A Life while Living: The early years

A Life while Living: The early years

 "As a young man just graduating from high school the world seemed so big and full of wonder. The first taste of freedom was amazing. Being able to live alone and having control of your life was like no other feeling I had felt before. The feeling would not last as bills came in and the need for a summer job was apparent to hold myself over until university started. A simple retail job changing oil and tires at a big box store would do for the two months. The first day of university walking around a school of tens of thousands of people was overwhelming but it too past by like a blink of an eye. The day I graduated and started job hunting in another new world. The job applications went on deaf ears and the time past. Would taking a masters degree be the answer? Moving to a new place? Taking a low paying job? I went with moving and exploration an overseas job that was exciting and life happened while I was planning my next big step. Another blink of an eye and my whole world was turned around, a new family, a new career, and a new adventure. Life goes on and here I am now a man in his thirties still trying to plan my life while it passes me by. "

My earliest memories are quite a blur but I will recall a few while I still remember them. However, since it's based just on my memories some of the stories may be embellished or romanticized as I can only recall them. It's too bad I did not start this earlier in life. I always dreamed of writing about my adventures and life but it past me by until now. I wanted to be a paleontologist growing up, then a singer, then a film maker and then a chemical engineer. The latter I actually obtained a degree in but did not work in the field as while you know life. Anyways here it starts my earliest memories in which I can remember.

The earliest memory I can remember occurred when I was around the age of three or four. I remember swinging on the swing set in my yard. The swing set was situated on the side of the driveway. I was facing my parents house and to my back was a red old beaten up shed. A shed like the ones you see in old eighties movies that look like they are about to fall down, this shed had a few years left in it until it was burned down about ten or so years later after it became completely unusable. It was a warm summer day and I was swinging away. I remember pretending the swing set was deep in the jungle and I was swinging through the trees while avoiding them and the animals. I had an imagination that was second to none. I would swing past monkeys, jaguars and parrots never stopping just going faster and higher. When I got to a cliff I would just off the set and pretend I was flying over the valley to the other side and land just on the edge of the opposite side. I then remember playing with toy tractors and combines filling them up with dirt and dumping it onto a pile while singing my favorite songs which included classics from the nineteen sixties and  seventies. I still enjoy these songs today my wife can confirm this when we ride in our vehicle or when I control the radio. The most prominent thing about this memory is that it was a warm sunny day and that I did not have a care in the world. It was the perfect summer day for a young child dreaming and playing.

After this my memories end up kind of mushing together for awhile. I remember going to the beach near my house and swimming. Travelling to the big city hours away and getting a toy if I had saved up enough money. Going to school and basically coasting until the weekend. Getting a Gameboy, Nintendo 64 and a second hand NES to kill time in the winter. Videogames and movies would play a big part in my life as winters in Canada are not really friendly and going outside can lead to frostbite in minutes if not seconds. My Nintendo 64 was bought from a warehouse store and was bundled with Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and an extra blue controller. I was so excited when I bought it and could not wait to get to my house to play it. I remember taking it out of the box and trying to hitch it up to my second hand television. My heart dropped when the television did not support composite cables and I could not play my N64. I had to literally order an adapter from a store and wait about a month before I could play my game. Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire brought Star Wars into my world which is still probably my favorite series. I all worked out in the end as when I bought a GameCube a few years later I used the adapter for it as well so it got a lot of usage. My Gameboy was the first system I owned but the N64 was the game changer that brought video games into 3d and color for me. 

Another memory that is engraved in mind is the long days of hauling bales from the side of the road to a trailer and then onto a stack. This always occurred in the summer during the hottest days as the hay bails had to be dry so they would not mold fast. The hot dry air would make you sweat and the sweat would run down your arms. The constant moving of bails and dust from the road would coat you in a hay/dust mixture. The only refuge was when the trailer was stacked and you could get a drink of soda and travel back to the haystack to unload the bales and restart the process again. The memory of the long green grass with the sweet summer air is like a movie. A person watching might almost reminisce about the situation and the scenery. Not the people doing the work though it was hell long days and sore nights. The memories of these days is almost like looking back at a time that sucked then and sucks remembering it but once in awhile I do miss the warm summer sun beating down on me while I breathe the fresh air until I remember the feeling then I totally want to forget it.

My early memories might be a little thin but if I recall more in the future from memory I will update this post. The early years are the years that most people forget but they play the biggest part on our lives. But I digress onto the university years. See you all soon.

A long lonely road where bails where hauled