked at me and said "ARE YOU CRAZY???". All my family did too, but it has worked out very well and I am extremely happy here. I am blessed beyond measure.

tboro

WOW!! What are you teaching? In English or Chinese?

SteveLew Loc: Sugar Land, TX

Starting my day with your warm story is a great way to begin. Thank you for sharing your experience with Jack Williams and his daughter.

RickL Loc: Vail, Az

Exceptional story and photo.

Thank you,

Rick

cactusflower Loc: Lake Havasu, AZ

I LOVE your story about Jack and his daughter, jut amazing how you were able to bless his daughter