In his book “It All Matters: Why we are the way we are,” Al recalls his childhood and the people and experiences that most affected him. He relives his early adult years; a time of challenge, accomplishment, and disappointment. Retirement brings frustration in an ever-changing world he neither likes nor understands.

A man of the cloth shows him the way and he turns to God. All described with enough wit to keep one laughing and thirsting for more.
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STAR NEWS BOOK MARKS
BY BEN STEELMAN

After 33 years in the building supply business in the Northeast, Al Strohmayer and his wife, Elaine, relocated to Calabash, where (where as he put it in a tongue-in-cheek alumni note) “I sleep late, exercise seldom, imbibe in abundance and watch my girth grow.”

He’s also done a little writing. The evidence is Strohmayer’s It All Matters: Why We Are the Way We Are (Trafford, $22 paperback).

In brief essays (and the occasional poem), Strohmayer, 74, recalls a boyhood in Jackson Heights and Queens, N.Y. (including a close encounter with the great Babe Ruth himself), painting a portrait of his determined immigrant parents.

Hidden in humorous essays – whether pondering if the Lord is a golfer or trying to define what a “redneck” is – the author throws in a few hard-earned lessons from the journey of life. He also finds plenty of excuses to root for his beloved alma mater, Rutgers.

Strohmayer even managed to pick up a jacket blurb from humor columnist and nonYankee Celia Rivenbark (“often humorous, frequently sentimental and occasionally gruff, rather like everyone’s favorite visiting uncle”). Rivenbark predicts It All Matters will find and enthusiastic audience among retirees who relocated South.
 

"It All Matters: Why We Are the Way We Are," Al Strohmayer's collection of essays on work, family and religion, is often humorous, frequently sentimental and occasionally gruff, rather like everyone's favorite visiting uncle. Retirees who have moved South in search of the good life, as Strohmayer did, will relate to many of his experiences.

Celia Rivenbark, best-selling author of "Bless Your Heart, Tramp", "We're Just Like You, Only Prettier" and "Stop Dressing Your Six Year Old Like A Skank".

 
“Al, I was honored to have the opportunity to preview your book. You have a wonderful way of expressing yourself and letting the reader feel he is part of the story. It is an amazing talent to be able to capture past memories and combine them with a sense of humor and a felling of emotion all at the same time.” S.D.
 
“It All Matters” will have you in tears one minute, laughing the next, and then have you recalling your own special memories.” B.P.
 
“ It All Matters” is one of those books that you want to read again… just to make sure you didn’t miss anything.” J.M.
 
“Memories of a man who worked hard loved his family deeply and knows how to put his feelings into print.” M.D.
 
 
Al Strohmayer
Trafford Publishing
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Excerpt from NOW IS HERE

“I remember the brochure described the weather as “temperate,” meaning mild, gentle, calm, easy. (I looked it up.)

It sounded wonderful to my wife and me, and the thought of spending our retirement years in a plantation community with its own golf course, pool, restaurant, and recreational center
was more than we could ignore. In short, we retired, waved Auf Wiedersehen to our family and moved from snowy, chilly New York to sunny, warm North Carolina.

We are here ten years now. In that time we have experienced five hurricanes, two northeasters, four draughts, the hottest summer and coldest winters on record, more tropical storms than Tahiti, a much too close tornado, and the “Flood of the Century.”

If that’s moderate, then I’m the Jolly Green Giant.

I mean, I’m not much for snow and ice, but what’s so great about changing your undies three times a day? I didn’t find “sticky” anywhere in Webster’s definition of moderate.
And then there are the daily thunderstorms. I haven’t crawled under a bed so much since I was a boy. Mom used to explain that a thunderstorm was really God bowling in heaven. What Mom didn’t tell me was that God’s favorite lanes were in North Carolina.”
Al Stohmayer
"It All Matters:
"Why We Are the Way We Are,"