Uniform, soft, serene, delicious: my sheep. I see them every morning when I wake up in my stone castle, huddled on an island off the coast of Ireland. Every day I take a walk with my furry friends and watch the waves crash against the black rocks that protect my surface. Life is happiness. I am seventy-seven years old and my whole life has been based on the dream of one day reaching this retirement dream world. How did I get here? Well, it all started during my high school years, when I was going through those embarrassing acne days. When I started my freshman year, I was intent on looking academically perfect. It took a lot of energy. Energy I had built up over time from the pain of a recent divorce, in my immediate family, and, as Lemony Snicket would say, from the relentless series of unfortunate events. During this time, I began to question my Christian faith. One of my friends asked me, once again, to go to his church's youth group. After making several terrible excuses and feeling guilty, I agreed to go. The sermon that night was about how “we a...