My brother was born in 1971. I don’t remember him very well, except seeing his pictures. When he was 6, and I was 11, he was hit by a car while biking to the store. I was with him. I saw it all. It was a hard time in my life.High school started out very tough for me. I was going through a rebellious stage that would last years, and I had anger issues and other issues in my life that I did not know how to deal with. I became a Christian when I was 13 years old, but I am not too sure that I knew what it really meant. I knew that Jesus died for me so that I wouldn’t have to go to Hell, and I knew that I would have to live for Him, but I wasn’t sure how. When I tried to be good, I failed, and more guilt was piled on top of my already guilt-ridden life. I was angry, hateful, rebellious … and my mom blamed the school I was in. She took me out of public school half-way through Grade Eight, and put me into a private Christian school. My life was about to change – or so I thought…
Short and sweet, that is what I am trying for. So, in short, my teenage life was not so sweet. I had troubles in a Christian school, as well, and anyone who tries to tell you that there are only Christian kids in Christian schools has their head up their … well … you know. I got into a lot of trouble with my parents, with the teachers, and with my friends, but I have to admit that even though there were times when I felt very very far from God, He was always near, and He always welcomed me back with unconditional love. However, this was something that I did not understand until later on in life.
I think I was born with a guitar in my hand. I remember having a guitar when I was in Grade Two or Three; I also remember once in Grade Four we had an activity day, and I chose guitar lessons. Turns out I knew everything the teacher was going to teach the class, so I just played along and had fun. My dad was a country crooner, and later on as a Christian he wrote many songs that he and my mom would sing in church and weddings. My dad led singing in a lot of small groups, in the prisons, and wherever he could sing. I played along with him a lot, and as a teenager I started learning more than he could teach me. He would often proudly say that “the student had surpassed the teacher”. We even got a couple of friends together and made a tape of all his songs. It actually sold really well, and when they went places they would take them along and sell them. It was a lot of fun.I’ve played trombone, guitar, drums, and sometimes bass guitar for many worship teams in many churches. I enjoyed playing for God and worshiping Him with my talents. I miss it now that I am no longer going to church; I would like to have friends that I could get together with and jam once in a while, but many times I have tried getting things together, only to have it all fall apart. So, I try to enjoy playing in my studio, recording and playing along with the most talented person I am friends with – me. I have recorded a few songs, some mine, some not.
When I was 18 or 19, my grandmother died. She lived in Saskatchewan with my grandfather. I loved her a lot, and have many fond memories of her. I remember even as a a child, sitting on the couch with her, watching soap operas while she knitted slippers for everyone’s Christmas presents. I miss those slippers. I could just sit there for hours talking to her about stuff. She never judged me, and she always knew the right things to say. In this picture she was visiting with us in BC, and I was 18. My arm is behind the chair because I was holding cigarette. My parents did not want me to smoke, but they also knew there was little they could do about it anymore, so my dad finally gave up trying to make me quit. Grandma didn’t care.I went through a lot of relationships as a young man. I did not know how to treat a girl, and ended up being tired of the commitment of a relationship. I would end up doing something stupid to sabotage it. I did the same with my jobs. I don’t know why – to this day I do not understand it. But finally, when I was 22 years old, I met the girl I was going to marry. I was sitting up on the stage at church, playing trombone, scoping out the chicks, when I saw her sitting there. I leaned over to my friend and said “That is the girl I am going to marry”. He said “You know her?”, and I said “not yet, but I will!”. I sat beside her for church, and afterwards I chickened out, or missed her leaving, but I knew who she was with. With a little bit of investigating, some phone calls, and some conniving friends, I was set up with her on a date. Stefani and I were engaged 6 months later, and we got married the following July. People really thought we would not make it, and while I admit that the road has been tough at times, we just celebrated 22 years! I am looking forward to the next 22, and more!
We had a dog, Louie. He was adopted into our family as therapy. I had a stroke in 1997, and we thought some cuddle therapy would be nice. Training the dog nearly gave me another stroke! But once it was done, and he settled in, wow, what a great dog. For those of you who were privileged to know him, you understand what I mean. He was a load of furry friendly fun! He was with us up until a few years ago, when Stef’s parents offered to put him up for a while at the farm. He was getting pretty old, and had started slowing down quite a bit. We really didn’t expect him to live more than a few more months. He surprised us, and lived a couple more years, but by the time he left us, he was completely deaf, and had quite a few masses in his stomach and stuff. But he was always happy, when he wasn’t sleeping, and he was even happier sleeping, which he did a lot. He loved the beach, and loved running in the sand and water and playing with the clams that squirt. We really miss him, especially now that we are back at the beach. Most of the time when we are walking on the sand we remember him, and sometimes we cry.
So, we live at the beach. We are big fans of the West Coast, and would love to live in Southern California. I am working on completing my BA in Adult Education, with hopes of finding a job in San Diego, but that is in the future, and I live for today. God knows my future – I don’t. In January we almost moved to Mexico for a job and somewhat early retirement, but that fell through. That is a different blog, or you can read Stefani’s blog and learn more – I can’t get into it – still hurts too much. We drive a Mustang convertible, and the top has been down for the entire summer, and most of the spring. We love to cruise, and we look forward to each and every vacation – including the little ones from work to home.I really hope you have “enjoyed” getting to know me a little. This post has become somewhat long, but it is nothing compared to what I started with. I figure if you really want to know my entire life’s story, call me and let’s get together sometime!
Doug
