Dad Spelled Backward: A Journey Through the Maze of Love, Marriage, and Adoption

Can you die from having too much sex? That’s the question Dr. Michael King, a well-respected dentist in New York, asks in 

Dad Spelled Backward: A Journey Through the Maze of Love, Marriage, and Adoption. Mike had never thought much about getting married and becoming a father, but all that changed when, in his fifties, he met Gabriella, his lovely (and much younger) French wife. Together they decide to try to become parents, and they do all they can to make a baby—to the point where Mike wonders if one can die from too much sex.

 

This candid account by a husband and father is insightful, moving, fiercely funny—and ultimately a testament to unconditional love. Mike tells his story of how, wanting to make his wife happy after realizing that they couldn’t successfully conceive a child, he reluctantly agrees to move on to the next phase of potential parenthood—adoption.

Unfortunately, domestic adoption is often a long, costly process that takes couples on a roller-coaster ride from hope to despair and back again. Mike recounts how he and Gabriella were connected with one pregnant woman after another until they were finally given a baby, only to have to give the infant back when the birth mom changed her mind. This left them so emotionally drained that they had to decide whether the price of becoming parents was too high and whether it was time to give up.

Such heartbreak might have driven other couples apart, but Gabriella and Mike only became closer; their love for one another grew even stronger, and they did at last get to be parents. “I hope this book inspires people who want to, or are considering whether to, become parents,” Mike says. “We all face obstacles in life, but if love prevails, it’s worth the struggle.”

 

An interview with Dr. Mike King will have you laughing and crying as Mike sharing his heartwarming story of one man’s journey into happy marriage and fatherhood.  Please let me know if I can send you a hard copy of the book or an electronic version.

>Dr. Mike King, comedian and pediatric dentist, has built his practice in an unusual way: to relax the kids, he incorporates comedy and magic tricks into his treatment. He has written two children’s books, Flossopher and the Brushing Trees and Enamel the Camel. Entertaining is in Mike’s blood: His dad owned Sid King’s Crazy Horse Bar in Denver, Colorado. In the 1970s and ’80s, it was one of the most popular burlesque houses West of the Mississippi, so it was just a matter of time before Mike began to perform for grown-ups. In the comedy-club circuit he’s known as “The Fifth Dentist”—you know—“Four out of five dentists recommend sugarless gum.” Mike appears regularly at Broadway Comedy Club, New York Comedy Club, and Gotham Comedy Club. His musical, The Lap Dance Kid, is in production, and he’s also written a one-man show. Mike’s greatest joy is spending time with his wife and their daughter. They live in New York City. For more information, visit www.MikeKingWrites.com.