Notes on Jimmy Dale

Previously, I mentioned that my sister Kelly brought an interesting document with her to Chicago when she visited last week.  One section of the document is listed as “Notes on Jimmy Dale.”  I think my dad wrote the notes on himself.  There are notes for several other family members as well but his, at least in my opinion, seemed to have been written mostly by him.  I could also tell that my mom went back and added some extra notes to the document.  The entire document pertains to my dad’s side of the family.  For now, I am going to post the paragraph written about my dad.  See below in italics.

NOTES FOR JIMMY DALE

Adopted in family as an infant from Hazel Eunice by Samuel Roberts and Hattie Tennesee (her aunt & uncle) to save him from going to an orphanage.  Hazel was unwed and the natural father was named Audie Moore (never met) from some where around Alvarado, Tx.  Attended Technical High School in Ft. Worth, Tx. through the tenth grade.  At age 16 was shot at close range with a 20 guage shot gun while hunting quails in a field near Mansfield, Texas.  A hunting accident, shot by Tommy Owens of Ft. Worth, Tx. while Tommy was climbing through a barb wire fence.  It took 7 or 8 years for full recovery.  He still has the lead in him till this day.  Only a few pieces were able to be dug out.  At age 17 his parents died three months apart.  Left alone, he had no where to go and had to join the Army in May 1957, serial number RA 18-***-***.  Becoming a paratrooper stationed at Ft. Campbel, Ky in the 101st Airborne Division.  Medically dischared in Febuary 1960 with tuberculosis of both lungs.  Lived in Hopkinsville , Ky. a few months then moved to Ft. Worth, Tx.  Later moved to Denver, Co. in Febuary of 1961.  Came real close to being killed 12 times in different mishaps, four of them shooting incidents.  Started smoking cigarettes regular at 12 years of age.  Was smoking 3 packs a day by the age of 16.  Quit smoking at the age of 42.  Earned a degree in industrial electronics through the Veterans Administration in 1965.  Worked for 25 years in electronics.  New construction, mostly commercial and industrial electronic systems.  Lots of skyscapers, jails, buildings, prisons, factories, hospitals, etc.  Changed professions at age 52 and now owns a plumbing company called *** O ****** in Wheat Ridge, Co., a suburb of Denver, Colorado.  Owned 18 rental properties at one time.  Currently owns 10 properties all total, including his personal residence and a condominium in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, a resort town.  Loves and collects American antique’s, old guns, knives, bottles, tools, etc.  Loves old west museums.  Fovorite movie actor by far is John Wayne and has an extensive collection of his movies, around 115.  Favoite music is classical, such as Beethoven, Mozart etc.  Favorite wine Chardonnay.  Avid life long boxing fan.  Favorite fighter of all time Big George Forman.  Favorite recreation are big game hunting, fishing, four wheeling, bicycle and motorcycle riding.  Own a lot of white water  rafting gear and several rafts stored in Glenwood Springs, Co. for riding the Colorado River.

Jimmy Dale (11/18/96) currently lives at 1**** W. Q**** Dr. Morrison, Co.  Has lived here since November of 1974. 22 years.

Dad or Mom, or both, then go on to list some personal information about themselves like phone numbers, addresses, etc.  I found the “Notes on Jimmy Dale” section of the document to be one of my favourite parts of the entire document.  I used asterisks to hide some of the information that I would prefer not to be posted on the net.  I also kept all the typos that were present in the original document that Kelly gave to me.  A person that is a more professional writer would post [sic] along with all of the typos but not me.  I am also assuming that he and my mom must have written this down back in 1996.  It struck me kind of funny the way they wrote that up.  Although if the date is correct, then this would have been three or four years after they got their first computer that ran Windows 3.1.  I don’t think they started to do much word processing until after they got Windows 95.  And even then, it wasn’t much.  This is the house that I was raised after I was born back in 1976.  🙂

Keep on keeping on people.  Life is good.

Regards,

This is a picture of my dad that I wanted to post along with the information he wrote. I am guessing that he was six or seven years old when the picture was taken.

The book, If I Die Before I Wake by Barb Rogers.

This is another book that I have read that discusses Barb’s personal life and how her use of alcohol evolved over the years.  This book is packed full of a woman’s hardships throughout her life.  She experiences the loss of her only child and had several relationships that ended and a lot of other chaos.  Her description of what she felt and what her life was like when she lived alone and drank entirely too much, really painted a picture of how alcohol over time closes you into your own personal living hell.  She is broke, lonely, and seems to be about as sick of life as one possibly could be.  Reading this section of the book made me see that each and every person has their hardships, hers were perhaps worse than a large portion of people but we all suffer in this thing called life.

Thankfully for her she ends up getting sober.  There are several sections of her book that talk about her journey as an alcoholic through recovery using 100% abstinence from boos.  As the book progresses, she shares the hardships that she experienced with her health along with the joys and happiness she felt when she gained a new life through being sober.  She opened a company, I think it was a costume company, and also began writing books.  Her life evolves and meanders throughout the book in a relaxing yet interesting fashion.  The book reiterated for me the fact that when one of life’s doors closes, one of life’s windows opens.  It also made me remember how many lives and relationships alcohol use and abuse has damaged.

There were some similarities with this book and the book by Jack London that I reviewed earlier.  Although, you can tell that Jack London is a grand master using words and painting mental pictures for the reader, Barb Rogers held her own with him in a very different way.  Her book was simple, she explained her hardships in simple easy to read pages and I actually think I enjoyed her book a bit more than London’s.  I will also look into whether or not she wrote any other books like this.

There are a few more books that are similar to these two that I discussed in this post.  As time goes by, I will post more about others that I read.

All is well in my world.
Regards,
Caleb.

Our Stance on Drinking

I read this article on ScieceDaily from March 12, 2012.  Parts of it describe how Dr. Alicia Ann Kowalchuk feels parents should be with regard to alcohol and their children.  I felt that she was saying that if parents want to minimize the chances of their kids abusing alcohol as teens and young adults then they should take a stand on alcohol as she describes.  Her viewpoint, as of now, describes pretty closely how my wife and I want to engage our children on this topic.  Here are the three interesting quotes from the article.

First, with regards to parents and their children Kowalchuk says, “If they hear anything that sounds middle of road, they hear ‘yes to drinking.’ Any ambiguity as a parent will be interpreted as an approval for drinking. The clear message needs to be that alcohol is not acceptable because it’s not safe or good for your developing brain.”

Second, with regards to parents allowing their children to drink at home where the parents feel they are more safe than elsewhere, “Some parents will debate that maybe it’s better to have your children drink at home. They reason that by providing the alcohol, they can control what their teens are drinking and where. However, it’s only a false sense of security. In reality, it’s the opposite.”

Third, with regards to parental drinking attitudes, “They hear the implicit approval of their drinking, and even if you control the alcohol use while they’re with you, they’re that much more likely than their peers in non-permitting homes to drink more when unsupervised and not around their parents.”

The three points that Kowalchuk brought up reaffirmed for me that Christen and I are probably doing the right thing.  You don’t get a second chance to raise your children so by completely eliminating alcohol from our lives and showing our children through our example that people really can abstain from alcohol we hope to reduce the chances that they will abuse alcohol often when they are teens and even young adults.  Already, Christen and I are trying to have a relationship and an environment that allows our children to feel comfortable talking to us about anything they are going through.

On a different note, I am so thankful that it is the weekend and I get to spend some time with my family and have a little bit of me time.

Regards,
Caleb.