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In a fast-paced and sometimes cold hearted world, many women struggle simply to survive, to raise their children and along the way have lives that are at the least productive and at the best, fulfilled … Patsy Welch is one of these women and her tale is one that many will recognize — filled with sadness, struggle, alcohol, death, and divorce. But laced amid the daily chaos, shines a faith so strong and friendships so resilient it will forever change the way you see the world. While Patsy’s life is anything but a fairy tale, its ending rings with transformation and redemption so real it will stir even the cynical to great hope.
To quote Patsy herself: The end of her days has turned out to be better than the beginning.
Those who have read the manuscript have responded with unusual enthusiasm. When asked whether or not there were enough inspirational books out in the marketplace, Cave Henricks Communications’ owner and President Barbara Cave Henricks quickly replied, “No, not enough riveting, well-written ones with broad appeal like this one. This is ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ meets Annie Lamott and I think it has that same kind of potential.”
Because Patsy also has a very keen sense of humor and a Lucille Ball-like life sometimes, there are “Patsy Moments” every few pages, stories about her frantic and often hilariously funny escapades.. These short 1-page glimpses into Patsy’s life keep the book and the subject matter from getting too ‘heavy’. Rich People Shop Here will inspire and encourage people, no matter what their circumstances.
I just had to share this review, written by Roger Wright, a good friend of mine in Chicago, and a tremendous writer in his own right:
In “Rich People Shop Here” Dennis Welch doesn’t just share a story. He literally welcomes the world. Makes sure we’re all comfortable around the campfire of life. This is a book for everyone.
The book’s “radical welcome” unfolds on every page as Welch invites the world inside the home where he grew up on Deerfield Street in Houston. The Welch home on Deerfield Street was the polar opposite of the white picket fence television images of “Leave it To Beaver” or “Father Knows Best” that gave rise to the universal cultural images of what it meant to grow up in a “normal” family.
Sharing his story in the larger light of his mother Patsy and his father Ron with a world class honesty and clarity; enables the reader to really get to know these folks in all their moments of brutal life challenges, soaring joys, and laugh out loud memories. NOTHING is idealized in this book. There is a total absence of clichés. Not a shred of doubt that every single person in this book is as real as can be. And is also an individual unlike anybody else.
So what happens in this sharing of a story is that the reader, any reader, is also invited to begin reflecting on all the ways they too are individuals, have had their taste of real life joys and sorrows, and even moments of unexplainable, unseen mystery. The reader is left feeling glad to know Patsy and all the other real people in the book. The reader feels welcome.
Welch’s gentle touch as a storyteller reflects a talent of one born to do the work of telling stories that welcome. Like a warm Houston rain with flashes of Larry McMurtry, but with a voice that is totally his own; Welch then goes on to do something very rare: he creates a picture of a living, breathing church that would also welcome anyone. In sharp contrast to the shrill, divisive, and downright destructive voices of religion in America today; Welch portrays a church that, like the Welch household, would extend the hand of welcome to anyone. A church that would do the incredibly simple sounding work of “treating a neighbor as you would yourself.”
A philosopher once commented that “The trouble with Christianity is that nobody has ever tried it.”
That is unfortunately all too often true.
But in “Rich People Shop Here” Dennis Welch proves the philosopher wrong.
This is a story told with grace. A deceptively simple story to learn from, talk about and remember.
It’s a story that welcomes everyone.
My father used to always say, “Be kind, son. Everybody’s going through something.”
And you know what? It’s true.
When I stand up in a room full of people these days and talk about my unusual family and all of its issues, I know for certain that we aren’t the only ones with a little wackiness and trouble. Somebody came up to me a few weeks ago after one of my talks and said “Geez, I thought MY family was the most dysfunctional family in the world, but yours takes the cake.” Hmmm…Doesn’t ‘disfunctional’ imply that something DOESN’T work? Our family had all the same stuff going on as every family has, but somehow the choices my folks and many of the people in our orbit made were different and they led to very different results. What they did actually worked just fine.
I guess it wasn’t disfunctional though it certainly had all the elements to be.
It was functional.
So, let’s see what all this means. Everybody has issues. Every family certainly does. And, they’re going to deal with them the best way they know how.
Voila! That makes me understand maybe for the first time the real value of Rich People Shop Here. It’s one thing to tell me in theory what I should do when my hair is on fire, or when I’ve been offended and my gut is telling me to react. It’s quite another to hear about real people who faced these same hair-on-fire issues and decided to take a different road, the high road. It’s good to be able to follow them through the story and see where the high road leads, after all is said and done.
Functional. That means it works, right?
It stops being a theory and it becomes a road map. Imperfect people who didn’t do it all right everytime, but you can read about how much of the time they made good choices. Readers so far are telling me that they can relate, they can follow, they can see the future and the options a bit more clearly, and they can connect.
And, I think there’s something very comforting about that.
This little epiphany makes me want to get in my car and just start driving all around and stopping wherever anybody will lend an ear. I’m thinking this story and the take-aways could save people a lot of wrong turns and heartache and wasted time…
My tendency is to just accomplish things and then check them off my list. But I decided to really relish my week in Georgia and enjoy every single minute of it. We spoke at a book club there and at the Sunday morning service at my old church. What a week!
The book club meeting on Tuesday night began with a room full of ladies who all showed up carrying a copy of my book, Rich People Shop Here. That alone made it kind of surreal. But then, they started asking questions and it was obvious they had all read the book and really enjoyed it. Great questions, great people, and lots of fun.
Then, we stayed with our good friends the Portman’s for a couple of nights and thoroughly enjoyed that, too. What gracious people.
We stayed Saturday night at our Pastor John Byerly’s house. He and his wife Lacy welcomed us with open arms. We had dinner and another wonderful visit.
Sunday morning I spoke at Presbyterian Church of the Redeemer. The place was jam-packed with people and I spoke about “Patsy, Paul, and Mary”. The response was kind of overwhelming, to be honest. We sold lots of books after the service, I had a chance to talk with many people who are going through various trials and tribulations and overall it was a blessed day all around.
I’m thankful for this time. I really am going to try very hard to relish all the events around this book and not just do them and check them off my list. It is my sincere hope that we get to deliver “Patsy. Paul, and Mary” to more people over the next few months. It is apparently a very inspiring message, one that encourages forgiveness and offers a lot of hope
I’m always humbled when things work out. This was a special week indeed. Thanks, Georgia friends for your friendship and encouragement. I hope to see you again soon…..
So, let me just begin by saying that there are all kinds of PR. I’ll explain later.
It all began with a breakfast meeting a month or so ago with my pastor, Will Davis Jr. He’s a great guy and I’m delighted that he’s my pastor and my friend. I met him at Waterloo here in Austin one morning at around 7:30. We had a delightful visit, I signed a copy of my new book Rich People Shop Here to he and his sweet wife Susie, and all was well.
Then, a couple of weeks ago I found out that someone was selling a copy of Rich People on Amazon for a premium because it was a “collector’s item, signed by the author”. I went right over to the item to see who in the world would be selling their copy of the book already, especially ONE I HAD SIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO THEM…
And there, plain as day was the inscription: “To Will and Susie.”.
What!!!! I jumped to EVERY conclusion and I have to say my first reaction did not give him the benefit of the doubt. SELL MY BOOK THAT I SIGNED TO YOU???? HOW DARE YOU???? It’s a work of art, for God’s sake!!!!
I waited a couple of days and sent Will a note to let him know that I had found it on line and I was very clinical in what I sent. Unemotional, even.
His reply was priceless: “Thank God you found it! We’ve been looking all over for it! We thought we’d lost it!” It turns out that Will and Susie had recently moved his parents out of their house and his house was FILLED with STUFF. Susie suggested that he take some of their stuff to Goodwill, so Will just started taking things down there to clear some space.
Unfortunately, my book was in the Goodwill stuff. When he found out it was for sale as a collector’s item he was appalled and embarrassed.
So, what did he do? He logged on to Amazon and bought his OWN BOOK back at a premium, a book that was signed and given to him!
This past Saturday and Sunday he preached about having too much stuff. That enough is what we need and that most of us have more than enough. We have so much that we lose our friend’s book and have to buy it back. He held the book up in every service and….
Well, I’ve already said it. There are all kinds of PR.
My lesson? Give people the benefit of the doubt. Don’t jump to conclusions.
All the things I write about in my book….
The past 7 days have been among the most interesting and fulfilling consecutive days I have ever experienced.
I spoke twice to a room full of job seekers at Hill Country Bible Church. If that’s all I had done this week, it would have been a fulfilling one.
But there’s more. Over the last week I have made new friends on Twitter and found old friends on Facebook and re-connected over dinner this past weekend.
And, I’m disconnecting from some things. I’ve decided to focus all my attention in 2010 on two goals besides my family: Cave Henricks Communications and this book PR business that I absolutely love, and “Rich People Shop Here”, my book.
Oh, and I did a delightful telephone interview on Saturday with Brigitte Mongeon and her daughter about Creativity and “Rich People.”
Much of the connecting of many of these seemingly disparate events was due to the new world of social media. For many years I have avoided social media, mainly because I didn’t understand it. I do now. When someone with 5,000+ followers decided they like your book and they tweet about it, the results are powerful. Amazon has re-ordered a fair number of books, and the activity has increased exponentially since I started using Facebook and Twitter.
I’m amazed. And, I’m looking forward to the next 7 days. Susie and I are headed to Georgia to speak at a church and book club. And, yes, I’ll probably tweet about it.
I should probably take a nap now and save my energy….
Rich People Shop Here (Book Club Questions)
It has been said that after a life-altering event, we should wait a year before making major changes in our life. Do you think Patsy would have been better off to follow this rule?
When you were first introduced to Patsy, what was your opinion of her? Did it change through the story? If so, in which way?
Which character do you think had the most impact on helping Patsy go forward?
Patsy had a lot of “defenders’ who came to her aid throughout her life. Who are your “defenders”?
Patsy and Boots considered themselves to very different from each other. Did you observe any similar traits between the two women? Did either woman change?
Patsy said she did not love Ron at first. Why do you suppose she married him anyway after her 2 other failed marriages? Also, why do you think she decide to stay married to him even though he continued to binge drink for several more years?
What are your thoughts about having a “Pre-Funeral”? Would you like to attend one of these for yourself? What do you surmise that people would say about you at one of these events?
True friendship and unconditional love are transformational. How do you feel this was shown in this book? Who was transformed and how?
Forgiveness is a choice we make. Tell about the some of the forgiving choices that were made in this book.
What power does forgiveness bring? How is this shown in the book?
Sense of humor is important in a crisis. How have you seen this to be a reality in your life?
Nobody is beyond God’s unlimited ability to help. Who in the book showed this to be true? How does that effect how you see other people in your life, especially people who seem to always be in trouble of one kind or another?
My blackberry shivered and shook with this text message from one of my oldest and dearest friends: “Shame on you for baptizing Mustachia! I’m in the chapter on “Bullets and Brothers” and I think it’s the best thing you’ve ever written.”
My new book is out there now and I’m getting some calls and emails. I’m taking all of the joyful praise with a grain of salt.
“This thing is doing heart surgery on me. I would have written sooner but I was on my way down to feed the chickens and I was pulled into the ditch by a giant crab.” Another reference to Rich People Shop Here. A story about my older brother. My friend was paying attention.
That’s amazing.
“We stayed up all night long and read it out loud to each other”. A friend of mine and his wife read the whole book in ONE NIGHT. OUT LOUD!
All of this is confirmation for me. It’s supposed to be out there. After a few fits and starts, it finally IS being read by a host of people and I get to hear their very enthusiastic responses to the stories.
Somebody else wrote to tell me that the book had inspired them to forgive someone in their own family. It doesn’t get any better than that in my humble opinion.
All of this fun is making me think about a sequel….
Well the Rich People Shop Here fun continued a couple of weeks ago with a party at Barbara Henricks’ home here in Austin. We had a great turnout and terrific food and fun and fellowship. Everybody had a good time, and went home with at least one book each to read at their leisure.
In times like these I realize how blessed I am to have such good friends.
Lots of amazing early reports from readers of the book, and many people are buying multiple copies to give away.
We’ll be doing a lot of speaking in the new year, and I can’t wait to get out there and get started. For those of you who have attended one (or both) of our book parties; for those who have bought books for themselves, friends, and relatives; for those who’ve been so encouraging to Susie and I…thanks is really not enough.
Everybody have a Merry Christmas!
Sunday, November 1 was the date for our book release party for Rich People Shop Here. Though the official publication date is January 15, books came a bit early and were available so we got 100 plus of our closest friends and family together and threw a shindig in a room that could barely hold 80.
It was an amazing day with people coming from as far away as Georgia and as close as two buildings over from the meeting room.
We sold all the books we had on hand and we’ve re-ordered. The early feedback on the book has been very encouraging.
Barbara Henricks, Book Publicist Extraordinaire, gave a moving speech about why the book matterered to her all those months ago when I was just sending along one chapter at a time to her.
I spoke briefly, mom spoke, and we both signed books for over an hour. Our Cave Henricks Communications friends sold books and were kind enough to man the desk and deliver those that had been pre-sold.
What a great day!!!! I suppose every author dreams of these kinds of days, but when they actually happen, they are better than one can imagine.
To all of you who attended, thank you, To those of you who could not attend, but were there in spirit, many thanks to you, too.
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