Who Am I? (Part One)

So today, I am going to do something a little different and go way back, way way back in time and let you know who I am and bring you up to date. In doing this hopefully you can connect with me little more. There’s still some hidden details, but that keeps the intrigue alive.

I was born in May 1964 in Manchester, England. I was the second and youngest child of my parents, I have a brother who is about 3 years older than me. I was born at home, by choice of my parents, which was quite common in England at that time. At about 9 months of age I was very ill and found to be allergic to milk. I was raised without milk for most of my young life, to the point that my mom used to pour apple juice on my breakfast cereal. For the most part, I grew out of that allergy, but still get affected by cheese, much to my wife’s chagrin.

In 1972, on my 8th birthday, we moved to Canada. It was my first trip o a plane and quite the adventure. I was served birthday cake on the plane, and to this day I never found out who arranged that. My mom vehemently denied having anything to do with it, and the only other people, my aunt and my grandfather both denied it too. But one of them arranged it and it was a nice surprise.

Arriving in Canada was a shock to the culture and environment. I was the different kid, with my strong English accent which is now barely detectable. That was through my choice. My schoolmates would bug and harass me over my accent, and I worked hard to talk like them, and I guess I accomplished that. As for the environment, England was cool and damp, whereas the prairies in summer were hot and dry. The extreme cold of winter was a shock too, and I still don’t think I have acclimated to it almost 47 years later.

I had a pretty normal childhood for the most part. We originally lived in the northeast part of Winnipeg, Manitoba and moved to the southeast part as I approached my teen years. I had my struggles through my teen years and cannot say they were happy, but I survived. I had my brush with smoking and smoking pot. The pot was never a real issue but the cigarettes certainly were and held me under their grip for most of my life. I finally quit that addiction in 2011, at a real low point in my life (more to come.)

During my younger years, I attended a number of different churches, but none held me strong. They were really more about having something to do than the religious aspect of it. I was never really comfortable in any of them and they were all just Sunday churches that when the doors were closed, everything was over until next week.

In 1980 when I was at the start of grade 11, I got my driver’s license and freedom! Although I was a smart kid, I also was stupid. With the access to a car, school was no fun and I attended very few classes at the start of the year. Add to that the access to marijuana and it was a recipe for disaster. I eventually quit school, on the advice of the principal who told me that he was about to expel me! This was not the brightest part of my life, and found that a highschool dropout had very few job opportunities, and a few short months later I re-enroled into a different highschool. Unbelievably, I was able to graduate ontime, even though I had lost a few months in grade 11. I worked hard, cleaned up my act and accomplished my goal.

But still finding a job was not easy, and so with the help of my parents, I purchased a small convenience store in Winnipeg when I was about 19 years old. I had practically been raised in the grocery business, so it was almost a given that I would follow that path, but I had also always had the dream to be a truck driver. But that dream would have to wait many years.

Through the running of the store, I made friends and one of those friends invited me out to a dance one weekend. He wanted to meet with a girl who was going, and she was bringing a friend. Their relationship fizzled quickly but the friend and I hit it off from the start. A few short months later, Judy was pregnant with our first child, and just over a year later we were married. Not the best way to start a relationship, but it must have been fate, because we’re still together 33 years later!

Unfortunately trying to operate a convenience store in Winnipeg was not easy and we decided that I needed to look elsewhere. I took a job driving courier in Winnipeg, which I loved. Driving was a passion and I absolutely loved the challenge of driving in heavy traffic and trying to remain on schedule.

But more change was about to come … but that is for next week.

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