The Road I'm On (part 1)

 I'm not sure if this is going to be a continuing thread, so I added the "part 1" to the title ... in case.  I've been watching Garth Brooks' special on Netflix called The Road I'm On, and I'm impressed.  I've always been a country music fan, it's been a part of my life since I was born.  I like the way he's summarized and broken down his life into segments.  Yes, he's a big country star.  But at the same time, he's very down to earth, very 'normal' in many respects.  He made choices and decisions along the way that created the path he's been traveling, the road he's been on.  

And that gets me to thinking about our own lives, our own history, our own road traveled.  Each of us only knows that road, no one else's road is the same as our own.  And yet there can be similarities among our family, our friends.  Just no two roads are exactly alike.

Is what we've experienced helpful to others if we share it?  I guess it depends on the person sharing and the person who may (or may not) be interested.  I'm a huge fan of things old.  I watch American Pickers and Antiques Roadshow and even Rust Valley Restorers because I like old things, and I enjoy seeing these old things brought back to a new purpose in life.  Even an old high wheel bike that's missing parts can become art if hung on a wall (if that's your interest, your passion).  It might not come back to life in the way it was originally intended, but it isn't just trash or something to recycle.  

Maybe I'm feeling that way because *I* am getting older and don't want to think I'll be kicked to a curb some day ?  I don't think so, but  ... ya know.   I've been doing projects with old family photos.  I came across one of my mother sitting at a desk - a bookkeeper's job after she got out of high school.  I know this because I was able to ask her.  But I didn't find this photo until I turned 60!  How is it that I never knew that she was a bookkeeper way back when?  (1957/58)  When my father was in the Army, he went to Germany.  There was required "courses" he needed to take - they took them as a group - and the Army created a photo book about his experiences there during that time.  It wasn't until 2013 that my Dad pulled this old book off the shelf and sat down and told me about each of the photos. 

Are we so busy trying to experience life that we forget to take the time to explain things to our family members?  

It makes me wonder if my daughter knows my own school/work history.  Of course, she knows the schools I went to, as she went to the same ones.  (I love that part of our history!)  My first job was the summer I was a junior in high school, I worked at the Danish Deli.  A woman in our church needed help on Saturdays.  I cut meats, made sandwiches, cleaned up .. the usual stuff for a 16 year old.

I'd better leave the next job for the next post ......

San Tomas Expressway, some of The Road I'm On