Category Archives: Respect

[August 5, 2024]  There it was again, my yellow-stained 6th-grade Report Card with my end-of-year marks.  I didn’t want to even look at it.  Okay, I had at least one “B,” and I think that was in “recess.”  And to make it worse for me, one of my parents had to sign off acknowledging my performance.  “You can… Read More »

[July 31, 2024]  In May of 1970, after I started Engineering classes at Texas Tech University, I turned 18, registered for Selective Service, and received my military draft notice shortly after that.  The Vietnam War was still going strong with American and NATO participation, and the draft was in full swing, calling up young men to be part… Read More »

[July 21, 2024]  I liked nothing more than riding my motorcycle out on the open road, headed to nowhere in particular.  I’m just riding with the wind in my face.  It was freedom like I’d never had at another time or place.  I couldn’t explain it either, but going faster than a bicycle or a car was more… Read More »

[July 19, 2024]  Farmer Simons and I were out in one of his grassy fields, trying to get a 1920s Doodle Bug Ford tractor running again.  When the engine turned over and started to sputter back to life, we let go a holler of excitement.  “She runs!”  “There’s life in that old girl.”  There was no telling how… Read More »

[July 12, 2024] A pet is one of the most beautiful things a kid can have.  Pets return the affection you give them, provide company when you are lonely and are loyal.  They also never complain, betray you, call you names – they are always there for you. As a toddler, my dog was a Cocker Spaniel and… Read More »

[July 8, 2024]  Good teeth, good health.  My first dentist appointment was when I was 14.  I was lucky; many kids I’d grown up with were adults before they had their first dentist checkup.  My dentist was as old as the dinosaurs and kinda weird in his own way.  Dad called him a “guild barber,” whatever that meant… Read More »

[July 7, 2024]  With a quick motion, I was dunked underwater by Preacher John at the Southern Baptist Church of Mer Rouge, Louisiana, in the Fall of 1961.  He gently bent me backward and then straight up with one hand over my mouth and nose and the other on my upper back and said, “I baptize you in… Read More »