He overcame a stroke shortly after his birth and wrote a book to share life’s lessons

Reinaldo G. Torres Jr. was in elementary school when I met him. He impressed me with his you-can-knock-me-down-but-I’ll-get-up attitude. His frail body belied his determination.

My late friend, Josie Poitier, had introduced me to the then pint-sized Reinaldo, whom she had invited to be one of the masters of ceremonies at the annual Good Friday/Passover brunch that she founded and hosted. She told me that Reinaldo had suffered a stroke only minutes after he was born in 1990.

Reinaldo wasn’t supposed to be here. Somehow, he beat the odds, talking, after doctors told his parents that he would never talk, and walking when many grown-ups in his condition would have given up. But the doctors didn’t know what a fighter the tiny Reinaldo was.

Because of the stroke, Reinaldo didn’t walk until he was 2, and it was with his first steps that his family noticed there was something wrong with his right leg and hand.

By the time he entered kindergarten, he spoke so rarely that his teachers thought he had a learning disability. That is, until the day he decided he’d been silent long enough and stood up in the middle of his Pre-K class and started to talk, shocking his teachers and peers. He likes to say that he was gifted with the “gift of gab.”

Reinaldo grew up in what he calls “a fantastic village” that consisted of his great-grandmother Catherine Loud, who raised him from a baby, his paternal grandparents George and Marie Torres, his paternal great-grandmother Mattie and his parents Reinaldo Sr. and Tonya.

His family watched his every move and was delighted when they discovered Reinaldo had a photographic memory. He was 5 at the time and was spending the weekend with his grandmother Marie.

In a book he wrote, while “… most 5-yer-olds are having playdates with other kids, …here I was reciting words from a book [from memory] in front of people. Everyone was in shock. They could not believe I had this incredible memory.”

As he left to go back home to his great-grandmother Catherine that weekend, his grandmother Marie handed him a poem she had printed for him, with the instruction to have the first verse memorized by the next weekend visit.

Reinaldo went an extra yard; he memorized the entire poem, “Be the Best of Whatever You Are” by Douglas Malloch. Since then, the poem has become somewhat of a motto for Reinaldo, and one that he often recites at workshops and his public speaking gigs.

It was an exciting time for the young Reinaldo. It was the beginning of his public speaking career and the beginning of a long journey of overcoming jealousy and bullying from some of his classmates, who thought he was being singled out and given special privileges.

He was in the fourth grade when he got his first speaking engagement. The City of Miami Police Department had invited him to tell his story to a group of police officials and other dignitaries. He was so tiny that he had to stand on a box to see over the podium.

Today, Reinaldo is 34 and a 2013 graduate of St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts and later, a master’s degree in business management. He works as an office manager for a contractor in Fort Lauderdale.

Last year, he published his first book, “Young, Gifted and Directionless,” which tells his story of overcoming adversity and reconnecting “…with my purpose to pursue my passion,” which is writing.

The book gives a blow-by-blow account of his miraculous life —how he overcame the pain of being different as a child, and the bullying that came with it, to becoming a motivational speaker while he was still in elementary school. The book also tells of several life lessons he has learned along the way, lessons that can be helpful to anyone of any age.

For example, he said never be too proud to say “Yes” to help. He said he learned the importance of accepting help when he decided to go to graduate school, but didn’t have the money. His grandmother offered to help, but he was too proud to accept her offer.

“My grandmother offered to help. I was about to say ‘No’ to her, when she told me that sometimes it is OK to say yes to help. She told me this was one of those times,” he said.

The idea for the book came to him one day in 2017, when he attended a friend’s book signing. “I don’t know how the details to write the book came to me, but one day I simply said, ‘I’m going to write a book.’”

And he did.

The book-writing idea had come at the right time in his life, Reinaldo said.

“By the time I got to high school, I had closed the chapter on public speaking. But now, coming out of college, it was like the universe said, ‘This [writing] is where you belong’. It dawned on me: I have this incredible gift of gab. Why not use that?”

A year later, he helped another friend host a workshop. There he realized that he still had the skill of speaking. “I felt like I was being encouraged to not only tell my story verbally, but also to write about it.

“I know now that it was really God moving me to write this book. I believe it will help others who are struggling with something in their life. It tells them that they, too, can be an overcomer,” he said.

Trinity Cathedral Advent retreat

The historic Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 464 NE 16th St., will begin its Christmas season by hosting an Advent Mini-Retreat from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7.

The Very Rev. Jason Roberson, the Cathedral Provost, said the first hour of the retreat will carry participants “… across centuries and continents through sight, sound, touch and smell, as you listen to the oud, a Middle Eastern lute-like instrument, while chanting along with the rhythmic sounds of percussion.”

Participants may also walk around the cathedral at their own pace, while taking in the beauty of the mosaics that adorn the cathedral’s walls and ceilings.

The second hour of the retreat is reserved for a liturgy, a worship service with prayers and hymns hundreds of years old.

The service is designed to help participants “… reconnect to who you are and to God, our Creator,” Roberson said. “This sensory experience will settle you and prepare you for the holiday season.”

Go to https://trinitymiami.org/ for more information.