I have seen so much, but I could never see enough of some things.
Today marks the end of 61 years and I have seen so much as a child:
My two stays in the hospital for tuberculosis.
My
only surviving grandparent who did not ever recognize me even when I
said hello to him on the bus, I recall the embarrassment of the kids on
the bus laughing at me as this old man just grunted in response to my
greeting.
My friend and next door neighbor being pounded on the head with a baseball bat, the sound is still with me.
A gun pointed at me in anger by an acquaintance.
My sports life slowed down by bad knees.
My brother going off to war.
The tired look on my Dad's face from long and hard hours of work.
My friends getting hooked on cigarettes.
Nuns showing anger and hate while dishing out punishment at school.
A priest pounding on the altar because the singing was so bad.
A man stalking me as I headed home from a friend's house.
The kitchen door knob being turned on a locked door by an intruder as I was studying.
My president, shot and killed on the streets of Dallas.
Endless films showing the atomic bomb.
Fallout shelter pamphlets.
As a child, I have never seen enough of:
My Mom's smile
My Dad's strong and admirable work ethic.
My dogs playing with me.
Running as fast as my legs would let me.
The magical woods between the cemeteries.
Monkey vines
My friends.
My thirst for knowledge.
My love of math.
My bicycle.
My first love.
Drive-in movies.
Drive-in restaurants.
Dust devils
Fly balls coming my way in center field.
My first receiving touchdown.
My hand over the basketball rim.
Smiley's smile.
Cherry bombs.
Music
45 RPM records
Watermelon.
Sleighing down the hill.
Mass & Communion
High school girls.
My first car.
Baseball cards.
Ice cream
Report cards.
Summers
As an adult I have seen so much:
War
Dear John letter
Friend's suicide
Flak
Smiley's death in Nam
My next door neighbor and childhood friend dying trying to save two girls from drowning.
Air Force plane down to two out of four engines working over the vast ocean.
Friend's child born with complications.
Blizzards while driving through the mountains of Alaska.
The collapse of a radio tower as we were assembling it.
The ceiling falling down on us in a movie theater, blinding and choking dust as we crawled out on hands and knees.
Starving people.
Beggars.
Mistreated women.
Racial violence overseas.
Whites only drinking fountains.
Hate
Drunks
Wasted food.
Bar fights.
Waste
Death in the prime of life.
Childhood friend who smoked and then dying from throat cancer.