About Me: The Early Years

Let’s write more about me! I’ve decided to make the first several posts all about me. Aren’t I the narcissistic prat?

I was raised on a small cattle ranch in central Texas. We were not poor, but only by a slim margin. I don’t remember ever having to go without, but do remember having to do with what we had. That is not a bad way to grow up. Do 16 year olds REALLY need a brand new car on their birthdays? I think not. I was given use of the farm truck, a red 1976 Chevy ½ ton pick-up with a rusted out bed and filled with hay. For this I was thankful. I ran that poor old truck all over central Texas and fondly remember the nights that it broke down. I even learned to use the unreliability of that old thing to my advantage. Sometimes, I was not home by curfew because “the truck broke down”. I seriously doubt that my dad really believed it every time, but he let it slide from time to time. Growing up like, with my dad as the teacher, gave me my most important ability. I can fix or make do with just about anything. If something breaks around the house, there is a good chance that I can fix it or make it work somehow. This has come in handy more times than I can imagine.

After graduating from high school, I joined the military. My parents didn’t want me to work construction, like my dad did, and have to sweat and bleed my whole life to make ends meet. But for guys like me, from a farm or ranch, college wasn’t really an option. Because of the amount of land my parents owned, I was not eligible for any grants and I could not ask them to sell some just for me to go to school, especially with two younger siblings.