If you dislike reading long biographical stories, these next few posts may not be for you, I will resume my regular posts once these next few are complete. I am writing them for my daughter, so she will know about these things incase I’m not here to tell her about them one day. I am making them a public post because I don’t mind sharing. So, for those of you reading...here we go!!!
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared ambition inspired, and success achieved.” –Helen Keller-
Last night I was thinking of old friends. Friends from my past. I used to do everything with these girls. Sleepovers, theme parks, Girl Scouts….everything! Ever since we were all little, we had plans to go to college together. Well, we got older, grew up, and lost touch. I myself only made it through a few semesters of college. I guess it happens to a lot of people though. You grow up and sometimes, you grow apart.
I will always think about the people I was close to at one time or another.
We all grow up with plans and dreams, but only a few people will actually accomplish them. It doesn’t mean you are better or worse than anyone else. Sometimes life just takes over and sends you off on a much different path than the one you had intended to be on. This is what happened on my journey, and this is what made me who I am today.
I have to credit my parents with how I turned out. The way that they raised me, ultimately made me who I am today. I always was and still am kind of a hippie child. My parents were hippies…children of the 60’s.
I love music. My Dad had a band when he was my age. He taught me about music and what each song meant. He taught me if the chords in a guitar solo are just right, it can send chills up your spine. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1950 and moved to Florida when he was 5. My father lost his father (my grandpa) to cancer when he was a teenager.
My mother was a lover of horses and raced them when she was younger. She also loved anything that gave her a chance to go barefoot outside or burn incense in the house. She was born in 1955. She was raised in Tennessee and also moved to Florida when she was about 3 yrs. old. My mom lost her father (my other grandpa) to colon cancer when she was 3.
My parents both went to the same high school, but because they were 5 years apart, they just missed each other. They actually met each other on a radio talk show, back when talking on cb radios were the best way to spend a Saturday night.
My Mom was always a very strong willed, independent, and sometimes hard headed woman.
My Dad was a smart man with a very deep voice and a dry sense of humor. He was also very handsome with long blonde hair and at over 6ft tall he towered over most people. Most of my childhood friends developed silly little crushes on my Dad. My Mom was 6ft tall. She too had long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. They were really a beautiful couple.
They had lots of friends, and accomplished many wonderful things in their lives.
My Dad took over several car dealerships in Florida that his parents had previously owned. In my eyes he was the smartest man alive. He read me books every night and played his guitar for me. He taught me how to play cards and how to enjoy long rides on his Harley Davidson. He was my best friend.
He was also a very sleepy person. Napping sometimes 3 and 4 times a day. We later found out that he had sleep apnea, a condition that causes you to stop breathing in your sleep several times during the night. He had to begin sleeping with a breathing machine to make sure he didn’t die in his sleep. When I was around 4 years old, his mother died from a fall she took in her condo. He was the one that found her. She had bled to death. They were extremely close. The only thing I remember about her was her strong German accent and the nursery rhymes she told me in German.
When I was 6 years old, my father was diagnosed with Melanoma, in stage 5. Melanoma is a serious type of skin cancer. He grew up in Florida and back in those days, no one knew to wear sunblock, so he was sunburned constantly because they lived on the beach. After his diagnosis, they gave him 6 months to live. His cancer appeared in the form of a large freckle on his arm. They did immediate surgery and removed the spot and it left a large scar on his left arm. He went into remission after that and was doing amazing. 2 years had passed since his 6 month “Death” sentence. He wasn’t feeling to well one day and was throwing up quite a bit so we went to dr and they sent him to get an MRI and CT scan. The cancer had returned, and this time it was in his lymph nodes, which is the worst thing that can happen if you know anything about cancer. Once again, they removed the cancer from under his arm where it had traveled. He always said that he would be able to save on deodorant since he only had one armpit to use it on now. He was always funny like that. I remember one night we were looking at old pictures and he found one of him at the beach and he said “ Hey look, there’s a picture of me getting cancer!!!.” Very morbid. But that’s how he coped. He always said “You can laugh about it or cry about it..either way, it’s happening and there’s nothing anyone can do, so why be sad?”………………………( more to come tomorrow)
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