upfront

Welcome to October, friends. I call this month, the “month of change.” On any given day we can reach 80 degrees and then the very next day we can have sleet and snow. The leaves start to burst with color as fall comes rushing in and the grass goes dormant until next spring. Our days grow short and the nights long.

In this month's issue, we tell the story of “Uncle Frank” Frank Phillips. Frank, along with his brother L.E., started Phillips 66 in 1917. They used their last dollar to drill the Anna Anderson well which hit big. That one well fundamentally changed Bartlesville, Oklahoma and the world. Just think ... that all happened here in Bartlesville.

Christy and I are so sad that two very important men who made such an impact on our community have passed away — Don Cone and Jerry Cozby. I remember moving here in 1985, and my step dad, Kenneth, who loved to golf, took me to Hillcrest Country Club. There I met Mr. Cozby. I’d never picked up a golf club until he handed me a 3 iron and taught me the game of golf. We would meet three days a week and hit bucket after bucket of balls with him saying keep your head down Keith ... still today, I will catch myself raising my head and hear his voice.

When I took our magazine to Woolaroc, Don Cone and I would just talk about how much we both loved history. Then he’d give me a little history lesson about something I didn't know. I asked his son, Todd, to write his tribute, and he honored his Dad with his words.

Many of you know from previous stories that October is the month I dread ... it is the month we lost Tyler. This October 8th will be 11 years since Tyler went to Heaven. I look out of our kitchen window wondering where he would be today. We keep him alive in our hearts by talking about him all the time. People still tell us stories we didn't know. I pray for Christy during this time, because I know how much it hurts her. She will always have a void in her heart that many of us can't comprehend. I just hold her and say we will get through this one day at a time.

I want to end this upfront with some quotes from a letter I received yesterday. Over the last three years I have written stories of my failures, our love, our losing Tyler, and the darkness these eyes have seen because of my drug addiction. It is never easy to put yourself out there for all your peers to read. I am asked often why I write and my answer is always the same ... if I help one person seek help for their addiction, one person talk about their abuse, or one couple hold on for one more day, then I will keep writing. I want readers to know the sun will shine again, the hurt and shame can be taken away, and hope and victory live in my story, our story, and your story.

This young man is 27 years old and went to school with our sons, Tyler and Blake. I also coached him in football when the boys were young. His mother told me she had been sending our magazines to her son. She said my stories are helping him with his heroin addiction and asked if I would reach out to him. I did. The next time he was here, I met with him. Three months later I get a letter and here are just a few quotes from it.

“I hope all is well. Day 4 in Treatment here in Georgia and been clean for 11 days now, and I'm starting to get my energy back. Yesterday was a pretty monumental day in my book. Besides being my birthday, I chose to go to church down the road from the treatment center. First time I've been to church for over 10 years. In fact, over the last couple of years I have been accusing God for all my problems and questioning his existence. But yesterday I opened my heart and accepted God back in my life and was saved. This has been an incredible void in my life and taking this step has lifted a mass off my shoulders.” He ends his letter with this, “I will never forget or be able to show my full appreciation for the impact on my life that you both and the magazine have had on my life. I have the opportunity now, and I am going to take full advantage of it, to be the father to my baby girl, the son my parents deserve, the brother my siblings deserve. I've been given a new life and while I can't give you all of the credit, I am damn sure giving a large part of it where it's due.” Forever Thankful ... this is why I write my stories. God Bless!