"A Sister's Inspiration." By Chris Mentillo
Many distinguished writers, authors have had specific people, friends, family, uncles, cousins, etc give them the incentive and inspiration to write. The great writer H.P. Lovecraft had his grandfather introduce him to obscure and cryptic books of the dead. I also had enormous inspiration from my sister who also introduced me to detective books, books about mysteries, unsolved and cryptic books indeed: This is a picture of my sister, "Melissa Mentillo May." She is the greatest sister anyone could have. I love this picture of her and wanted to post it along with commenting on how much Melissa Mentillo May was such an inspiration to me on becoming a professional writer, author, etc. Let me further elaborate:
My sister is not the type to boast about her accomplishments or any of her family member's endeavors either. She has little to say and is never too impressed. To have her attention concerning achieving something great in life, you would probably have to be President of the United States. And not only be President but the best. Even this may not be enough to sway her. So, whatever she or anyone else in the family ever accomplished may never be revealed to others (the public outside of the family circle) because she would most likely keep it to herself. So, I will have to speak up on her behalf of what an inspiration and a hero she has been to me - ever since I was a child.
Incidentally, every family member of mine had some influence on me, both in my life and career. And my brother, wife, and mother for their steadfast commitment to supporting me emotionally - financially while I wrote. And my father was a driving force in his ability to motivate me mentally, financially, emotionally, spiritually, and for his motivational coaching and drive to help me succeed. All of this assistance helped me growing up as a child and teenager. These are tough years. You need that support system to help keep you from impeding your forward motion to move ahead.
Anyway, when I was around six years old, and my sister was a couple of years older, we both use to sit downstairs together and read "The Adventures of The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Mystery Series Collection." By the way, I highly suggest you have your kids read these series. They are some of the best books to read for younger kids. Eventually, after reading book after book, we began to get better at it. And that was when Missy started book competitions, to see who could read a book faster. I always said no because she would win every time.
Nevertheless, Missy continued to motivate me to not only read more but read faster. She introduced me to all these kinds of little tricks, and I became hooked. By now, I was reading a book a day and began working on reading the second one on the same day.
I recalled some days when the weather outside was sometimes beautiful, and all the other kids were playing outside, except for Melissa and I. Yep. Not us. We were perfectly content staying put downstairs all day and early into the evening where we were, downstairs reading Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boy's books. And I loved every second of it. We did this all summer long, and I couldn't wait the next morning to get up and head down again to start reading the next book, to find out what occurred and transpired in the next book series. It was so appealing to me.
I remember one day after I finished reading the entire Hardy Boy's complete book series, and how depressed I was. I would say to my sister, "what the heck am I going to do now?" Around this time, my sister had already completed her Nancy Drew series and was twiddling her fingers, questioning what to do next. Both of us, with eyes fixated on each other books, began pondering thoughts of how to entertain ourselves for the remainder of the summer.
Now, with the sun's rays radiating through the window, we thought it possible for once that we could take advantage of the beautiful weather and do something fun outside. But this idea was not to be, and the gesture was short-lived. You see, at this time, my sister was on her back with a full-body cast. I mean from her neck, all the way down to her heels. She could barely move. I had to help her by pushing her and by sometimes rolling her in a more comfortable position so she could read her Nancy Drew books. She had this full-body cast on her for the whole summer. During this stage, she had already endured enough suffering through a dozen or more periods of back surgery due to having Scoliosis. And, back in those days, they didn't have the kind of technology they do today to help prevent this from getting worse. And, when I glanced over at Missy (Melissa, I always call her Mis or Missy), I knew we needed to focus our attention on more practical options due to her status and situation. And, it didn't take long before we came up with the idea to read, but this time we would exchange our book series. She would read my Hardy Boy's books, and I would read her Nancy Drew books.
That summer was perhaps one of the best summers in the world for me. I mean this. I never forgot it. Not only did I have a great time talking and reading books with my sister that summer, but it also was the turning point in my life that day. (that I hadn't realized then as a kid). You see, my sister taught me not only how to read books better during that summer, but she also informed me of a vast deal more regarding life.
My sister taught me about love, compassion, family, suffering, passion, perseverance, tenacity, enjoyment, and even how to appreciate your own company better. She taught me how to be more proactive and about mental and emotional stability. She taught me about dedication, adversity, strength, and how to stay happy, notwithstanding your situation.
These were wonderful times with my sister. And I want to say, in the best way possible, how proud I am of you for being so strong at a time when most children, under those circumstances, would give-up and stay pessimistic. But you never got discouraged, and you never complained - even under your situation. Most importantly, you never gave up striving to survive under your circumstances.
So, thank you for being such an inspiration of strength for me, Missy, and for igniting my career as a writer. It's truly because of you that I continue to read and write as a profession. Thank you for being the greatest sister in the whole world.
"By the way, are you ready for another reading challenge? No, I'm kidding, you would probably win."
- From your brother Chris Mentillo
