Allan Sunberg grew up with humble beginnings and has never forgotten where he came from.
He served in the United States Army, and it was during those years that his life quietly changed forever. As a young soldier — restless, still finding himself — he met a woman named Maria. She was a little older, a little wiser, and exactly what he didn't know he needed. Over 43 years of marriage, she guided an immature young soldier into the person he became — a father, a leader, a man of faith.
When he met Maria, he was 20, and she was 28. She had a six-year-old son, Adam, and an eleven-year old son, John. He had a three-year-old daughter, Melissa. From the very beginning, Maria raised Melissa as her own, and Allan raised Adam and John as his own. No half. No step. Just theirs. Together, they added Darryl and April. Five children. One family. Built from love and choice.
In his professional life, Allan has spent 30 years in field sales, advancing from an entry-level position to Vice President. Along the way, he has had his hands in the careers of thousands of people — hiring them, training them, developing them, and walking alongside them through the challenges that life and work inevitably bring.
He lives in Central Texas, near Fort Hood — surrounded by military families, veterans, and people who understand a particular kind of sacrifice and a particular kind of loss.
He wrote this book because he kept seeing men standing in the middle of their grief with nowhere to go. Strong men. Providers. Protectors. The shoulders that everyone else leans on. Men who had never been permitted to fall apart, let alone given a roadmap for how to get back up.
That man deserved a book.
And then, as he wrote, he realized that man's story was everyone's story.
