Back to my Roots

I was blessed to have a wonderful childhood. I grew up in a small town with lots of room to roam and close to a woods where I built forts, went fishing and made some great memories. My parents never moved until I was 21. So my roots went deep. The above picture is me in my fatigues, as a kid I loved G.I. Joe. I was the youngest of three boys but there are 6 years and 9 years between me and my older brothers. I had to play by myself most of the time since my brothers were so much older. So I had a lot of imaginary friends and a big imagination.

My older brothers and I. Look at all my curls!

My parents gave us a godly heritage. We were part of a great church where I heard some fantastic preaching and had Sunday school teachers that taught me right from wrong. This picture was taken in the old sanctuary of the church, since then it has gone through two building projects.

My senior year of high school and I got a bad case of chickenpox. I spent I think close to a week in the hospital. Some of the doctors had never seen a case like this. It definitely left it's mark.

I have talked so much about the woods and our old house to Joseph I wanted to take him and show him where I grew up. So the other afternoon we took an adventure together.

We started up the road from our old house at the bridge where I used to spend a lot of time fishing. The bridge is no longer in use.

We found this snake skin lying in the water. I'm glad we didn't see the actual snake.

Joseph brought his BB gun pistol. He really wanted to kill a deer or bear. We caught a glimpse of a deer but no bear.

 

This was a very special place for me. As a teenager I would often come to this spot in the woods and walk back and forth praying. It turned into a "prayer trail". You can still see the trail as it goes to the tree where Joseph is standing. I specifically remember leaning against that same tree and looking up through the leaves as I prayed for the people of Honduras. There were some good memories made here.

On this site is where I had my fort. Not much left now a few sticks still lying around.

Looking through the woods into the backyard of our old house.

Under this tree we used to have a sand box. We made cities of sand and drove our matchbox cars around the streets. Now it's all grown over with grass.

The old bean tree is still standing next to the house. I used to climb this tree all the time. We even had a swing on one of the big branches.

I rode my bike up and down this road all summer long.

It was nice going "back to my roots". It brought back so many good memories.