Paths We Cross and the People We Meet

What really sets us apart from who we are and who we've become is etched along the lines that run across our forehead bearing the scars of days gone by. Like an oversized trunk tucked away in a dusty old attic, where the cobwebs take on the same twisting and turning figures, our memories are rendered as a collection of treasured moments that form a fascinating backdrop of the weeks, months and years that unfold to tell the story of ones life. James Robert Cleveland is such a man who's lived an extraordinary life marked by triumphs, tragedies and turmoil over the course of 96 years. The WWII veteran went into business in the construction industry and one day by chance, he took a job and was paid with a stone. It wasn't just any stone. On the face of the stone was inscribed a saying that turned out to be the very story of his life. The message on the stone read, may you live as long as you like and may you have what you like as long as you live. For James Robert Cleveland, the owner of Bristol Construction Company in Bristol, Connecticut, that saying has exemplified the life he has lived and this is the story of that extraordinary journey.