Here’s a story…..
And you know how that song goes, right? Well that is pretty much what I thought life was supposed to be growing up. It took me until about 1999 to figure out that it wasn’t exactly going that way for me, but I wasn’t sure where to go next. In the years that followed in the new century, I really figured out that my life story needed a change in direction as it really wasn’t heading where I wanted it to at all, and I had to DO something to alter it’s course. That brings us to today’s post…here…right now…..
Today’s post is one of those prompted by the Folk Journaling project, and I started thinking about it a week and a half ago, because I really wasn’t sure what to think about the questions in the prompt. I am still not sure what I think about it, but the questions really have had me thinking, which I suppose was really what they were all about, right?
So here’s the question in question….or the questions in question…. bwahhahahaa…… I know I slay me!!!
How has Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s story influenced your own? What is your story?
and
Appreciating the authentic American story of another hinges on first understanding our own story. This week’s Journal Challenge prompt encourages us to examine our own American story. Who are you? What is your story? What person has history prompted you to become?
Yeah, is your brain overfull now too??
Well, for starters, I got really bogged down by the word “authentic”. It seemed a bit ostentatious to me….but then “ostentatious” is, well, a bit ostentatious too, isn’t it? So maybe “authentic” isn’t all that high falutin’ of a word. To me it just means “real”, “down-to-earth”, etc. And since “reality” TV has hi-jacked the word “real” for something that likely is not….then maybe authentic IS better. But I digress. As usual.
So, secondly, I can’t say that Martin Luther King Jr.’s story had a “direct” affect on my story. But I did grow up in the 70’s so I really lived in the wake of his work, and to that end I am grateful. I didn’t grow up with peeps of other colors, but I also never could see why people made judgements based on skin color. We all bleed the same color, and the heart of a man (or a woman) is the true center of each human. I can’t imagine the world Dr. King and everyone else lived in with color as a decision maker for everything.
So that being said, WHAT is MY story?
To be honest, I don’t know how to write that in one post. Do you even think that is possible? I can tell you some snippets about my story. I will see if I can surprise you with some of them even.
- I really, really wanted to be a gentleman farmer when I was in my teens. Tweed cap, walking stick, pipe and all. I didn’t realize how much MONEY one needed to do that. And being American it is hard to be a Count….unless you are a Kennedy or something.
- I made a stuffed polyester and felt raccoon in Cub Scouts in the 4th grade. And slept with it through High School. I should have known then that the fiber arts were my first love. But it sure wasn’t acceptable for a boy or man back then. And I dearly wanted to be accepted.
- I never really felt accepted for who I was. Then and sometimes still.
- I took “Modern Dance” one semester in college. My final number was a Lionel Ritchie song. And I am forever grateful there wasn’t YouTube back then.
- Really, really grateful.
- I lost my brother to suicide 15 years ago. He was 24. I still miss him. And I am still angry at him for it. But I forgive him too.
- I have three great kids. They are not always so great. And I think I worry more about them now than I did when they were apt to fall down on the pavement or run into the street. But now at least they occasionally bake chocolate chip cookies.
- I love my wife so much I can’t even understand it myself. And I probably irritate her more than I know. Wait, I know that I irritate her more than I know. And I am so glad that she still puts up with me.
- Really, really grateful. And in awe of her incredibleness.
- Daily.
- There’s probably more to this story. A lot more, I am sure. And you will likely find it here and Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
This post is linked up to the Folk Journal Post for this week too. Check out how some other peeps answered these pondering questions!