The greatest gift I was ever given… Sherlock Holmes comes around full circle…

In life we have very few truly profound moments, I just had one of mine…

For the past week or so I’ve been visiting the small town where I grew up, I left this place when I was 17 years old and have never came back, not once. Since I’ve been back it has been quite the trip down memory lane, but nothing compares to last night…

During my childhood years my best friend was a kid by the name of Sean Mcdonald, his family was my second family. I spent as much time at his house growing up as I did my own. Some of my fondest memories are from time I spent with his father Mike, one of the coolest people I’ve ever known. Yet somewhere along the way I forgot he changed my life forever, until I was reminded last night.

I went to visit Sean and his family last night, hugs abounded. While visiting with them and regaling them with stories from my adventures they mentioned how proud they were of me, and how they never knew introducing me to Sherlock Holmes would have such an effect on me…  Introducing me to Sherlock Holmes? Say what?

For years, during interviews and so forth I have credited my mother with my introduction to Holmes, I remember asking her for Holmes stories and her ordering them for me, but as it turns out, she was not the inspiration. Rather I was asking her for the books for a reason, because of an interest that had been sparked elsewhere…

Standing at the Mcdonalds’ house last night it all came rushing back, Sean’s father Mike is a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fan, he pulled out The Annotated Works Of Sherlock Holmes and spoke of Basil Rathbone. The memories came flooding back, how could I forget the true source of my Sherlockian obsession  I suppose I was just too young. Last night as they nudged my memory it was like being hit by a tidal wave. There I was standing in the very house where I first heard the name, Sherlock Holmes. Standing face to face with the man that had first told me the stories of a ex-army surgeon and his friend, the consulting detective.

I’m sorry dear mother, you did facilitate my obsession but Mike Mcdonald set that fire. To him I owe this credit, to him I owe the life I have led and the person I have become. I sat there last night thumbing through his copy of The Annotated Works Of Sherlock Holmes, with in depth features about Doyle and Professor Joseph Bell. Names that would mean so much to me for the rest of my life.

My childhood was rough indeed, my mother an on again off again addict, my household one of major dysfunction and chaos. Sherlock Holmes was always my escape, mother with her psychic readings and manic mood swings created the perfect atmosphere for a child who needed logic, who needed a hero in control of his emotions. A role model that would save him from metaphysical nonsense and emotional roller coasters. For me, that was Holmes.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has no doubt changed many worlds with his profound writing. He certainly changed my life for the better. Today I thank Mike Mcdonald, one of the only father figures I’ve ever had. What would my life be like without Sherlock Holmes? I am glad that I shall never be able to answer that.

Thank you Mr. Mcdonald, I owe you a debt deeper than I can express in words. So I leave you with the ever so appropriate words of you-know-who…

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.” -Sherlock Holmes - A Case Of Identity

Truer words never spoken…

——————————————————————————————————————————

Joe’s book (raising funds for Save Undershaw) ‘The Real Sherlock Holmes’ is available at all good bookstores including Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and in all formats including Amazon Kindle and now on the iPad too. Fans outside the US and UK can get free delivery from Book Depository