My first job was working for a local farmer and family friend.  We’d mostly weed the tomatoes, pick corn and just other general things as needed.  It was a great time and the bonus was I got to learn how to drive a truck through the corn fields at an early age.

Which makes it all the more fun to see this article on him today.

As a kid I always had a great time at Halloween.  What kid doesn’t?  Several years in a row I dressed up as a Devil.  It was this costume that my mom had made and was pretty cool, but eventually I outgrew it and had to dress up as something else.

Some of the most memorable Halloween’s were with some friends of our family and my Dad.  We all dressed up in Blood and Guts and would go visit people on Halloween night.

One year our friend took a 1/2 of a prune, basically glued his eyelid shut, put the prune over his eye and put blood and guts all around it.  It looked like he had shot his eye out.

One of my favorite things to do was go to get something to eat when we were dressed up like that.  We literally looked like we had bloody flesh hanging off of our faces and arms.  It looks pretty gruesome and when you walk into a restaurant looking like that people tend to lose their appetites pretty quickly.

One time we walked into a McDonald’s and I needed to use the restroom, so before ordering anything I headed in that direction.  I walked past a gentleman and his three daughters.  It appeared that they had just sat down to eat their hamburgers and just as they were lifting the food to their mouths, I walked by and caught their eye.

I was only in the restroom for a couple of minutes, but on my way back I noticed that they were packing up their food and were preparing to leave without eating anything.  I’m pretty certain that I grossed them out to the point that they had no desire to eat their food there anymore.

I’ve always threatened to come into work like that and maybe someday I will, but today I’m dressed up as a hard working Husband and Father.

I received my drivers license in November, 1989.   Earlier that year my aunt called me and told me that she was going to give me her old car and that it needed a little bit of work, but she was confident my dad (her brother) could fix it without a problem.

There was leak in the radiator and we figured that would be no big deal to fix.  So my dad and I went to my aunt’s house and towed it home.  I had my first official car and it was a bit of a fixer upper.  It was a bright yellow 1978 Ford Pinto hatchback, not the coolest car around but I didn’t care because I was all mine.

I spent quite a bit of time on it washing, waxing, vacuuming, and just tinkering with it in general.  Dad and I were able to get the radiator problem fixed and it was running pretty decent.

Until I got my license that is.  About four days after I passed my drivers test the engine starting making a terrible banging noise and died shortly thereafter.  Turns out the block had cracked and one of the pistons was pretty much destroyed.  So over the next few weeks my Dad and I (mostly my Dad) rebuilt the engine together.  I’m sure that he and mom had not anticipated spending that much money on my car, but they did and I was grateful that they did.  It was great because I got to spend a lot of time with my Dad and learned a ton about cars.

Dad did have a friend who could get us a 6 cylinder that would have fit in the engine compartment, I lobbied for that option, but dad in his wisdom didn’t think that it would be such a good idea to put more horsepower in the hands of his 16 year old son.  Looking back on it, Dad was right.

I drove it all over the place, had a blast and have a lot of really great memories that involve that car.  The interior was in pretty good shape and the body just had a couple of small rust spots with no major damage.  For Christmas that year I received a new stereo, which my dad and I (again mostly my dad) installed.

Everything was great, until the following Christmas.  It was snowing and I was trying to stop for a stop sign.  My car started to slide and I wrapped the front fender around a tree.

Again my parents came to the rescue with the help of an uncle.  They fixed up my little Lemon for me (again) and by graduation my car was back on the road.  This time my uncle had done all of the body work and repainted the entire thing.  So now exterior of my car was in great shape and only the interior needed a little work.

That was June 1991.  Two months later I was making a right hand turn onto a highway near our house close to midnight one Saturday night.  I was getting up to speed, it was a Pinto afterall, when I saw two headlights in my review mirror that were eseentially right on my back bumper.  When I had made my turn those lights were down the road quite a ways.

I was rear-ended by a truck that the officers estimate was going 80-90 mph and the driver was quite intoxicated.  I know what you’re thinking being rear ended in a 78 Pinto is not good.  Thankfully, there were no explosions and other than a mild concussion I was fine.

So that was the end of my little car.  My dad ended up selling it, for much less than what he had put into it I’m sure, to a cousin who was going to use it to get to and from work I think.

Even though it wasn’t the coolest car at the time, I’d love to have another just like it, even if it was just to work on it with my Dad and sons.  Though I’d pay for everything this time and maybe put the 6 cylinder in

As you can probably tell life has been a little interesting lately.  Things have changed significantly for me over the last week and for some reason it has been extremely difficult for me.

Many friends and family have come forward and shown wonderful support and offered some very encouraging words.  To those people I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  You are truly great friends.  I love and appreciate all that you do and the fact that you are part of my life.  I am truly a blessed man because of you.

Soup Update

The Soup Party was great.  It was fun to see and talk to everyone.  Though I didn’t get a chance to talk with everyone and I feel bad for that.

I also didn’t get a chance to eat anything.  It wasn’t until after we had cleaned up from the party that I realized I hadn’t eaten anything.  Thankfully some of my wife’s pumpkin bars were left, so I was able to get some.

With everything that happened this last week, I lost my appetite and ended losing 5 lbs. in 4 days.  So maybe that was a good thing.

I did get a chance to have a candid conversation with a friend who offered some encouragement and wonderful advice to me which made me feel much better.

The last couple of days I’ve been reading a series in the Deseret News about Athletics/Athletes and Pain Killers. I has been an interesting read. 

Painkillers, the dark side of sports

Pills for pain put BYU star in a tailspin

From glory to agony: Hal Garner’s football career ended with pain and addiction

I have back problems myself, specifically I have a bulged disc at the L5-S1 level and some other degeneration one level up from that.  It has been close to two years and the pain will come and go.  It just so happens that it’s currently here and getting nasty again.

I’ve been through two rounds of physical therapy and had two cortisone injections into my spine.  I’ve also been on pain killers and muscle relaxers on and off during that time.

Nowadays I’m taking 800 mg of Ibuprofen and two Tylenol at least twice a day.  It’s not a lot of fun and I just wish that the pain would go away, but I guess we all have our challenges in life.