Day 2 I Remember

I remember running through my small house in West Virginia on my second birthday and fell on the floor grates and scarred my stomach and chest.  Those scars lasted me most of my school age years.  

I remember my sister cutting her leg open on a broken glass window my mom was cleaning out of the storage room, and required 17 stitches.  Also that same year I think she slipped getting out of our neighbors pool and split her chin wide open.

I remember swimming next door at Tracy's house and a bunch of the neighborhood guys were trying to hit down a bees nest and then jumping into the pool so we would not get stung.  Also swimming in the poring rain as we watched the rain drops melt into the water of the pool.  We also climbed his antenaae in the winter of 1978 in the blizzard like conditions.  There was so much snow that we could sled off of the roof.  Also crashing out at the Billets House because of school being cancelled.  That did not happen much.

I remember driving in our big green sketchy carpet covered van asking my mom and dad where Enus was, and they proceeded to go into a discussion about the birds and the bees about where my Penis was..I remember my mom getting pulled for speeding in that same creeptastic van in some random small town on the way to West Virginia.

I remember listening to New Kids on the Block the entire 9 hours in the car to West Virginia way before CD's and iPhones it may have been that same trip that I was busted playing with a My Pretty Pony because I was so over Hanging Touch!  Pretty close  to every Christmas after that getting a My Pretty Pony as a gag gift from my sisters.

I remember my best friend losing his mom in high school.  He was in National Honor Society and she dropped him off at a meeting in the morning.  She was hit by a train that morning after dropping him off.  One of the most surreal moments in my life.

I remember Atari with just a simple joy stick and one button to fire with, much simpler than the multi button system today.  I remember Roos shoes with a zipper on the side.  I would put cash in there.  I also remember hiding money in my drop ceiling as a way to save money.  I remember my grandmothers making me a quilt for Christmas in 1980, I still have it today.  I remember our tire tractor sand box, they don't make them like that any more.

I remember seeing my first Paul McCartney concert back in high school in Indianapolis and eating stromboli for the first time.  

I remember my sister Julie prank calling a friend and then getting in trouble for it, because they had her voice on the answering machine.  Tracy Kylee and I ate it up, happy that it was finally us not getting in trouble.

I remember Boy Scouts and white water rafting in Tennessee and North Carolina.  I remember visiting the tourist attractions long before Dollywood ever came about.

I remember Good Ole Hughes Backstop that we built to keep the whiffle ball from going into his garden.  that happened more times than i can remember.

I remember my friend Thom talking me into playing Golf my last three years of high school and then getting in major trouble with Coach Sharpe because the seniors skipped sectionals to go to graduation parties.  I remember shooting 77 on the front 9 and thinking that was a good score my first time out, boy was I wrong.

I remember that fateful black day when I found out I was Diabetic.  A time I erase from my memory.

I remember my brother in law having a diabetic attack on the bus during an away game and we had to get him snickers and Mt. Dew to bring his sugar back up.  I didn't realize it then that he would ever be related to me.

I remember High school football.  The good ole days!  Playing for a state title my freshman year wearing British Knights on the Hoosier Dome turf that Eric Dickerson ran on.  I remember getting beat in Semi State my senior year with 2 minutes left to go in the game and getting beat 8-7.  I remember falling to the ground crying and Tracy coming up to me picking me up and giving me a big hug.  Damn I miss that dude!!

I remember working at the YMCA where great relationships were formed and bonded.  I remember moving to NC and working at a wilderness camp for 8 years and meeting the love of my life there.  Of course it would be a hot minute before I would ask her to marry me.  I remember screwing that up and needing to re ask at a more "romantic" time.  I remember her working at Salem college and eating quesadillas and black bean and corn salsa.

I remember vacationing at her parents house in Destin Florida. I remember the day she told me that she would spend the rest of her life with me, the wedding a Winston Salem based theme.  I remember the day she told me I was going to be a daddy for the very first time!  I remember the day I became a daddy for the very first time.  I remember her telling me I was going to be a daddy for the second time and the birth of my daughter.  These are all great memories with many more to write, but for your sake I will end it here.  Thanks for reading...

Day 1 Bear

Well it has been entirely to long, and it drives me a little crazy that I get overly lazy and stop blogging.  I am going to attempt a new exercise that will probe me to write a little more.  I am working on a book from Bonni Goldberg entitled a Room to Write.  So with out further delay here goes something....

So the first exercise is to write about a word that has more than one meaning.  With the several that were listed, I chose the word BEAR...

BEAR

When I think about the word Bear it automatically takes me back to Boy Scouts when we were rafting the Natahalia and Ocoee River in Tennessee.  On one of our many adventure hikes I remember   the front of the group running smack into the presence of a bear.  I big old massive brown bear that could have wiped us out with one swipe.  I don't remember exactly which one of us it was that thought it was more important to take some photographs of this enormous animal (although I want to say John Bergen) for some reason that name rings a bell, although off topic, I remember John Aryea likes his Dr. Pepper with NO ICE!  said he gets more soda that way.

Bear also makes me think of the book Spirit Bear that we read while counselors and camp, while at Eckerd, about a young kid who had severe anger management issues, and beat up a kid pretty bad.  He was sent to an Island off the coast of Alaska where he was going to live there for a year, by himself to try and rehabilitate himself.  Once on the island, he lost control of his anger and burned everything he had to survive with including his shelter.  Later that night as he was trying to survive he came face to face with the great spirit bear that he got into an altercation with.  The spirit bear did some serious damage to him and he was left for dead....if you haven't read it now you have a brief synopsis of it.

#34 Sweetness!  the greatest Chicago Bear of my time.  I love to watch him run, it was extremely poetic!  The Chicago Bears, monsters of the midway or at least they were back when I was growing up.  The Chicago Bears shufflen crew, Iron Mike Ditka as coach, The funky QB, Jim McMahon, The Refrigerator William Perry, Jeff Fisher, Mike Singletery, Willie Gult, Dan Hamton, ahhh what a motley crew that was, They struck fear in the hearts of opponents, every opponent except for one!  Yep thats right, the Dan Marino Experience, the Miami Dolphins were the only stumbling block in what other wise was a perfect season.

Bare Naked Ladies, If I had a million dollars I would buy you a real fur coat, but thats cruel!  ah you gotta love the 1990's.

The great Cubbie Bear!  Yep the one in the same, favorite baseball team and the lovable losers on the North Side, You just wait until this year! Its our year! 2015!  Just ask Michael J Fox in Back to the Future 2!

The great polar bear! My sons favorite is Bernard (he pronounces in Bungard).  They also take me to the coke commercials with the polar bears sliding across the ice with coke bottles in their hands (yeah sorry it just came to mind, that is why I wrote it).

Bear Down!  not sure if this is a Chicago thing or a Baylor thing, but they both love their bears!

On a sadder note, the stupid bear traps that are used by hunters to trap bears.

Winnie the Pooh Bear was a great story book character.  I read a lot of Winnie the Pooh growing up, one of the books that led me to want to write.  Winnie, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Christopher Robin those are great memories. We can't forget the Berrenstein Bears!  If I remember correctly they live in a tree.

Paul "Bear" Bryant was a legendary college football coach that coached at Texas A&M and most notably The Crimson Tide of Alabama.  I read once that he got his nick name from wrestling a bear.  I will leave the specifics up to my cousins that are Alabama fans.

Well i barely have anymore bears on the brain!  I hope you enjoy, till tomorrow.