Thanks, Dad...
Let me start this off by saying that I am not blaming anything on my parents. I'm too old for that shit, and what's the point of that anyway. My parents are just people who tried to raise me to the best of their skill, ability, and resources. Good or bad, it was better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. We (I have a sister who is a few years younger than me) never went hungry, we had new clothes for school and always had a roof over our heads. We were punished if we misbehaved, but we weren't abused. There are those who would argue that point, if measured by today's standards, however. I feel like I was raised with a reasonable understanding of what is right and what is wrong. My parents conceived me during a night of drunken fumbling on a hot summer night in Texas of 1966. Whether they had any intention of getting married and starting a family became moot at that point. But, this is not a history of me. I am approaching fifty-five year