Life. It is such a fragile thing and such a beautiful gift. Many people become parents not knowing what to expect and hoping the best for their children. Happiness, health, and that they know they are loved is what they pray for, but we never know which turn the road will take. In the case of the Furness family, their path turned toward God for strength when their first-born son, Tyler, began having seizures at the age of three and eventually was found to have developmental delays in the form of high functioning Autism.
Today, Tyler is a 27-year-old young man with a gusto for life. He likes bowling, soccer, Play Station 4 video games and going to Comic-Con events with his family. He is also excited that his father, Michael Furness, wrote a book featuring him as a lead character.
Harvesting Dreams, is a story that has taken a lifetime to come to fruition for Michael and his family. He took his experience and turned it into a novel recently published in September 2020, now available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and locally at places like The Learned Owl in Hudson.
Michael is a second shift Custodial Forman at Ravenna High School and is the father of three. The premise of the book centers on Tyler, his oldest child. “I actually have almost zero writing experience,” he said. But, thanks to the encouragement of teachers along the way, he did occasional journaling. Over the course of several years, whenever inspiration struck, he would jot down those ideas.
“God, my son, my wife (Danielle) and my friends were the inspiration for the book.” “I wanted to write something that would glorify Him,” Michael said in a tone that exuded rawness and honesty. “Without God I don’t have anything!”
“You always worry about your kids and want them to succeed in life,” he said when asked about the impact of having a child with special needs. “They require extra attention, but it is part of being a parent and you learn to cope with it.”
Tyler loves action hero movies like the Marvel series and shows like the Star Wars Mandalorian. He also enjoys collecting comic books and toys. Michael and Tyler have been able to attend Comic Conventions and meet actors like Ray Park, who portrayed Darth Maul and Snake Eyes, Jason Mamoa (Aquaman), Chewbacca, and Ironman.
Tyler said his favorite character is Spiderman because of the spiderwebs, super strength and his ability to jump from building to building. Tyler said he thinks his dad is doing great and it is awesome the main character is based on him. “It makes me feel famous,” he said chuckling with endearing joy.
Michael was working third shift in 2008 for the Trumbull Correctional Institution and on Friday nights he guarded the main entry where there was not a lot happening. “It was a good place to mentally de-stress.” One night he brought a notepad and started to take down character names and put his story together in a completed form.
It was back then when co-worker, Ron Pedaline, helped Michael come up with the title, Harvesting Dreams. “Ron a was really smart guy who knew a little bit about everything.” Michael explained he has been trying to reconnect with Ron and let him know the book is really taking off. So, Ron if you are out there, give Michael a ring!
The story I wanted to tell was based in a mining town during the Great Depression. The Johnsons and the Matthews had absolutely no money, but they knew God and loved each other as families and as a community. I wanted to show through faith in God you can get through anything as long as He is in your life. The main character is Tyler a 12-year-old boy with no disabilities, based on Michael’s own son.
Eventually, he was ready to move forward with the next step for his book, but he knew it was in rough shape. Mike Lang, a friend from church, who has over 40 years of print experience from having worked for the Press of Ohio in Brimfield, helped edit and digitize the material. “He was like a second dad to me growing up and this would not have been possible without his help.”
“It’s really kind of weird,” he explained about finding a publishing company. I was flicking back and forth between the news and Shark Tank and there was a commercial for Covenant books, Christian owned and operated book publisher based in South Carolina, on both channels. He called them and submitted the 38 rough chapters he had completed. The book was officially published in September 2020. It is on shelves now and hot off the presses. Do yourself a favor, support a local author who has created a story you will enjoy!
