Life's Hard and Traveled Road is a collection of poetry that represents a lifetime of experiences from author Rick Routon. Life has its ups and downs, and they are thrown at you, like it or not. Divorce, marriage, illness, outrageous medical expenses, and bankruptcy are just a few of these. But focusing on the good often outweighs the bad, and we can only learn from our experiences. About the Author Rick Routon and his wife live in rural Virginia with their cats. After high school, Rick decided to try the field of electronics but was unfortunately unemployed after thirteen years. He went back to school and became part of the healthcare industry as a nurse, which is stressful at times, but Rick always tries to be positive in everything life throws at him.