Dreams Die Hard.14

Notice: With this post I must give notice that postings may not come on a weekly basis. I will do the best I can but I am 74 years old with vision, hearing, and other  physical health issues that are keeping me from computer work. The past 3 years has been hard on me and I am tired. Maybe some rest will do me good.

Music has always been an important part of my life. I bought my first guitar when I was 14 with the help of my dad. I played rhythm and lead in local garage bands while in high school. I played bass guitar in a working band in California after graduating high school. We played half-a-dozen gigs before I quit, and returned to my Oklahoma home. After that, life got in the way of my music. I joined the Navy, sold my guitar, got drunk, and made two cruises to the Tonkin Gulf, off of the coast of Viet Nam. My three years-10 months-and 22-day Navy career was spent either sailing the seas or getting drunk. By this time I was listening to music and crying in my beer. Booze destroyed my first marriage. However, other life matters succeeded at destroying marriage #2. By the grace of God, I was able to stop drinking in the mid-"80's. But, it was my work that both helped me stop drinking but also nearly killed me. 

It was July 4, 1994, when music came back into my life. While driving thru Dallas, Texas on my way to a truck stop on the south side of town I happened to come up on the exit to Fair Park of Dallas, Texas just after I heard a commercial for a rock concert. I took the exit and spent the next 10+ hours listening to life music. That signaled another big change in my life. Six months later I owned and carried 2 guitars, and an amplifier with me in my truck.

But, this episode only lasted less than three years. I soon became a single dad faced with hard decisions that I won’t discuss here. While I was doing good with my music other problems arose. I was forced to sell my music equipment. I did not want to raise the children from my second marriage on welfare so I went back to otr trucking, placed them in Baptist Boys Ranch. Still, I was able to spend more time with them than when I was married.

For my next “Dreams Die Hard” post I will discuss the final time music came into my life and how music and photography kept me alive and active.