Reminiscence

As I sit here these many days I have plenty of time to reflect on my life and childhood.  With all the big business outlets from our American culture, the commercial giants that helped shape our country, bringing the market to places others cared not to.   I remember days of pouring over the Sears & Roebucks catalog, I do not recall if there were a local Sears nearby at the time.  This is the issue from when I was born. Sadly, the decline of Sears began shortly after this. They stopped producing the catalogs in in 1993 and laid off 50,000 people in the process. 

https://chicagology.com/business/sears/searscatalogs03/

I remember going to K-mart (not SuperK) as a young man and it was usually a big deal as we couldn't really afford the mall, it seemed. Oh and the excitement that rang out in the store when they announced a "Blue-Light Special" was delightful for my young mind.

I have always been a fan of computers, for as long as I can remember it is all I wanted to do was work with them, and technology.  I am still a great fan of the uses we have and can have, however, I think the direction that we have navigated is destroying us.  How?  It is destroying us socially, emotionally, it is tearing apart relationships, and families.  The commercialization of the "Information Superhighway" has destroyed its intent.  We have placed technology ahead of human interaction, and I admit I for one have as well.

I fear for what our future holds as more foundations of our country are gradually destroyed and replaced so the United States of our ancestors is no longer identifiable. These days are approaching, attacks upon religious freedom via "constitutionality" is ludicrous.  The first amendment is not there for people to use against religion, it's there to protect the free practice thereof, no matter what it might be.  If something offends you, don't look at it. It's simple, don't destroy history because of your personal choice to find something offensive.  In my opinion, the worst part of most of it is most do not search for the truth because they are afraid the will not like it because it doesn't fit into their agenda.

This latest story is about the WWI Memorial cross that is now being slated for destruction. Seriously, a 93-year-old memorial for American Veterans is in the crosshairs because someone is offended by its shape.  Forget the fact it is dedicated to people that died to give them the right to be vacuous and precocious. I believe that this whole idea of "separation of church and state" is being used completely wrong. By any court determining something needs to be removed due to religious fact over historic fact is biased and is, in fact, aiding in an religion the Atheist religion... Yeah yeah I know it's not a religion, but yet, in essence, it is, just one without a leader, one set out to destroy all religion.  Thank goodness after years of litigations at this time the cross is still standing safely under Constitutional protects as it should. 

Getting My Thoughts Together

I've been sitting here day in and day out for the last few months thinking about my past and future.     For those that don't know me,  that's okay you will in time.  I'm a 44-year-old disabled man.  When I was 40 I had to have a laminectomy performed. I also had a multi-level lumbar spinal fusion from L4-S1. 

  Eighteen months after the initial surgery I had to have a double procedure performed.  The first part of the procedure required replacing four of the screws from my initial surgery,  as they were loose.  

For the second portion of this, they flipped me over and opened up my abdomen to replace a disc with hardware disc with fusion material. I was practically bed-ridden for the following 18 months.

Needless to say, my back has not healed well and my legs are still suffering from the nerve damage. Due to this nerve damage, I am undergoing re-occurring radio-frequency ablations every 9-12 months. Essentially they are burning my base nerve roots for a portion of my legs to alleviate the severe burning and tactile sensations.  

To be continued.....

Not A Writer

    Okay, so I totally eat crow as a writer.  I was always told by my grandfather to write a biography of my life.  Throughout my youth, he tried to instill knowledge in me.  Like most teenagers, I rebelled of course.This course of action was profoundly naive of me, and looking back I can see it quite clearly.


   As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. This is not always the case. My memories are not always the clearest, and there are multiple gaps throughout my life starting at an early age.  I am currently reading and learning to open my mind to allow myself access to these lost memories.

    I plan to place these memories here, though I will not guarantee the accuracy of dates until after I get quite a few memories down.  This being the case I will only attempt to place the years, though even those had tended to blend together over the last 25 plus years.  This starts around the age of 17. I will also include snippets of what I remember when I was younger.

So I suppose I should have said Hello before my opening statement. I'm not certain that was a worthy opening statement per se, however, it is what it is.

Update Oct 2023

5 years have passed since posting this article, and in that time many things have occurred. In March of 2022, following the COVID-19 plandemic, I had a 4-level cervical fusion from C3-C6 with 3 vertebral cages and matching plates. This was highly detrimental to my recently started lawn care business.