Welcome to the Trauma Therapist podcast. My name is Guy McPherson. I interview incredible people who've dedicated their lives to helping those who've been impacted by trauma. A big thank you to our sponsors and our guests who are supporting this show. So 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

Our folks, welcome back to the podcast. Very excited to have us my guest today, David Lomax.

David, welcome. Thank you for inviting me. Awesome. David is a teacher of 18 years and the author

of Trails of Thoughts, a memoir, 25 years in the making. The book explores survival, resilience,

and the search for meaning, drawn from

an unusually difficult life, including years working in remote regions of Alaska. The memoir

began as an attempt to understand endurance, emotional control, and survival. It ended as something

more. David's son, who survived childhood leukemia from age three, encouraged him to finish it.

After his death in 2023, David completed the manuscript, adding him into the final chapters,

not as a device, but as a truth the story could no longer avoid. The book is dedicated to him.

All right, David, just a little bit about you. Before we get going, share with the listeners where you're from originally and where you are currently.

And then we will dive in.

Okay.

Well, I am from actually born and lived in California, the Bay Area, until I was about sixth grade.

And so I've done a lot of activities down there.

I mean, unbelievable.

I have very vivid fond memories of being there.

The whole nine yards, baseball.

The whole gamut, I was on the Little League and A to Z water skiing,

cabins, skiing, and the whole nine yards of

california california boy flying down there my father had a uh twin commancho which he flows all over

to baha and we're fishing then uh right now at this then we moved up to al when I was about sixth grade, I guess, and

...