A few weeks ago I first heard a song that really spoke to me. The name of the song is “The House That Built Me” by Miranda Lambert. When I heard the song and listened to the lyrics, it stirred up memories from my childhood growing up at 2119 E. Griffith Way.
This week I took a trip back to Fresno to visit my family, Mom, sister, two sons, and my two grandkids. Since I had not seen my old house in many years, I decided to drive over to my old neighborhood a take a look at the house at 2119 E. Griffith Way.
I pulled the car to a stop, set the parking brake, and shut off the engine, ans sat across the street from from 2119 E. Griffith Way. It was very quiet on the street and I just thought that I would absorb the atmosphere. As I sat in the car and just stared at the old house the old memories started flowing through my brain.
There in the front yard the crape myrtle that we used to jump over for years had finally gotten a chance to grow! For many years that poor little tree never had gotten over about 3 feet tall. The main reason for that was, as kids, we used to run and attempt to jump over it. Sometimes we were not successful and would break off some of the tree trunk.
The visions of all four of boys playing “sock ball” over the years on the lawn up along the right side of the driveway flashed through my brain. “Sock ball” was like baseball. We would get our old socks that had holes in them and gather them, putting one inside another to make a ball. Man some of those games were fierce! As the years progress, we played wiffle ball, that would make the game a little different.
As I gazed over the back fence, there were still some remnants of Dad’s garden. The peach trees and the orange trees were still thriving. The boysenberries were gone, but the wires that they used to grow on were still there.
The old street has changed dramatically since Highway 41 came through and took most of the houses. During my youth, there were some very competitive games of “home run derby” out in the street. Talk about competitive games, the “wheelie” contests on our bicycles were legendary! Wow, the memories were now flowing like a raging river through my mind. It felt like a dam had burst at its seams and all these memories were just gushing through my head like a raging river!
Then the realization set in, I had been sitting in my car for over an hour, reminiscing over memories that, in some cases, were over 50 years old! That little blonde haired, snotty nosed kid that I saw running and jumping over the crepe myrtle, playing “sock ball”, annoying my siblings, popping wheelies, was none other than me!
It was at that point that, once again, that the Miranda Lambert song that I alluded to in the beginning of this article played in my head!
It was at this point that I realized that I was truly at “The House That Built Me”!
For the past five months there has been more “Tiger” stories about all of his “conquests and infidelities” than I could deal with! But having said all that, the thoughts in my head of the way the golf analysts could call Tiger’s every move at the Masters golf tournament could be very interesting and humorous! In light of Tiger’s past transgressions, the commentary at The Masters could definitely have sexual connotations!
Think about the possibilities!
1. How about the possibility of the announcer describing Tiger’s first “hole in one” at The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club! “Tiger put it in the bottom of the hole. Or Tiger really nailed the hole.”
2. How about Tiger’s first errant drive. “Tiger drives it deep into the rough? Or how about Tiger just drove it to the edge of the fringe? He is driving it long and straight.”
3. How do you describe Tiger’s putting on the green? “Tiger put in the bottom of the hole. Tiger just missed the hole. Oh Tiger just lipped that putt. Tiger just drained that long one! A solid stoke into the hole. All he has is just a little tap into the hole. He firmly strokes his putter. Tiger laid it up short with only a firm tap to put it in the hole!”
4. Tiger’s aggressiveness could have some interesting comments. “Tiger is going for the hole! Tiger has grabbed the big stick and is going for the hole.”
I think that I have gotten all that out of my system now. I hope that it was somewhat humorous, and if not my apologies to the offended.
Now that I have poked fun at Tiger Woods, I can tell all that I hope that Tiger Woods emerges Sunday as the victor of the 2010 Masters. It would prove to the world that no matter what personal demons that he has had to exorcise, and through it all he is still only human, however he is still the greatest golfing machine to ever swing a golf club!
Growing in the Baptist Church, I would always here that phrase: ” I will pray for you”. Well, it was always meant in a very good and positive manner!
But what happens when someone, your formerly significant other, has done you wrong and you feel like you have taken the biggest SCREWING in your life?
How do you as a person deal with it positively? Well fret no more gang, I just heard a song that sums it all up very positively! It is by Jaron and The Long Road to Love. It is just started played on country stations, you should really check it out! The video is after the lyrics.
To all those who have put the screws to me, I am going to church on Sunday and …..I Will Pray For You!! LOL!
Here are the lyrics!
I haven’t been to church since I don’t remember when
Things were goin’ great ‘til they fell apart again
So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do
He said you can’t go hatin’ others who have done wrong to you
Sometimes we get angry, but we must not condemn
Let the good Lord do His job and you just pray for them
I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are honey, I pray for you
I’m really glad I found my way to church
‘Cause I’m already feelin’ better and I thank God for the words
Yeah I’m goin’to take the high road
And do what the preacher told me to do
You keep messin’ up and I’ll keep prayin’ for you
I pray your tire blows out at 110
I pray you pass out drunk with your best friend and wake up with his and her tattoos
I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are, near or far, in your house or in your car,
wherever you are honey, I pray for you.
I have a Blackberry with at&t mobile service. I have been a longtime at&t mobile customer, and I have been relatively happy with their product, until recently.
About two years ago I decided to get myself a Blackberry phone. It would allow me to access many things that I needed, while away from my home flying to all point of the USA. For the first year my Blackberry worked fine. Then I inadvertently tried to teach my phone how to swim in the toilet!! (That in itself is another good story.) I found out very quickly that a Blackberry can not do the backstroke, the breaststroke, the butterfly, nor the freestyle!
The replacement that I had to purchase, I inadvertently forgot to purchase insurance on the first phone, lasted a few months before it developed technical problems. The second replacement lasted about 6 months before it developed technical as well as aesthetic physical issues.
I now have a third replacement Blackberry, now a total of 4 phones later, that is only 33 days old. It, too, is now not functioning at 100% capacity. It is very slow and it appears that the battery doesn’t last as long as it should. When switching between applications, it goes into its “thinking” mode! C’mon, dude, don’t start that “thinking” crap with me all the time!!
Well, I have talked to the at&t mobile store and they were not going to “work a deal” with me. I spoke to them about working a deal to change phones to an Apple iPhone. They say that Apple has “their hands tied” contractually. Well I said that if you show me what that knot looks like, I am sure that I can untie it and then we can play “Let’s Make A Deal”!! The lady saw no humor in that part of our conversation, GRRRR. She informed me that my account was not available for an upgrade until 9/6/2010, that’s five months away. But if I wanted to pay full price-$499 for the iPhone- she would be more than happy to help me out. I believe what she meant to say was that if I was that stupid and willing to pay double price for the iPhone before my contract was up, she would be MORE than happy to take my money and help me out, you idiot!
YGBSM!! (You gotta be S####ing me!) I believe that was was my reply to this young lady on the other end of the phone acting as a ‘customer service’ person. There was a long pause and then she so eloquently replied…….”I take that answer to be NO, Mr. Hammack????” I told her that I thought that she was brilliantly intuitive!
So what is a person to do when his cellphone starts to act up and the replacements aren’t any better equipment. Additionally, it appears that your cellular company is into S&M bondage, informing you that their hand are tied up, and they really don’t want them untied!
Dude, it is Monday morning on the island of Kauai. The Martinsville NASCAR race was postponed Sunday because of rain all up and down the East Coast. The race was scheduled for the Green Flag to fall at 12 noon EDT, 6am Hawaiian time on FOX.
Well I set my alarm for 5:50 am so that I can get up and be prepared for the beatin’ and bangin’ that ocur at this track. Well I find the FOX affiliate channel on my hotel TV only to find that these clowns in Hawaii are not showing the race on the live feed!
Oooohhhh nnnnoooo, it is much more important to show the cackameme “Morning in Hawaii Show” on FOX. Who gives a Rats Butt about the morning traffic on H1, or at Punch Bowl, or at the Ala Moana shopping center! Do I care about the lack of rain on the Islands or do I need to know that the “trade winds” will be decreasing over the next few day? Absolutely NOT!
Now FOX is showing “Live with Regis and Kelly”. Come on are these two programs more important than a good quality redneck broadcast of NASCAR at Martinsville?? Are the programmers for real? Who are they kidding?
This is the second time that I have had NASCAR withdrawals at this hotel! Last summer the Kauai Marriott hotel had trouble with their satellite provider and I could not get ESPN on the TV for a race. To say that I had a “Chapped Butt” last summer was an understatement! Now to be forced to watch “Live with Regis and Kelly”, instead of NASCAR from Martinsville, I am now feeling the need once again for my Boudreaux’s Butt Paste!
Dude, is there any influence that you, the chick that is the Speaker of the House or that other Dude in the Senate, Harry Reid, could exert with Rupert Murdoch, owner of FOX, to get the switch flipped so that I can please see the remaining part of the NASCAR race from Martinsville? Dude, it important to me that I am able to watch the race! Dude, can you help me out?
As you have seen from time to time I get very sentimental in my ramblings, I do not apologize for that. It is just part of Leon being Leon!
The one thing that I have learned with the loss of my father is ,that you always let the ones that you love know just how you feel! You never know if that is the last time you will have a conversation with them. I never want to say to myself, I wished that I would’ve……..! Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to talk about and write about how I feel about my loved ones and just what they mean to me!
So what is so special about March 28th, you are wondering about now. Well I am about to tell you. On this day more years ago than she is willing to admit, my best friend, the love of my life, my beautiful wife, Karen Arline Hammack was born in Muskegon, MI! I know that she has this sometimes thick Mississippi accent, I will explain later!
Little did she know that the first thirty four years of her life was merely a test and some preparation for dealing with the remaining years of her life with me! I have often repeated the story of our meeting in the Houston Intercontinental Airport Eastern Airlines crew lounge, almost 28 years ago. Our meeting was right out of a scripted movie of a young, some might say, cocky, hot shot airline pilot and the beautiful flight attendant that was far too pretty to be in the airline pilot’s league!
They began dating and soon married. All was good in this fairly tale world for a few years. But the story turns south after six years, as sometimes it will, and both parties decide to go their separate ways. But as fate would have it, they were re-united through a few coincidences after a 16 year separation. Karen likes to tell people that I went on a 16 year trip!!
But I digress a bit!
March 28th is the birthday of my best friend, my worst critic, and the love of my life, Karen! Unfortunately I will not be home to celebrate her birthday. Even if I were to be home, she is heading to Atlanta to be with her family, sister Kathy who is also having a birthday, son Mark, and great nice Victoria, her immediate family!
A NOTE FROM YOUR HUSBAND:
Even though we will not be together for your birthday, I hope that you have a great birthday!!
I want you to know that you are my best friend, the love of my life, and I love you very much!
You have made a very big difference in my life, thank you!!
I have written about a few dates in my life that has forever changed who I am. This is date, March 23,1979, is a day that made a huge in my, then, young life. I had just turned 27 years old the month previous and was a young U.S. Air Force Captain flying in the left seat of a Lockheed built C-141 Starlifter out of Travis AFB, CA. I was, as you have often heard me say, tongue in cheek, “living the dream”! But at this point in my life I really thought that I was truly “living the dream”!!
The birth of my second son, Jeremy Leon Hammack, on March 23, 1978, was a very joyous occasion! Because Jeremy was a Cesarean birth, his mother and I picked his birthday from a list of days that the hospital at Travis AFB performed those surgeries. So it was decided that March 23 was going to be the day.
Reliving, and now writing about, that day stirs up emotions that are as fresh today as they were on the afternoon of March 23, 1978…..32 years ago. It is quite unexplainable! The doctor tried to arrange for me to be in the surgery room and had briefed me on what to expect, but at the last minute those plans fell through the cracks. Now, 32 years later, I think that I am oh so glad that I was not allowed into the surgery room for the Cesarean birth! I am quite sure that they would have had to pick me up off the floor, ’cause I really can’t stand to see blood, cutting, and all that kind of medical stuff!! I honestly admit that I am a WIMP!!!
So now it your birthday, Jeremy. I am having a very difficult time realizing that you are 32 years old! I still have these visions in my head ( I am a little bit prejudice) of this blonde hair and blue eyed little boy who was soooo cute and could melt the heart of anyone! Now you are a man with children of your own! It is your turn to make a difference in someone’s live, Cole and Hannah specifically!
I will admit that our relationship has hit many potholes during this life’s journey, been to the very edge of the cliff during these 32 years, but through it all we somehow have been able to rebuild the relationship. I will also admit to you that I have had many shortcomings as a parent, and at times my learning curve was monumentally steep. There are times I know that you thought that I have failed you miserably, and I did! Those failures weren’t from a lack of effort, however.
Jeremy, I want you to know that I love you from the bottom of my heart. I know that things have not always been the way that you thought or wanted them to be, but that is life. Sometimes our expectations far exceed the reality of results. Remember what I have always told you, “Life is a journey, not a guided tour!” Life is what you make of it! Additionally, it not what you take with you when you leave this Earth, it is what you leave here when your are gone!
Now that you have two young children you will see just how difficult, at times, it is to be a father. You also have the opportunity to correct some of the things that I failed at in fatherhood, now that you have Cole and Hannah.
So, my son, enjoy your birthday! Relish in the thought that this day will never come around again and make your 32nd birthday a day that you will always remember.
But most importantly remember that your dad loves you unconditionally, no matter what!
Be a positive force in the lives of Cole and Hannah. Always let them know that you love them unconditionally!! It will pay dividends in the end!
Well, I am back at work after about three weeks of some extraordinary racing! Speedweek at Daytona and the Daytona 500 was an excellent time. The only drawback was that the temperature was uncommonly cold for February. That made for some really unorthodox clothes combinations for Jim and myself! We were dressing a lot like our father!!! ( Inside joke, sorry Dad!) Ol Arch was not a fashion statement by any stretch of the imagination!
The drive back from Daytona was quite an adventure (read Jimmy and Leon’s Great Adventure) to say the least!
The few days over at Tuscon’s USA Raceway for the USAC midgets, sprint cars, and silver crown races were cool! No it was down right cold! The weather didn’t cooperate much. However, the racing was really great.
Then the trip to and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was equally cold.
But the one thing about RVing with friends and family, the company is ALWAYS good! Karen and I had a wonderful time camping at Tuscon and Las Vegas with Jim, Edie, Jerry, as well as Dan and Bernie Clapp. I would like to thank everyone who help ed to prepare the meals we ate at both Tuscon and Las Vegas, those people would be Karen, Edie, Jerry, Berni, Dan, and Jim “the short order fry cook”!!
Can’t wait till next year to do it all over again!
