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Pretty
Fly... (for an old guy) That
was what an Email announced yesterday when I turned the computer on. You
may not believe it, but with all that is going on in my life, I had
honestly forgotten that the 12th of April is my birthday. When
the Email reminded me of the date, I began to realize that I was indeed
getting older and it made me think about some of the things that have
happened to me since the middle of the last century. (gosh - it really
sounds old when you write it that way)
There
are two memories that struggle to be the very first thing I can ever
remember. I don’t know which the first is because at about 2 years of
age, marking time isn’t that important. I can remember sitting in the
sand in the driveway of my parent’s home in Apalache, S.C. (location of
the current Greer, S.C. drag strip) making little frog houses by packing
the damp sand around my foot and then removing my foot leaving a little
cave for the frogs to come claim. The other memory trying to be the first
is the smell of stew beef and mashed potatoes cooking when we arrive home
on Sunday morning after church. I can still go back in my mind to those
times when I smell stew beef or walk in damp sand. Gosh, it would be nice
to only have to worry about frog housing and eating Sunday dinner. Other
memories: Taking
my Roy Rogers cowboy gloves to show and tell in the first grade. Dropping
the left glove into the #2 hole in the outhouse at the school. I attended
the last school in S.C. to have outside plumbing. But it was uptown. Two
holes for the boys and two holes for the girls. At six years of age and
Roy Rogers was my hero, I am still traumatized by the sight of the glove
lying down there. The
laughter from the teacher (Mrs. Sloan) when I mispronounced DEPOT in the 2nd
grade. The
first time I kissed a girl (Janice Hawkins) in the sixth grade. The
first real love. Donna Jordan. It still hurts in a good and bad way when I
remember leaving her after high school and joining the Army. Never did
talk to her again. Serving
with the US ARMY Security Agency during Viet Nam. I was a Morse Code
intercept operator. Oddly enough I listened to and copied the Russians and
Chinese instead of the Viet Cong. In 1971, I listened as the Russian and
Chinese armies assembled on their borders and was horrified that the world
was unaware then and now that we were within hours of a nuclear war
between the two countries. March
13th 1972 marrying the most exotic Japanese woman on the
planet. 33 years later she is still just as exotic. April
30, 1973 the birth of my daughter and September 19, 1977 the birth of my
son. October,
1999 standing beside Paul Romine as he launched his Top Fuel dragster and
I was only 10 feet away taking pictures at the first drag race I had ever
attended in my life. Every
morning since then as I wake up and realize that I am going to be able to
spend the rest of my life doing something as exciting as participating in
the most thrilling sport imaginable and traveling around the United States
with a tremendous number of great people and wonderful friends. Happy
Birthday to me, the luckiest man on earth. a
d v e r t i s e m e n t |
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Here
are a few of the things (important or not) that stand out in my memories
since 1950:
© Competitionplus 2005
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