In 2018, I am finally going to start a blog working through 365 days of impacts on my life. This is meant to tell the story of who I came to be in bits and pieces. This exercise is meant to show we are all shaped by the people, situations, circumstances, joys and sorrows that have impacted our lives. Sometimes we are influenced just as much through learning about what we don't want to be like, than what we turned out to be. Sometimes it is a stranger who makes a lasting impression on us, and we may never know their name. Sometimes it is those who've been the worst to us that actually teach us the BEST lessons. If nothing else, since I don't have kids, this will serve as an autobiography of experiences that have shaped my character since May 3 1965. I will try to include pictures where I needed. Some will not need pictures. As I enter my 5th decade, I can look back and say that In my teens (as most are) I was extremely insecure, unfocused and had stage f...
When I graduated college in December 1987, my dad also retired that month in that year. Mom and Dad had always planned to move back south. My Mom wanted it way sooner than my dad. When we moved to Detroit, Dad always said it was only for a few years. 17 years later my mom was about to leave and go back herself. The winters were killer, and my mom missed her family in Athens. We piled in our brown van and took off for Florida. They originally thought they were going to move back to Florida. That was the plan. While we traveled around Florida from the east coast to the west coast, we visited old friends of theirs like the Filippi's - we stayed in their RV in their driveway. It was GLAMPING at it's finest, and it was fun. I looked at this as a sort of a college graduation trip - back to the old stomping grounds. We went to Ron Jon's Surf shop in Cocoa Beach, saw the old house in Titusville. We would drop dad off in the morning to golf, then mom and I would go on adventures in the van - sometimes shopping, sometimes sightseeing. The only cassette tape we had at the time was Rod Stewart's greatest hits. We would sing at the top of our lungs - Maggie Mae, HOT LEGS and Every Picture Tells a Story Don't It? This is one of those memories that instantaneously pops in my head when this song comes on the radio. I get propelled back to Weekeewatchie in Clearwater watching the mermaids do their synchronized swimming under water. The tacky tourist attractions on the proverbial road trip. There's nothing better! There will be many on this list of impacts. This was my last roadtrip as a "kid" before becoming an adult.
