I Swear I'll Make It Up to You

A Life on the Low Road

An odyssey of family, heartbreak, violence, punk rock, brokenness, broke-ness, sex, love, loss, drinking, drinking, drinking, and an unlikely savior: distance running.

A misfit kid at the best of times, Mishka Shubaly had his world shattered when, in a 24-hour span in 1992, he survived a mass shooting on his school's campus then learned that his parents were getting divorced. His father, a prominent rocket scientist, abandoned the family, and their home was lost to foreclosure. Shubaly swore to avenge the wrongs against his mother but instead plunged into a magnificently toxic love affair with alcohol.

Almost two decades later, Shubaly's life changed again when a fateful five-mile run after a bar fight inspired him to clean up his life. And when he finally reconnected with his estranged father, he discovered the story of his childhood was radically different from what he thought he knew.

In this fiercely honest, emotional, and self-laceratingly witty book, Shubaly relives his mistakes, misfortunes, and infrequent good decisions: the disastrous events that fractured his life; his incendiary romances; his hot-and-cold career as a rock musician; meeting his newborn nephew while out of his gourd on cough syrup. I Swear I'll Make It Up to You is an apology for choices Shubaly never thought he'd live long enough to regret, a journey so far down the low road that it took him years of running to claw his way back.

©2016 Mishka Shubaly (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Mishka is a man of many talents.

Loved it. Great musician,writer and runner. Wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. Blew me away!

A hard road

It was a very hard life that was so negative but came out on the other side. Listening to the author was sometimes hard. He had thought he was worse than he actually was and how much he disliked himself amazing turn around. I was glad it happened for him. I could relate, I was married to person that drank a lot but he would become nasty when he drank anything harder than beer. I became a runner for my own sanity at 38 it was hard but the furthest I ever went was a marathon. I ran into my 60s but now I only do a little on treadmill. I did like this story a lot and could really relate.

Great read!

Loved Mishka's honesty and transparency. He is funny, insightful, and inspirational. Worth the 13.35 hrs listen!

Amazing, heartfelt, & completely relatable

Mishka’s book is amazing! I listened to Cold Turkey awhile back, but this one knocks it out of the water!!! His writing is amazing and his deep voice is sexy! His story is a great one, as an addict myself, and one who is a member of a 12-step program, I truly appreciate hearing other ways someone got clean and/or sober. He’s right about how AA and NA want everyone to believe they have the monopolized answer, and although it has been the answer for me, I have always known it’s not for everyone. Thanks for sharing your story with Mishka and I can’t help but want to go for a run after listening!!!

Great

A huge THANK YOU to Mr Shubaly for writing such a memorable memoir. A painful look in the mirror for a broken soul. I'm certain it will be relatable for many. It will leave you hopeful.
P.S. Thanks to Doug Stanhope for turning me on to Mishka's music.