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Array
(
[sid] => 795
[catid] => 1
[aid] => mick
[title] => I LOVE YOU!
[time] => 2002-07-20 07:52:39
[hometext] =>
[bodytext] => In my brief 50 years of life, I have lived a varied existence. I was born into a very poor family financially, but very rich in love. Never did a day or night go by when I didn’t hear those three words or I didn’t say them to my parents or grandparents, as well as my sisters and brothers. I knew other kids who thought we were weird because of it but on more than one occasion I heard them say that they wished their parents would say that to them. Some of them actually appeared to be starving for the affection we took for granted.
Then, suddenly overnight, my parents lucked into a fortune (that’s another story). I was suddenly a rich kid, riding to schools in MG’s, Jaguars, and fancy new convertibles. We went from eating eggs from our own chickens and vegetables from our own garden to eating in fancy restaurants every night. I had fancy clothes, toys, boats, motorcycles, and some pretty expensive vacations. I took trips around the country entering bowling and pool tournaments where I eventually became #1 in the country for my age group and had many challenge matches with real pros. A dozen colleges offered me scholarships for their football, baseball, and track programs while I was still in Junior High School’s 9th grade. I was too small for basketball but I loved it the most. My dad employed many people, and had three business ventures going simultaneously. I worked at all 3. Then one day, as quickly as it had all begun, and because of something illegal one of his business partners had done, The Federal Government came in and padlocked the doors of all three businesses. Our home we called “the mansion” was padlocked and we were literally kicked out into the street with only the clothes on our back. We weren’t even allowed to even enter to pack a suitcase. Our cars and every other possession were seized for auction. The Feds eventually offered everything back, but my father was too proud a man to accept anything from them, and my mother agreed. We were more poor then than before fortune had smiled on us. We reluctantly stayed with family members briefly but eventually moved into an old run down shack way back in the woods where the sugar sand was so thick that you couldn’t even drive part way there. Those who tried always got stuck. There were holes in the walls and ceiling of the house and it was a haven for roaches and rats. I was awakened the first night there by one of those furry creatures sitting on my face and licking the sweat from my forehead. When it rained we had more buckets and pans catching water than you could find in the Sears Catalog. We found an old horse drawn plow in an old shed that used to sub as a small barn. Everyday for weeks I stayed home with my dad while my younger siblings went to school. We took turns strapping ourselves to that old plow and began dragging it across a large field until the rocks were gone and the soil was prepared for planting borrowed seed. We also dug our own well and dug deep furrows to water the field with. We lived off of oranges from a nearby orange grove that we carefully “borrowed” from the trees. Eventually some vegetables started growing and we had a variety of fresh food again. We sold some of the produce, made a few dollars and purchased several dozen chickens and two small pigs. It wasn’t a long time till we had all the pork we could eat as well as chicken and eggs. I learned how to butcher both. I got so sick of eggs and pork that I swore off of both for over 20 years. It was a hard life but we survived and were better for it. As a result of this hard work, I became the most muscle bound Jr. High student my coach had ever seen. I ran 1/2 mile each way to my bus stop with my collie chasing after me each day but she was never able to catch me. But I did let her tackle me at the front door every afternoon upon my return, and we’d roll in the sand. Despite the hardships, I remember it as a happy time in my life. When I started back to school, I was actually ahead of the students in my new school so I didn’t miss out on much, except time required, which accounted for the only time in my life that I had to attend summer school. I finished the entire summers curriculum in one day so the rest of the summer I answered phones at the Principals desk. We had worked our way back to respectability, and my parents pride returned somewhat and I was able to hold my head up high. I felt sorry for the obvious rich kids at school because I knew life was just a second away from disaster and I knew what loosing it all was all about. But, we mostly only struggled for survival from that time on. My parents did instill in me a very strong work ethic and taught me that nothing comes without a price. I never heard my dad raise his voice to anyone in anger, especially to my mother or his kids. When I did see he was angry, he would always be biting his curled up tongue so that blood would drip to his lips. He never gave up, never quit, and was always a fighter. My parents never left any job undone and they were an inseparable team. My dad treated my mother like she was a princess, with love, respect, admiration, and adoration, and as his equal. I learned all I know about just how special and precious the women in our lives are from his modeling. Then, I saw from my own mother, just how every man can only dream of being treated by a woman. It was clear she idolized him and she never recovered from his early death at the age of 45. Whether we were poor, rich, even poorer, or just holding our heads above water, it didn’t matter. We never doubted or went a single day without hearing what our true treasure was. It was in the strength that lies in the three words daily “I Love You!” I passed that onto my children, just like my parents had done to me, and their parents before them. Now you know why I say those words to you so often. They may lose their significance to you with too much repetition, but to me there is strength, fire, and great wealth in them. For when we leave this world darling, that’s all we’re taking with us. So honey, I do love you so very much and with all of my heart! LOVE, Rob robertburns2@mac.com homepage.mac.com/robertburns2/… Short Story [comments] => 6 [counter] => 405 [topic] => 31 [informant] => Robert_Edgar_Burns [notes] => [ihome] => 0 [alanguage] => english [acomm] => 0 [haspoll] => 0 [pollID] => 0 [score] => 20 [ratings] => 4 [editpoem] => 1 [associated] => [topicname] => StoryPoetry )
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