Its not unusual for Lori and I to spend hours trying to fit in al the things we have done in our lives together in the time we know we have been together. Seven trips to Richmond Indiana , two trips to the smokes , one vacation to San Francisco , Four or is it five trips to Oregon ? ...When was that time I stepped in dog mess on the Sunset Highway ? What year was it Kiasa came to visit here in Nashville ? What visit did Lee and Corrine get married in , which time did we visit the Grand ole Opry ...the list is seemingly endless ...so many events and seemingly so little time to compress them into .
And then there are those years before we met ...all the way back to the first year I was in kindergarten ...Or was it the second ? Failing Kindergarten is not something to put on you resume , but I think I can put it on mine . But I am getting ahead of myself here .
Anyway , last night Lori and I went out for Sushi , a rare treat lately as we try to save money for an upcoming Oregon Beach trip. ON the way to the restaurant I was trying to put the pieces together of these trips that I have been witting about . the problem is they don't seem to fit .
Between the day when Karen asked me to move out , till the day I met Lori ..I had managed to get in four trips to Southern California and Two trips to Oklahoma , As best as I can remember this the dates fall between Early fall of 1994 and early spring of 1996.
There is something about the monotony of driving espicially in the evening that helps me try to sort all these dates into some meaningful folders in my mind .
I sort them out , then neglect to write them down. The trip south out of Los Angeles may have been several months later than I first thought .
I spent about a week in San Diego , I do remember celebrating my Birthday at Dicks Last Resort in the Gas Light area. I enjoyed my visit with Cathi , she provided me with great guide service in San Diego, and some good words of advice about Gods Wisdom, words which made sense but still left me unconvinced that I should accept Christ. The visit with my Cousins in Selma had created an urge to head East . East meant connecting with 1-40 , a thin ribbon of road that leads East from Barstow California . Slips Northeast toward Flagstaff , then heads almost due East past Albuquerque , Amarillo , Oklahoma City, and then as it almost leaves the Sooner State you find yourself in Muldrow Oklahoma. As I crept into the Hills Just east of LA once again I started to think more about my childhood , early roots and screen windows.
I know this much , I was born in Denver Colorado , at the time my parents lived in a mining town called Climax Colorado , it is true I was conceived in Climax. The mine was an open pit mine and the ore being extracted was Molylibdium , a metal used mostly for Jet aircraft because of its strength and lightness ..I am reasonably certain that my Father worked on the sides of the pit , placing explosive charges into the earth. Probably suspended by thin cables and dangling several hundred feet in the air.
I vaguely remember my parents telling me of that Winter in Colorado with snow literally piled over the house we live in. The snow and the cold was probably why Mom and Dad considered moving to Portland , which they did within 19 months because that is when my brother was born in Portland Oregon ...I am not sure if he was conceived in Climax or not , and that is one question I probably would not want to ask Aunt Alice.
When we moved to Portland we lived in Sellwood , a small suburb south of Downtown Portland, and about three blocks from my fathers Parents. Elizabeth and Herman Sitlger. Herman was an immigrant from Germany and work for the Blitz Brewery in Portland , Elizabeth an immigrant from England. My best recollections of Elizabeth was of her crocheting and making coffee.
My mothers home was far away in Muldrow Oklahoma , her Father was Native American , and her Mother was an Irish Immigrant. In those days there was little talk of " Illegal immigrants " and more talk about the sins of the Native Americans . so when my Mothers Father " registered " with the US Government he fibbed and said He was 1/2 native. So now legally I am 1/8th .
My first recollection /Memory of life was living in Sellwood , this Memory is more like a composite of many memories , and is more likened to the debris at the bottom of a large cliff where deposits are all mixed together giving no indication of Chronology.
I remember a babysitter who lived across the street , neighbors who become famous when they got the first TV in the block and we would go over to vist and take a look at the new device. I remember my brother and I shared a room and I had the top bunk until it was determined that my bed wetting was making his life difficult , so I ended up with the bottom bunk.
At first I was troubled by this but two great benefits soon extended themselves to me. The first was I found that by tucking a sheet or blanket into the top bunk I could make myself a private cave ..a cave that was my own private and personal fortress. and that my being on the bottom bunk gave me ready access to the bedroom window that afforded me an opportunity to relive myself with out hiking downstairs to the bathroom.
The screen in front of the window was no obstacle to me but I do remember a slight changing of color that soon gave me away , that and the fact that one night I urinated on my father who was taking out the garbage. MY father was understanding and only used his hand on my bare butt and not the belt , something that at the time I was unable to appreciate the grace involved.
We lived in that house until I was six years old ...I went to Kindergarten early , and I must have had some problems because the next year when we moved ..I repeated Kindergarten ...I am not sure if you can say that life is up hill or down hill after you fail kindergarten , but somehow I survived ...my only memory of my first school experience is accidental hitting a girl with a jumping rope and then being so frightened , and scared of the sure and swift punishment I hid behind a tree until the class went back into the school , then I waited until school was out and pretended I had been in class when my mother walked down to pick me up. I am sure that in time the realization that my class had spent the rest of the day not missing me had some profound effect on my life , but I am not sure at this time what it was.
There was a park not far from where we lived ( Sellwood Park ) and my mother would take my brother and I there , and she would lay out a blanket and watch us as we played on the swings , and teeter toter . I have a picture I took of this place a few years ago and I swear that the teeter totter boards look like the originals we played on.
It was there that I first realized how much I could torment my brother , I would spin him so fast on the playground merry go ground that he was no longer merry , I would raise him far up on the teeter totter then let him fall to the ground ..all this seemed to accomplish two things , one he lived in fear of me , and two I learned to live in fear of my fathers belt when he heard about behavior when he came home.
It was at a very early age that I learned there were consequences to my actions , but learning that and stopping them seemed like light years apart ...I knew from a very early age what I should do , and what I should not do , but I was compelled and driven to do the opposite.
As my sixth year was winding down , I became aware that plans were being made to move away from this paradise ...boxes were packed , furniture stacked , and we moved to a Suburb of Portland on the west side called Multnomah..the new house was smaller , there was no upstairs ( this is fallout from peeing on your father ). but it had a garage , and a very large lot and an extra lot as well ...there was room to roam and explore and still be close to home. There were adventures to be had , friends to make and books to open , and it all lay ahead of me ...
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