Well Here I am on my birthday acting all thoughtful and morose, so I’m going outside to pull weeds in hopes that it will pass….if you didn’t notice from my profile, my age changed today from 62 to 63 …. In the big scheme of things that is not so very old in my scheme of things it is great… so why am I all thoughtful and morose? Joan Baez said “well I’ll be damned here comes your ghost again……….” So maybe it isn’t thoughtfulness, it is nostalgia. And maybe it is my life’s ghosts. Enough, I am off to pull weeds, more later.

Well I did pull weeds....and I do feel better. I thought I would share a little more about me. I was born in Washington, D. C. in 1943 while living in Arlington, VA. We moved to Dallas, TX when I was 3 and to Lubbock, TX 5 years later... Among my memories from Dallas, playing in the storm sewers (when it wasn't raining), is a pretty good one. I also remember going to see the movie the Thing with my sister - It was about a giant carrot (by the way, the only reality TV that I watch is The Weather Channel)....I didn't see much of it; I was petrified and hid under the seat. My sister protected me - She is super wonderful today as she was then.... My mother did not know I was playing in the storm sewers and except for the fact that she is in heaven and is reading this, I never told her... While in Lubbock, TX we (me and other numbskulls like me) would ride our bikes behind the DDT (poison to kill mosquitoes) trucks and pretend we were in a smoke screen playing war....it is not cool today to play war or to spray with DDT. It was ok then to play war and cowboy and indians...also not cool today. I also tried to blow up my hand with a fire cracker while playing war with my little plastic war figures, I particularly remember the one with the bazooka - I don't think they have those anymore, now they have hand held guided missiles...see, things have improved.

When I was 10, we moved to Detroit, MI. Many, many cool things happened to me in Detroit – to many for today. One thing though I want to share. I had a 5th grade teacher named Don Senter. He let me help in class and keep the class snake over the summer – I liked snakes then, not so much now… He is my inspiration for wanting to be and becoming a teacher….I hope someday that one of my students will write in their blog (or whatever it will be called in 50 years) that I am why they wanted to be a teacher – how cool would that be? Unfortunately I never got to tell Don Senter that (maybe he is reading this from heaven). My years in Detroit taught me that I did not want to live north of the Mason-Dixon Line ever again…..and I have not.

We moved to Atlanta, GA in 1963…lived there for 15 years and moved to Louisville, Ky and stayed there for 6 years and moved to this area, and have been ever since… pretty much stuck here for the duration. However, I have learned to never say never…..I have also learned that no matter how bad things are, they can get worse and will, in all likelihood, get better…………Praise God.

Okay, enough for today – May God bless you on your journey as he has blessed me on mine… And, take good care of yourself. Cheers, John