Time to Say Goodbye

Love is a many splendored thing, as we are reminded in a wonderful old film with William Holden and Jennifer Jones. Many ordinary people in the course of their lives find themselves in an extraordinary romantic situation. It may be on the loading dock, in an office, at a party, or just by a chance meeting. Who can really say how a romance happens? Most discard these romances after they realize that continuing down that path might ruin their marriage or break up their lover's marriage or for a number of other reasons. This story is about an Italian named Mario. Mario is one of those people who are not looking for romance but fall into the love trap; in this case a one-way love that he runs away from because of its trauma to him. The reader gets to travel with Mario to some exciting tourist places with exotic foods as he encounters other women and tries to shake off his love for Patricia, a married woman.

J.J. Conte, Meteorologist and Senior Systems Engineer, retired after 38 years of employment with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Air Force. After retirement he used his companies, VIBES, Inc. and TAG, for contract work for the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, General Sciences Corporation. Conte is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in International Achievers. He also received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal. Conte's first book, Down the Yellow Brick Road, chronicled his journey as a caretaker and his wife's journey as a victim of ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Conte's second book, Flies in my Spaghetti, Chocolates over the Wall, is anecdotal, with stories of travel from Europe to Japan with six kids, living seven years in England, etc. The book provokes readers, through simple memories, to mentally search their past and realize that through all life's trials, they will persevere. J.J. Conte is currently the Chairman of the Constance Joan Schneider Conte ALS Group, Inc.