When I was little, mostly I wanted a few pop bottles so I could go to Womack Grocery and get a bag full of penny candy. Being a Baby Boomer, there was never, repeat ever a time when there wasn't someone to play with. I swear there was between 20 and 30 kids on the block where I lived and close to 100 in the nearby neighborhood. We played all sorts of games to include baseball, kick the can, hide and go seek, Smear the queer and anything that included fights and tackling.
We were poor but really I didn't notice it that much. I had clothes to wear and if they were dirty, it was my fault. Mom wasn't the best housekeeper but she cooked a lot and in quantity. Does seem like Mom liked to cook things that only got one pot dirty but hey, there weren't dish washers in the homes in the 40's. My mom would brown pork chops in the electric skillet and then make Spanish rice rice on top of them. Man I loved that. Mom served beans at least once a week and we all loved that. If it was cooler it was chili with enough crackers and catchup to make it sweet and salty and generally hot.
About the time I turned 10, I noticed cars and girls. From then on it was my goal to own a car and not be owned by a girl. I guess by the time I had bought my first car, I also met Donna. Man I loved that car. I was working a lot of hours to support the car and a girl friend in High School so my grades were not very much what most people would be proud of. I really didn't care and had no idea what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life. I guess I assumed that I would get married and work at one of the Aircraft plants.
Well, Along came Vietnam and slam bam thank you mam, I found myself drafted in to the Army in Sep 66. I could say a lot of things about my time there but about half way through my year in Vietnam I realized that the thing I wanted out of there was me. I had met and married a wonderful young woman and man did I ever want to get home and live life with her.
Barb had a goal of graduating from college, teaching school, having a house and children. In that order. Good enough for me.
The rest of our life we spent making sure that the bills all got paid and we managed to save enough so some day we could retire with enough to live. Mission accomplished and now we are living a great life in the slow lane.
Hope you find your dreams and realize that it is your reality not a dream.
MUD
You were drafted the month I was born! My Dad was in the army then. He was stationed in Germany at that time. Only E4 and above could have their families on base. So my parents had an apartment off base. In Feb '67, my older sister was electrocuted by a space heater that wasn't even turned on. She was 20 months. The army sent us home to the states and a few months later my Dad was sent to Korea. He never did go to Viet Nam. My mom's cousin went to Viet Nam... we were close to their family. He never got over whatever it was that happened to him over there and killed himself in 1989. His name was George and he was so sweet.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you made it through and that you've gotten to the place where you are cruisin' in the slow lane. You need to get on that book MUD!
Any time a man can look back and say Mission accomplished he's done alright!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! You and Jenni have got me thinking now .... guess sometime tonight I'll have to put a word or two together.