I don't remember much from those days. Chasing ducks at the local pond. Throwing rocks and sticks into some river (see below). Nearly freezing to death playing outside after a huge blizzard in all that awesome new snow that I never wanted to leave. Going to some hot springs at another river that was really blue. Almost all of my memories being of the outdoors.
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| There's a good chance I'm throwing rocks at ducks in the water. Killing two birds with one ston….wait a second... |
Three years after moving to Boise, the family made a decision that I am forever grateful for; we moved to the town of Roseburg, the seat of Douglas County, Oregon, smack dab in the middle of a vast wilderness of tall pines and pristine waters. And the ocean was only an hour away. It was heaven. I mean, Idaho would have been cool and all, but Idaho doesn't have an ocean - and it touches Canada. Ewwww…..
Like most kids I knew, growing up in Roseburg was a busy affair. The potential Summer funness quotient could explode a child's head by the time the calendar flipped to May. There was just so much to do considering what we were surrounded with. Even when I was at home, most of my time was spent outdoors, often exploring and playing on the river flood plain near the house. Access was granted via a secret hole in a huge, natural hedge of blackberries - our own little Narnia.
The North Umpqua River Valley held it's own magic, and to this day, is still one of my favorite areas on this planet. I loved trekking through the trail-less forest, feeling the past seasons bouncing underfoot, imagining what the people who used to inhabit the forest were like. Just being out there made me feel good. My first connections with nature were made early and they were strong.
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| Camping at Steamboat up the North Umpqua River, Oregon. Age 7(?) Look at all that funness being had! |
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| A few trout caught at, I believe, Whistler's Bend. I think that may even be a Uof0 shirt I have on. |
Being a kid of the 80's, one had to participate in what was the socialism of youth soccer. I guess it was fun. Mainly I remember being cold and wet and muddy and playing on fields that smelled like fresh cow shit. Actually, now that I think about it, I would have much rather been eating Lucky Charms and watching He-Man than being out in that awful weather that passed for a fall morning in Oregon.
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| a frontal push straight out of the Man U. playbook. I bet those neighbors hated the 7am Saturday games….. |
I have some great memories of playing youth basketball. I just seemed to like that sport a bit better than most, as far as the organized stuff went. Something about throwing round things through hoops or into containers. It's mainly a guy thing, I think. Or, it could be I was being trained from a young age:
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| That's some damn good form, if I do say so myself. I also had a good coach. If this were today, college recruiters would be lined up behind the fence…. (I think this is in Colo, Iowa) |
Of course, being a boy, I also had to play the football and the baseball and school basketball - all of which I did find enjoyable when I was younger. After about fifth grade, though, I cringed at the thought of having to put on a pair of shoulder pads or running lines on the hardest gym floor in existence (junior high school - my God…). The floor was so hard, it left scratches on diamonds. That floor was so f'ing hard, it made Ice Cube cry. That floor was so hard, it made Ron Jeremy stop and take a second look. Okay, I'll stop now…..
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| Yay. Baseball. We were sponsored by the trashiest trailer park in town. I'm not kidding. |
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| Don't I look happy? Oh yeah, that season was miserable. I also had just been infected with Lyme and it's why I look like and felt like I had mono from then on |
With all due respect to golf lovers; I don't get it. But, most don't get my desire to hurl myself off of 30 foot cornices onto 40 degree slopes of snow either. To each their own. It's just that a walk in nature for me usually doesn't involve a lawnmower and fertilized grass. Perhaps if it did, I wouldn't be sick. Things that make you go, hmmmmmmm……. I actually wonder if I'd find this torture more fun now that I'm older. God, it just looks so painful…….
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| This was at a golf course in Iowa that was carved into the local corn fields. My aunt Pam actually got a hole in one that day! There are so many things wrong with this picture. One - what is that tree doing in Iowa? Two - the shorts? Mom? Hello? |
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I wasn't going to publish this until it was finished. However, seeing as how I only have an hour or two of good, useful energy per day - and that isn't always used sitting here on the computer - I'll just publish as I go. Otherwise, I may never finish.
I'm doing this little life essay for a few different reasons:
1) it gives me something to do
2) It's cathartic. It makes me realize all that I have done and accomplished regardless of what others have said or thought about me or how I've been treated. It's common for undiagnosed Lyme patients to overachieve, as they get so sick of being told everything is in their head, they are making it up, etc…. I pushed and pushed and pushed until I totally collapsed. I'm just tired of being called lazy. Thing is, most of the people who say these things to me don't know me too well, but it still hurts. What hurts worse is the people who do know me that still think this.
3) It might educate a few people. Being involved in chronic pain and fibromyalgia and now lyme disease groups, I realize just how many people out there are silently suffering. They don't have anyone to turn to. I'm really, really lucky in that regard. Many of these people are the ones picked on as the lazy takers in society, and it's anything but the truth.
4) Other stuff I'll write in this space later when my brain starts functioning properly again……. Hopefully tomorrow will be another 'good' day where I can write. Just writing what I have today has set off a lot of symptoms, and I need to lie down……. Until next time.
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