I got out my ‘kazoo’ and wrote his first stories. What I found instead was a plethora of expensive hardcover books that had little of the content that I was looking for. What I was looking for was a fun-to-read story that contained a subtle message of some sort.

In 1973 while working as a vice-president of a leasing company I went to a bookstore to buy my, then, three year-old daughter, Jennifer, a book. It was a habit and discipline that I hold to this very day. By early, I mean really early 3:00 AM or so early. For a time, I worked for my father and would slip into the office early to use a company typewriter. During this time I had a passion for writing and storytelling but never held any hope that a career would ensue. Heart-broken, I migrated back to the west coast and joined my family in Seattle, Washington. Still and all I was an idiot to lose her in the first place, which makes me all the wiser in finding her later. Fortunately, it was a delightful haunt that would guide me on my life’s journey. Somehow, someway I managed to lose her in a swirl of teenaged insanity, an event that would haunt me for decades to come. It was there that I was smitten by the beauty and intelligence of a fellow student, Celia Pryor.

I had other opportunities at other colleges, but if you were eighteen what would have you done? I went east to Missouri.

After graduating from Borah High School in Boise, Idaho, I received one of the first male scholarships to Stephen’s College for Women in Columbia, Missouri. I was born and raised in the Northwest (Metaline Falls and Kennewick, Washington and Burley and Boise, Idaho). There is no glory in being a one-man band, but when I want to dance and there isn’t any music, I will pull out my kazoo and start humming. When I can’t get somebody to do something the way that I know it should be done, I usually do it myself. Stephen Cosgrove is the award-winning children's author of the Serendipity children's book series featuring Leo the Lop, Morgan and Me, and the Muffin Dragon

Serendipity by stephen cosgrove