Beginnings

I've been lax enough in writing this now that I do believe I've reached a point of minimal, if any, reading by anyone.   I'm finding freedom in that.   During the months of August & September, I think a lot about my parents (both birthdays) and my youth and the evolutions in life. 
I started out to become a newspaper reporter and ended up in healthcare human resources.  That makes me think that a whole lot of people never end up where they intended to be, so arguably the best strategy is not to have a strategy.   Just take the days as they come, pay attention when opportunities come by, and take a chance on life every now and then.   Keep learning, growing, exploring and living.   Everyone's life is individual, and for the making.  Become independent, self-sufficient, and humble.   That's freedom.  
I was born in Tacoma, Washington, on the cusp of the Korean War.  Tacoma was an industrial town, big in shipping and transportation.  I grew up in an "ethnically diverse" neighborhood before anyone even know what that term meant.  My Father was a native of Tacoma, and never went past the 8th grade.  His Father was killed in a railroad accident and Dad had to get a job to support the family.  My Mother was British by birth, and was 16 years younger than my Dad.  My parents were railroad people; my Dad a switch tender and Mom, a Caller.  They met at the Union Depot in Tacoma, and fell in love.   When Dad turned 54, I was born.   He was a better man. 
I was the only child of their marriage, which was a second marriage for both of them.  Dad had two other children with a wife who left him for another man.  Mom had three sons and left her first husband and a bad marriage.  
My parents were practicing Catholics, although because of their divorce and remarrying, they were excommunicated.  They took me to mass every Sunday, but they could not take the sacraments.  As I look back on those years, that was my first experience with true hypocrisy. 
They both worked 40 hour weeks, and I spent a lot of time with aunts and a grandmother. 
I went to Catholic school, became an altar boy and a crossing guard.  I was never molested by a priest, but I did have one pass out drunk at the altar.  I was taught by nuns, who taught me many things, with words, examples, rulers and slaps.  Excellent education in the basics, and a great education in hypocrisy.  I was taught religion, and learned to question religion. 
I moved to public school in the 9th grade because I did not want to continue my Catholic education, and my parents were fine with that.  Not paying tuition was a plus for all of us.  It was $45 a year and we did not have a lot of money.  Our idea of going out to dinner was going to the Royal Fork buffet.   To this day, when I go to a 5-star restaurant and see YUP's with little kids there, I feel sorry for them. 
My parents had a good post-WW2/Great Depression mentality about working; and I saw it without having to hear about it.  I had a paper route when I turned 12.  I saved up money from that and bought my first car in cash on the day I turned 16.  That may be some insight into the degeneration of the American work ethic; since I don't recall anyone telling me to get a paper route.  I got the paper route because I was always playing outside (yes OUTSIDE) when the "paperboy" came by and I thought what he was doing was pretty cool.  I mean carrying that big bag of papers and throwing them on porches, and people paid you??   And, I never expected my parents to buy me a car.  Maybe it was because I knew they couldn't afford it.  Obviously, in today's world, I must have had a troubled childhood. 
One of my first recognizable memories of the term "WTF?" came when I came home from school in the spring before my 16th birthday.   My Mom was excited to tell me that she had lined up a job for me to clean the garage shop for a fuel oil company... and I could do it before AND after school... AND on Saturdays.   On Saturday mornings I would drive around the county checking school fuel oil tanks, and on some Saturday afternoons I also got to go out to my boss's house and do yard work.   He did have a daughter, and that's all I'm saying. 
Those days of my youth, somehow instilled in me the confidence that I can always find work, and I need to be self-sufficient.  Kinda like a Road Dog. 
One of my favorite quotes is from Michael Todd, "I've been poor, but I've never been broke.   Poor is a temporary condition.  Broke is a state of mind."