I Was Born

I Was Born.......the first time.

On October 1, 1952 I was born, the third child and only son of John and Myrtle.  A couple of years later I had another sister.  My Mom wanted five boys.  The pressure was on.  And woe was me with three sisters and two being older made it even harder.  I think one of the first politically correct thing I learned was putting the toilet seat down.  Enough of that.

Mom got the the hospital ready to pop a baby out, but the doctor wasn't there.  The nurses must not have known what to do, so they held her legs together for twenty minutes until the doctor arrived.  I can't imagine that being done today, but that's what I  was told.  At any rate, when she finally pooped me out my head was pretty deformed and blue in color.  Of course it straightened out pretty quickly and I look as normal as anyone else today.  I didn't learn all this till I was in my forties.

As I grew I was physically active and enjoyed baseball and basketball as a child.  In school however, I was always a little slower than my sisters and much slower than my parents and grandmother "L" thought I should be.  We will never know if any of that was connected to the birth delay.  I like to think it was.  

I had a terrible time memorizing things and I still have trouble with that today.  I took me forever to learn the alphabet and to add and multiply.  I had to be tutored in reading well.  Socially no one could tell I struggled with that.  I was able and am still able to figure out things that a lot of people smarter than me had trouble doing.  I have the ability to spot things that are wrong and then able to fix the problem.  I think that is how I learned to study.  I was and am a terribly slow reader, but I can look at a page and almost instantly pick out words I don't know.  I was terrified when I had to read out loud in class at school.  I always embarrassed myself.

Despite all of my early problems,  I managed to graduate from high school and college.  I worked in the family business, as expected, and feel I was successful there as well.  I have probably more confidence than I should have.  My wife and two kids really help me in the confidence area.  They are all kind to me and respectful.  God has been very good to me.  When walls go up, go over or around them.  Work with the gifts you have and don't fret over the gifts you may not have.  Have faith that you will succeed and work towards those ends, and you will succeed.