Young
and
Driven
OVerDrive
By
Dr. Cortlan J. Wickliff, Esq.
Copyright 2017 by Dr. Cortlan J. Wickliff
Publishing by Cortlan J. Wickliff Holdings, LLC
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be shared in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use other than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without the prior written permission of the author. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, any such use of this material constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book, prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author at cortlan.wickliff@gmail.com or www.cortlanwickliff.com.
The author is not a licensed psychiatrist, medical doctor or counselor. The statements in this book do not constitute legal, medical, or career counseling or advice. Neither the author nor the publisher nor any of their affiliates are liable or responsible for actions taken by the reader.
Overdrive Edition: November 2019
First Edition: April 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9989698-2-4
For the men and women that presented me
with consistently high benchmarks to
achieve. Every day I strive towards the
standards of excellence, integrity and
compassion you set for me. Thank you for
being the giants on whose shoulders I stand;
I hope that I can push others towards
success the same way you pushed me!
Table of Contents
Foreword
My eyes still well up as I recall the tragedy that drove my son to become Dr. Cortlan James Wickliff, Esq.
I sat in the living room waiting on my son Cortlan to come home from school asking myself, How do you communicate extremely devastating news to a 10-year-old child? Amid my numbness and excruciating pain, as the author of this book walked through the door after school that dreadful afternoon in October of 2000, that is exactly what I had to do. Unsuccessfully straining to hold back tears, I managed to utter the unthinkable. Your dad died last night from a heart attack in his sleep
That was the longest-short conversation I had ever had. He didnt really ask many questions, break down crying, or react with the disbelief or confusion I had expected. Instead, he said, I better go tell coach I wont be at practice for a bit, and he immediately walked out of the door. Did he understand what had just happened? Was he in shock? That was a dark day. However, what happens in the next few days is nothing short of amazing and I believe divinely orchestrated.
But first a little about Cortlan Anybody who hears his story invariably wants to know, when did you know he was different.
His dad and I discovered that we had a unique child, back at the beginning of the summer of 1994, when he was 3yrs old. That summer, like we did most summers, we brought several of our nieces and nephews to stay with us and participate in local summer programs. This particular year, I was a bit overzealous. I somehow piled 7 or more kids in my little Geo Metro and made the 4-hour-trip from Liberty, Texas to our home in Austin. Seeing the clown-car like scene of all those people getting out of a vehicle barely bigger than a Toyota Prius, made Tony (Cortlans dad) decide we needed to have a family meeting. During this meeting, his dad discussed the schedule for household chores with his older two brothers and I.
As the meeting ended, Tony reiterated the assignment of chores and expectations of everyone in our home. The only person he did not directly address was 3-year-old Cortlan. Tony then ended the meeting, so he thought, with a pair of questions.
Tony: Do you all understand? Does anyone have anything to say?
After an extended silence, the smallest person in the room boldly proclaimed in his full voice:
Cortlan: Yes, daddy. If no one else has anything to say, I have something to say.
Surprised to receive any feedback, let alone feedback from his youngest son, Tony asked him what he wanted to say.
Cortlan replied, The way I see it, Daddy, it sounds like you are ready to be the boss of the house now, and if you are ready to be the boss, you need to do things for yourself
We were stunned. His brothers were terrified, his dad was irritated, and his cousins in the next room got extremely quiet. If it had stopped there, it would have been enough. But Tony, being a mix of irritated and curious asked, Is there anything else.
Cortlan gladly volunteered specifics oblivious to how irritated the man sitting next to him was becoming. Cortlan proceeded to tell his father that he should not request his children to get things like his ashtray or cigarettes, but get them himself. Despite Tony turning a brighter shade of red by the second, he kept asking Cortlan for more. Cortlan continued to freely share, And the way I see it, the boss should pay the bills, too.
Angrily Tony inquired, Since you know so much, what do you suggest that I pay?
Boldly and naively Cortlan continued, The way I see it, if mom pays the house bill, you can pay my school bill; and if mom pays the light bill, you can pay the sink bill. The phrase sink-bill reminded everyone in the house that Cortlan was only 3 years old. At that moment, my nieces and nephews in the next room erupted in laughter, Cortlans brothers let out some giggles, and even I chuckled a bit.
Nevertheless, Tony was not distracted by the laughter, and Cortlan didnt get the joke. Tony undeterred, stone-faced, and red with anger asked if there was anything else. Completely oblivious to the danger he was in, Cortlan, yet again said, The way I see it
Before he could utter another word, I took the chaotic laughter as a nice break to stop the conversation and send all the kids outside to play.
Tony was convinced that I had put Cortlan up to saying all of those things, or that he was repeating something that I had said. I, of course, had nothing to do with Cortlans expressed opinion. Back then people could only pay bills by mail or in person. There was no online option. Thus, whenever I had a bill to pay, I would pay them while taking Cortlan to and from school each day. Like most kids his age, Cortlan asked a lot of questions, and I answered them. I recall inquiries like:
He asked, What are you doing Mommy? I replied, I am mailing the mortgage payment for our house.
Hed ask, Why are you mailing those? I responded, When you are an adult you have to pay bills. Or
He would ask, Mommy, whats that piece of paper? and Id reply, Its a check to pay for your school. etc.
After Cortlans exchange with Tony, I realized that while running errands and entertaining the curious questions of my toddler son, Cortlan had been observing and drawing conclusions of his own. This level of deductive reasoning was well beyond the scope of a typical child his age. Because of that fact, it was utterly impossible trying to convince my husband that I had nothing to do with it. This meant that Tony spent the entire summer thinking I was trying to poison his son against him.
Though the rest of the summer was a bit awkward in our home, early in the fall semester I would be exonerated.
His dad soon found out for himself just how inquisitive and helpful Cortlan could be. In the fall, Cortlan was 4 years old and starting Pre-Kindergarten school. Tony decided that, instead of paying for afterschool daycare, he would watch Cortlan at his auto-body and paint shop in the afternoons. This would have been a great way to save money if Tony had lasted more than a week.
