Summary This book begins at Ruby Pier on

Summary � This book begins at Ruby Pier on Eddie's 83 rd birthday. Eddie works at an amusement park operating rides and making sure everything runs smoothly. He has a co-worker named Dominquez, Eddie instructs him to fix the ride; before this was able to happen one of the carts from the rollercoaster breaks free from the track and falls into the pier. Eddie notices the cart falling and a little girl in the way of being hit, when he jumped out to save her he did not get out of the way and got killed by falling cart. Upon Eddies death he travels to heaven and meets several people. The first person he meets is named the Blue Man, the Blue Man begins to talk to Eddie and informs him that his death was indirectly caused by saving a child’s life. When Eddie was a child he ran into the road chasing a ball, the Blue Man was driving down the street and swerved out of the way and hit another car, resulting in his death. The Blue Man tells Eddie that he will meet five different people in heaven and teaches him a lesson on how lives intersect for a reason. Eddie moves on through is journey he four more people; his former war captain from WWII, who saved him from a fire; he meets his father who jumped into a lake to save him from drowning, and who died the next day from pneumonia. The fourth person Eddie meets teaches him about the power of love. She explains to him that true love endures forever; and the final person Eddie meets is an Asian girl named Tala explains to Eddie that he killed her in a fire, while he was in the military during WWII. Everything begins to come back to Eddie as he sees the burn scars on Tala’s body. The final lesson that Tala teaches Eddie is that his place in life was to be at Ruby Peir keeping children safe.

Inspiration �Do not have to complete a deed for a specific reason �Blue Man- First person to save Eddie

Team Building �“There are no random acts in life. ” �Eddie placed at Ruby Peir �Cooperation from the ‘ 5’ people �Took a long time for Eddie to understand the role of all of the people he met

Confidence �Need confidence to complete the tasks they did. �Eddies father needed confidence to save his friend.

Common Fate �The Discipline of Teams �All of the characters ended up in the same place �Work together without realizing

Mediator �Blue Man �Showed Eddie the ropes �Every group needs a mediator

Family �Confidence � Sports �Team building �Mediator � Parents � Older sibling

Quotes � "It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed. " � "This comes from the sad, layered stories of life, which over the centuries have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with laying them down. " � “Holding anger is a poison. . . It eats you from inside. . . We think that by hating someone we hurt them. . . But hatred is a curved blade. . . and the harm we do to others. . . we also do to ourselves. ” � “Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with soaking joy. But sometimes, under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive. ”