DEUTERONOMY

I have not had the time either at home or at work to keep up with everyone. I appreciate all your comments and taking the time to read about Dad and Don. There is no doubt that these posts are pretty emotionally charged; I have had quite a number of years to think and talk about these times, and to put them in more of a big circle that connects the detail to a point thats very comfortable to me.

This last post about Don caught me a little off guard. I have told the story many times, and I always let "We were all problems" be the last line and moral to the story.
As I pasted the Photo of him at West Point, studying what looks to be Laws of Motion and Gravity, I was thnking I needed a caption that would introduce Don. It would be a "new" last line... so I typed in "Pretty smart, my Brother"...
And I realized that this was more than a caption for that Photo...and I just broke down... I lost it really hard...I'll never know anyone as smart as that man was...and what he said...'We were all problems " is exactly right; for everything God put on this Earth; all that breathes and walks and Multiplies....a lot of problems...

There are two more parts...
Barbara, try this...."You Know I can Feel It"
Griz- thanks, yes they were!
RDG- it is connected somewhat with my son, but not the way you might imagine... i need to get around to him one day
Mom- Straiht A's all through School he had!
annelisa- No more brothers, 1 sister on another Planet...

We Were All A Problem

There's an old magic Eight Ball

Right next to my plate

When I ask it a question

Regarding my fate

It says "reply hazy, please try again"

It wont say where I'm going

It don't know where I've been

….but I'm right here now…

james mcmurtry

I have heard it said that the bond between a Father and Son is a fragile bond, full of mistrust and fears and failures on both sides. By the time I graduated High School, the bond between Dad and I had been severely tested.

On Friday nights as I prepared to go "carousing" around, Dad would give me $10, and say "Don't spend it all in one place!"

Every week the same conversation would ensue.

"Right Dad"

"What are you getting into tonight?"

'Nuthin' I can't handle Dad"

"Well, just remember… that Wisdom… is the greater part… of Valor."

"Fer shure' Dad" and within the hour I would have a $10 bag of trouble, which would greatly enhance my other pursuits, chiefly Sex and Rock and Roll.

I didn't realize back then that Dad was really being kinda cool about the whole thing. Those mornings years later, when we would talk as we ate breakfast, he referred to them as my "Wild Bill Cody" days. I definitely had the hair for it.

It took a some years, after the Diagnoses, after considering the years he spent severed from hiis family, splintered from even himself, living an unimaginable existence that could not be foreseen, that I came to realize what a problem I must have been.

Dad was a man of few words. He told good natured stories, clean bone dry jokesand used the ever present cigar for punctuation. He had a slow and steady cadence to his pattern of speech that allowed every word to sink in.

He met and married my Mother after returning from WWII.

She had a 4 year old son, Don Lynn, and Dad legally adopted him, giving Don his name and his love.

Don told me a story about the first time that Dad was going to discipline him, and give him a spanking. Don could not recall what the infraction was, but this he vividly remembered:

"Mother, not wanting her child spanked, jumped to my defense.

'You are not going to spank my Boy!'

Dad turns and faces Mother and in his slow methodical way, says softly but firmly;

'We are going...to start…right now. You are my wife…and this is MY son…and ..I am going to…to raise him as best… as best as I know how"

My first memory of Don was the day he snatched me off the front porch as I was taking a piss…

Don came out all right…he graduated from West Point in 1964.

In 1982, Mom had a stroke. After a few weeks she seemed to be making progress, and I had been keeping Don advised, but he was able to come home from his station in Saudi and I was glad to have him there.

During a late night conversation , I expressed regret at having been such a problem for Mom and Dad through the years.

You know what he said?

"Steve, we were all problems."

Pretty smart, my brother.

YOU KNOW I CAN FEEL IT...ON A COUNTRY ROAD

My brother Don came to visit for a couple of days back in 1993. He was a West Point Graduate. He was a Colonel in the Corps of Engineers. Though he had grown up in this area, the growth of Dallas-Fort Worth had left it virtually unrecognizable. On the way to the airport to pick him up, I wondered what I could show him or where I could take him that would emphasize the intensity of the "sprawl" that was taking place.
Close by my house there was a Strip Mall that had gone up. An entire neighborhood of homes had been "purchased" and demolished to make way for this Strip Mall.
They call it Eminent Domain and its an offer no one can refuse.
Driving through the parking lot you wouldnot expect that 2 years prior there had been an
All-American neighborhood there.
Except for one thing...
In the center of the Parking Lot there was an Island- a rather large Island that contained the one last hold out from the old neighborhood-a 3 bedroom Brick home with all the trimmings. White picket fence, BBQ Grill, Trees , shrubs. Swing-set and Sandbox. Prettiest little house you would ever want to see. I do not know how he did it, but somehow he was fighting the system.
On the way from the Airport with Don, I drove through the Parking Lot and pulled up in front of this house, this Island, surrounded by the "Garden Ridge" "Pottery Barn" "Applebees"(somethin'good in the neighborhood) "Matress Giant" and all the typical establishments.
Don had but one word to say and one word was all that was needed.
"OUTSTANDING!!
And then..."GOOD FOR HIM!!"
My brother, the Colonel! He was always a pretty tough act to follow.
I believe that house stood another year and eventually sold for several Million dollars. Erected a Gateway Computer on the spot which was quickly replaced by CD Warehouse then a Tattoo Parlor or something.
They just finished "stealing" a huge neighborhood not far away to build Jerry Jones a Stadium

http://razarmedia.blogspot.com/ Steve Newton says he likes having fewer people around. They could remove a couple of few ten thousand from around here and I don't think anyone would notice! Thanks Steve for reminding me of Don Lynn.