Losing Everything
In 1988 we had a fire, where I lost almost all of my personal belongings. I lost hundreds of books, every personal picture that I owned, many many personal mementoes. . . all of it was gone. On remembering some of the items I lost, it was physically painful. . . I likened it to a gut punch. I remembered in particular, a little set of mounted antlers, that I had received from a most beloved teacher, Mr. King, my fourth grade teacher. He has since passed away. My memento of him gone forever. Just one memory of several of him. We didn't have lots of money growing up. Mom would buy clothes at second-hand shops. One vivid memory I had was of a pair of bright red corduroy pants. They already had two strikes against them. From the second-hand shop, and being bright red, I was a shy kid, not wanting to draw attention to myself, and these bright red pants I hated. I think it was the first time I wore them to school, du...