Monday, June 29, 2009

My First Post

I am not a computer guy.


So when my family asked me to start a blog I seriously thought they were joking. I soon realized they were not joking. I thought of every excuse in the world why I couldn't start a blog but I underestimated the persistence of my darling wife and kids. So here I am making my entry into the computer world. I decided it would be best to start out telling a little something about myself. I am fifty seven years old. I was born and raised in a small Texas town in the very middle of the state. I have lived around this small town all of my life. I work less than two blocks from where I was born, and I will be buried less than two miles from my place of birth. So I guess it would be fair to say I am a "homebody" sort of guy. My mother was 40 years old and my dad was 44 years old when I was born. So I grew up around a bunch of older folks. All of the folks who raised me and my brother had lived through the great depression. I grew up hearing stories about the hardships they had endured. I was a quiet kid, so mostly I just listened and memorized the stories they told me. My family was a very artsy family. Everybody was either an artist or played some kind of musical instrument or both. I guess it would be fair to say that my family was a bit crazy and eccentric. They supplied me with an endless supply of stories. Some of the stories were sad and some were funny. For some reason I always listened intently, trying to remember every little detail. Although, they are all dead now, I try to keep their memory alive through the many stories they told me.


I have worked at a nursing home for the past 21 years. I have met many interesting people during that time. Older folks have lived a lot of life, so they have a lot to talk about. So, I have many funny and interesting stories that I have acquired over the years. Many of these stories involve my own experiences involving some very unflattering remarks that were made about me by some the residents.


Recently, our son and daughter were here visiting and we decided we would go through my mothers belongings. My mother has been gone for ten years and we have been intending to go through her stuff and divide her belongings between our daughter and son. There was absolutely nothing of any monetary value, but a treasure chest of memories. I found myself thoroughly enjoying going through the stuff and it brought back the memories of the stories they had told me. So, I begin to tell these different stories to my wife and kids. To my surprise they seemed to be enjoying my story telling. My wife suddenly said, " we have got to preserve these stories for the future generations of this family. We are going to start you a blog". So, here I am.


But, before I start my stories let me explain a little bit about the title of this blog. My wife of 28 years has always had a gift for mangling the English language. Now I don't mean this to be a cut down, she is one of the smartest people I have ever known, but she has a gift of saying something when she means something totally different. For example, she was rushing around trying to get one the kids ready to go to their piano lesson and she hollered upstairs to let the other one know where she would be. She hollered, "I am taking JC fishing." The kids immediately started laughing. But, they thought nothing of it, because it was just mom. So one night a couple of years ago our daughter was here visiting and we were sitting around the supper table eating and I guess
I was complaining about something and my wife all of a sudden told me to "quit being a "grumbly dub dub". Now, I don't know where she came up with that saying and I am not quite sure what it means, but, I am positive it was not a compliment. So, now everytime I start complaining, the kids will say, "Dad quit being a "grumbly dub dub". So the title "Grumblings by John".

2 comments:

  1. Dad, I think this is going to be fun.
    -JC

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  2. "a gift for mangling the English language" hahaha. That made my day.

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