A new day; The timeline

I've been wanting to do this for awhile. I'm gonna make a timeline of me. I'm sure that here is probably gonna be full of bad things but I may work my way into some of the good stuff too.


August 17th, 1968- Born in Aurora, MO
no,no,no Wayne's World was in IL. This place is a sleepy community close to the Ozark mountain area. Just a hillbilly.

1972- Sometime in spring. Kansas City, MO- Walking on the brick ledge that lined the driveway. Mom had told me not to do it. This time she caught me. She yelled at me  not to but as she did my concentration was taken away from being a curious boy & I took a wrong step, fell off & cracked my head wide open. I still remember it like it just happened. The ride to the hospital & my first stitches. One of my earliest memories.


1973- We moved to St.Peters, MO This is the place & time I consider home. My childhood was filled with promise. This is also the year that the airline went on strike. I can remember shelves downstairs filled with food. Stockpiled, no name, generic food. I can still see the white labels with black writing on the cans of generic beer. And while I didnt know any difference then I see now that at that time we were struggling. Things got better.


1975- maybe '76- My first trip abroad. Munich Germany. It's amazing how something from so long ago can stay with you.  I still have some of the souvenirs from that trip as a boy.


1976- Bicentennial. Alot of things happened that year. Mostly all good. Football, Baseball, Hockey. First girlfriend. First kiss. The hows & whys of patriotism. I have friends on Facebook from that time in my life.
What you see in the movies as the perfect life. That's what I lived. The block parties. The close friends. Street hockey,(Car!, game on) snow forts & snowball fights with the whole neighborhood, bicycles with baseball cards in the spokes, full on tackle football. The bruises, the blood, the skinned knees. Everything about it was right out of Norman Rockwell if he was wearing a leisure suit. A truly great childhood.


1978- Blood. Lots & lots of blood. Dad had been helping the inept neighbor chop wood. The neighbor missed & caught Dad's hand. Almost took the pinkie completely off. Fear in my father's eyes. My first terror experience. He's coming in as I'm opening the door. Met with blood & the sight. I cant ever foget the scene.


1979- coming home from being out. Late afternoon. I hopped the back fence. Dinner would be on soon. Who is that in my backyard? There's a couple of them. Those are cops. Guns? I can see my father through his bedroom window. Naked from what I can see. A shotgun in his hands, between his knees, barrel pointed toward the sky. Lots of yelling. Cops tried to grab me. I ran around front. Cars scattered in the street. Lights flashing, Neighbors, Mom. Chaos. Whisked away. The story never to be heard of or spoken of again. But I remember.



1981- The game changes. Reagan, PATCO strike, Dad follows his job to Atlanta, GA. We had to move. Going from 7th to 8th grade in school. Old friends gone. New friends & life different. Foreign. Fighting to fit in. I can remember the first day of school. I still had bell bottoms & hiking boots. Those got laughed at here. It was straight legs & Pony sneakers. 2 fights the first day. Kids are cruel. Southerners werent the hospitable people I'd heard they were. I don't belong here. This is also the time I realized that drinking was a real issue in my home.

Now I'm caught in a flood of memories. A blur of flashes. I'll come back & do some more later.