Laugh on the Way to Heaven (Paperback) | Released: 15 Nov 2007

Curtis compiles personal essays, stories, and poems into a humorous, thought-provoking collection. (Christian)

Tom decided to write for his own enjoyment without regard to whether his work ever would see a printing press, but he wanted at least a small audience to stimulate better writing with a more conversational style. Calling himself t the splogger, by email he sent his short essays, stories and poems to friends who agreed to receive them. Splog means spam log. It began as nonsense and satire but when, on a few occasions he touched religious topics, some readers complained; some readers fired him. He felt compelled to explain his own spirituality, and although this at first embarrassed him, eventually he relaxed into a conviction of delivering a God-given message that, in the long run, Father loves and values you, whatever you believe, however you behave. Agnos, an agnostic spirit who reminds Tom to be honest, is his sidekick in this series of interrelating essays, stories and poems. Altogether there are 144, an auspicious number, twelve times twelve and a member of the Fibonacci series. For some reason that is important to Tom. Many, but not all, of these are humorous. All are at least close to being thought-provoking, but if a few have just a laugh in them, sure why not? This reverent collection boldly challenges mainstream thinking in a way that Tom describes as God's fist shaking at the here and now, with jokes. ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATION: The Pythagorean Fish precedes Christianity by about five hundred years. Composed by the intersection of the fifth parts of two circles, it represents the life shared by God with humans. The fish is our intimate overlap. In this drawing, the lower ring is a face of happiness and in God's ring is the dove of peace, helped to stay aloft by a propeller beaniecap. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: On October 20, 1952, Tom Curtis was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the East bank of the Mississippi River, where he was raised and developed an attachment to metaphors comparing rivers to life. He spent much of his summers barefoot. He acquired his M.D. degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1979, and then spent several years serving various roles as a physician in the United States Navy. In 1988 he became specialized in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and in 2004 was certified in the specialty of Pain Management. The intimacy with which patients share their lives with doctors has enriched his perspectives on the meanings of life. Tom lives with his family in Renton, a suburb of Seattle, Washington