The adventure begins when I was a child, my parents divorced and both my mother and father had re-married I was only four years old and struggled with understanding what was going on. I was really close to my dad when my mother took me away from him and moved to another state. I really missed my dad and I was not sure about her new husband but in time he was a pretty good guy overall. It took my father a few years to find his Mrs. Right, but he did and was married to her for forty-three years when she died of brain cancer. My mother, on the other hand, was only married to that man for three years, single for seven years, married again to another man and was only married to him for seven years. Later on, in life, she found the man of her dreams and they were together for over twenty years when he had a bad fall while walking the dog and died from a blood clot on the brain. Now that we have covered the prelude to the adventure I will go on with the story.
My mother was struggling to make ends meet, she had her very own dress shop in Dallas, Tx and it was not doing very good, it was hard times for many Americans at the time. It was in the mid to late 1970’s during the gas wars as people lined up for blocks, for hours at a time for ten gallons of gas. My mother could no longer support my sister and me and decided to send my sister to live with my grandparents and me with my father. I know she was sick at the thought of it but she was thinking of what was best for us at the time. This is when my true adventure began, little did I know that I would learn to hunt, fish, and camp being with my father. He also taught me how to make things by hand, like knives, grills out of green tree limbs to cook fish on the campfire, leather crafting, model building and some woodworking, too.
In the summers we would go on vacation for two weeks at a time usually twice a summer. The first trips of the summer were too many different museums all over the country some small some large. I learned many things about the history of our nation and the struggles of so many trying just to find and make a home. I learned about space travel, wars of all kinds, civil war, Indian wars, world war one, world war two, the Koren conflict, and the Vietnam war. I learned of the great depression, the 1920’s dust bowl, the soup lines, the big earthquake in Alaska, The terrible fire that leveled San Francisco, the gold rush, the Oregon Trail, the Donner party, Custards last stand, the first flight by the Wright brothers, the landing on the moon, the civil rights movement, and the hurricane that leveled Galveston, Tx. I also learned about Native American tribes, when the Spanished explored New Mexico, the first settlement of Spain in St. Augustine, FL, and the gangster during prohibition in Chicago, IL. It was a very good learning experience for me growing up. At the time it was fun and exciting going to all these new places and learning about the history. Little did I know that it would stay with me for my whole life but it has.
The camping trips we did every summer were just as much of a learning experience for me. I learned to fish in the mountain lakes and streams. I learned to cook on an open campfire, I learned how to clean fish, I learned how to find my way around the woods, I learned how to pitch a tent, I learned how to raft down rivers, I learned how to shoot a rife, I learned how to shoot a pistol and I learned how to hunt for food. I was taught to respect the animals for they are for us to enjoy in many ways not just for food. I learned how to clean up our campground, put out a campfire, pack up belongings both for going and coming home. One of my favorite things to do was mountain climb to the top of the nearest mountain to camp and look all around. I felt closer to the creator of this world being that high up. Sometimes I would sit and meditate for hours up there, it was peaceful to the soul. When we took some of my buddies with us, we would play spotlight tag and have a blast. Those times were great and a memory that I will never forget.
Growing up was the adventure of a lifetime and my Father and Step Mother made sure it would be full of memories for me. As a child you do not realize that you are learning all these things, but as you grow up and realize just how amazing it all was. You then understand just how much your parents really did for you. This is my family tale, a tale of life, a tale of love, a tale of honor towards my parents, and of everlasting memories.