My dad grew up in West Dallas, his grandmother and mother were bootleggers so to say the least his upbringing could of been alot better. His mother was married so many times in Texas she had to start going to Oklahoma to get hitched. As I have gone through the records I found 13 marriages. Her shortest marriage was 1 day, she shot that husband on their wedding night. When my grandmother brought men to the house my dad was sent outside to sleep between two chairs on the front porch. He worked most of his young life to bail my grandmother and great grandmother out of jail. To say the least he spent very little time with his dad when he was growing up. Infact, he had very little parental contact, but alot of bad influences. When he was 7 his mom took him to New Mexico and left him in a hotel room and she drove back to Dallas.
My mom on the other hand was raised in a very strict Baptist family. Her dad sold everything they had here and loaded up the car and drove to California. He felt the Lord lead him to there to build a church. My mom spent most of her teen years in California.
My parents were married in '62 and my sister was born a short 11 months later and I was born 8 years after that, infact yesterday was my birthday. My dad always said his children would have a better life than he did. From what I have learned over the years it would not have taken much for that to happen. I have often wondered how a person that grew up in a household with so much aggression, poor morals and adversity could be a wonderful man. But he was.
I was born in Fort Worth and moved to Parker County the summer of my 3rd grade year. I never wanted for anything when I was younger, we weren't rich by no means but we were comfortable. My dad and I were very close. We spent alot of time fishing, boating, rebuilding engines and transmissions. He taught me to tune-up my car, change my oil, change my brakes and to set my timing by ear. I didn't even know what a timing light was until I was 20 years old. It seemed that no matter what my interests were he jumped in with me 110%. He was my best friend.
One of the fondest memories I have with him was when Lake Worth froze over and we walked across the lake on the Jacksboro Hwy side. It was Christmas.
I lost my dad to a car accident when I was 15 years old. That was one of the darkest times of my life. It took me a long, long time to let go of him; to realize that he was in a better place.
As alot of you know my mom lives with us and has been battling breast cancer. Now we are fighting congestive heart failure/enlarged heart/cardiomyopathy due to the chemo that she took. I am not sure how long she has left with us, it all depends on her medications and the decisions that she makes from here on out. But I know that we have this Christmas for sure.
I grew up in a loving home and I will always cherish the memories my parents gave me growing up. When my son grows up and looks back on his life, I can only hope that I was half the parent to him that my parents were to me. I hope that he has fond memories of his childhood.