* First Novel on Twitter

Cowboy - a story by Alice Anne McCormick

This story was written by my wife / best friend of 23 years.
She passed away from Lung Cancer on July 27, 2007, she was
49 years young. I started to publish it on TWITTER starting May 21,2008
and finishing on October 26, 2008, thus becoming the first completed novel
on Twitter. Click here to see more information about Alice.
The local collage paper did a nice story about this and can be found here.
In 2011, The Aviation Museum of Kentucky recognized Alice's contributions
to that organization by awarding her the 2011 Aviation Achievement Award.
The video bio can be seen found here

Part 1 Nicole Part 2 Hilary Part 3 Endings

PART 3 - ENDINGS

Posted on Twitter on October 26, 2008 - Alice's birthday

Lexington Kentucky, July 27, 2007. We both awoke at the same time. We had both heard the same sound. Jane, Alice"s best friend from before high school had only arrived the night before. She had planned to visit in a few weeks, but my call to her a few days ago with the news that she must come now was answered with an immediate trip to Lexington from New Jersey. Alice"s sister Hillary had also come, but she was not here now. When they arrived at the hospital last night, there was recognition, a hug, and then sleep. I had been holding Alice"s hand for most of the night, but I had fallen asleep, and had let go. It was the sound of her breathing that brought both Jane and I to be immediately alert. And then silence; it was 6:45am. Alice had died.

Lung cancer had been diagnosed just 15 month earlier. There was treatment in Lexington, and when that did not look promising, trips to Duke Medical Center in North Carolina. We had always known that it may come to this, but we always had faith. This is what God had given us today, and we were ready to deal with it, but we also believed in rainbows. She had gotten worse and on July 5th was admitted to the hospital.

Alice had always wanted to finish "Cowboy" but she never could find the time. Year after year we would talk about what would happen next to John, Nicole and Hilary, how she would just take a few months off and get it done, finish the book, but there was always something that needed to be dealt with. Her job at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky had become her passion, not because she liked airplanes, no, she actually was afraid to fly. It was the possibilities that attracted her. She loved the fact that kids who visited the museum would be awed, inspired and dream. Her father had passed in 2003 and her mother was suffering from Alzheimer and, for a while lived with us. There just wasn"t time.

When I decided to post Cowboy, it was to show the world what Alice had done. I knew it would be a story without an ending. I had always been rooting for John and Nichole to get back together. I did not trust Hilary but I had hoped that deep down inside that she was a good person, but just not the right person for John, but we"ll just never know.

It was only a few weeks ago that it dawned on me that like Cowboy, Alice"s life story would not be finished either. I had hoped to grow old with her, having memories of a life well lived; but like her book, it just ended. We had time to talk about the future; she wanted for me what I would want for her if my time came first. She wanted me to be happy, to live life, to help and inspire the people around me. My life has more chapters, more pages to turn. I"m sure that my life with Alice would have had a happy ending, but we"ll just never know.

Do you enjoy this book, please donate to The Aviation Museum of Kentucky and reference Cowboy