JUST LIKE "THE O.C."

Sitting on the couch watching the second season of "The O.C." with my daughter Kara (we just finished season one last week), a show I never really cared about but for some reason became hooked as I watched this story of a kid with a past entering into a new world. I thought about my own teen years and realized why I liked this show. My life back then was like the O.C. with all the drama one could handle . When I turned to Kara and said that I was Ryan she smiled and said " sure dad". She didn't realize I was serious. I guess I should have said I was Luke also. When we moved from San Jose to Santa Barbara in the middle of my junior year in high school, life was over as far as I was concerned and I would become that outsider Ryan from Chino entering an unknown world far from the comfort of my past. Little did I know at the time how dramatic this change would become in my life. But before I take you on that long journey of heartbreak, success, true love found and lost, and enormous failures and redemption I have to describe life before Santa Barbara.