Obviously my name is Bill…
I was born one late summer day in the early 1950’s. The second child of six that my parents brought into this world, which qualified me as an inaugural member of the older than dirt society.
I grew up in a small town in Upstate New York just outside Cooperstown. The rolling hills and valleys were my backyard playground. My dad was a self employed plumber, so from the time I was old enough to fetch a wrench I was his right hand man on those days that I wasn’t in school. He taught me what it was to be a man and to take pride in a job well done. I graduated High School and had began attending college when life was interrupted by the draft lottery. I had a choice… let them draft me into the Army or enlist in the Air Force and hope I could stay clear of the Southeast Asia mess. I choose to enlist and so it was off to Lakeland Air Force Base and basic training. As fate would have it I came down with phenomena, which progressed into kidney failure and eventually a trip to the hospital where I was obviously close enough to death to warrant an audience with a real doctor. As you can guess they cured me, but I was left with a residual kidney condition that gave me high blood pressure. Through a series of events over the next several years my military disability was established and my final discharge papers approved.
It was shortly after returning to life as a civilian that I fell in love with the woman who has stuck by me these past 40+ years. I’d known her for years before then through various activities associated with 4-H, but she was always the too young for dating. Come to think of it I sort of had a Jimmy Stewart moment during the late summer of 1972 when I spotted her at the county fair poultry tent in her short shorts… I’m referring to when George Baily was introduced to Mary Hatcher as a grown woman in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and George Baily says, “Well hello there.”
After a few years of shuffling between going no where jobs in the small town I grew up in I moved to the big city of Syracuse, NY and got a steady full time job. Marriage and kids came shortly after that.. Life was good to me, but the cold blustery winters and numerous gloomy grey depressing days were more than I (we) could handle and so we packed up and moved to Central Florida.
The next several years were occupied with raising our two boys and working. The YMCA Indian Guide Program afforded us the opportunity to reconnect with our love of camping while at the same time got us away for weekend trips with people who we still count as our friends today.
Life seems to have gone by way too fast. Both my boys are grown men now with families and careers of their own. We are fortunate that our oldest son still lives in the area and we have had the pleasure of being an active part of our grandchildren’s lives.
In May of 2000 I started this blog as a way for this quiet soft-spoken guy to let off some of that pent up steam, so I can honestly say I was a blogger before the world knew what blogging was. The web site is now in it’s third rendition… the most recent one forced on me by my former web host who is still trying to figure out what customer service means.
My hope is when you read my blogs that you remember that these are my words and in no way reflect the views or opinions of any one associated with me. I also would like to ask that if you take offence to anything I’ve said I don’t mean for it to be personal… there is already way too many thin skinned people out there who bitch and moan at the slightest offensive comment or act. With that said I’ll leave you to browse the rest of my web site and wish you good fortune as you too make your way in life.