As I was waking up this morning, I knew that I wanted to cover a main topic (that being me finally committing to a book compilation). And now I can say that it has not only been started but is mostly done (short of a few finishing elements). The book’s title will be named “Keeping My Balance,” and it is themed on my balancing of a Christian lifestyle with the life of an over-the-road truck driver (and all that this entailed).
Let’s get back to today. As I dragged my oversized coffee cup to the computer station, I was hardly even seated when flashes of past memories came at me (like someone dumping out a file cabinet of pictures and stories from my past). There were historical events that were front and center, ranging from watching my mother cry when she watched the news of President John F. Kennedy being assassinated to me working in the steel cornerbead factory (on September 11, 2001) and hearing one of the workers come to us with a grin, stating that some idiot flew a plane into one of the World Trade Center buildings, then shortly after, seeing him somber faced when the rest of that fateful day played out. The next memory was of me going up the northeast coast in a big rig, and seeing where the “W.T.C.” towers were, and seeing that ghostly void in the New York City skyline.
My next memory “flash” was of sitting in a long traffic jam (at midnight) on the northbound side of I-75 (just north of the Braden River). A church bus bringing kids from a church in Naples, Fla. (to Disney World for the “Night of Joy” event had blown a rear tire, and as a man with a tire service was doing the repair, a “highly intoxicated” man failed to keep control of his car, and slammed into the rear of the service truck, killing not only the worker but also taking out five of the kids as well. What bothered me the most about that memory was, as I was sitting in that backed-up traffic, another drunk man came up to me while I was outside of the truck and mentioned that he was looking for his brother’s car in that traffic. They were both driving north to their dad’s funeral. It turns out that it was his brother that killed the service worker and all of those kids! (The memory of all of those white and red stained sheets covering the bodies still haunts me).
The next memory to flash across my mind’s eye was that of a large group of motorcyclists heading north from their stay at Bike Week in Daytona. It was 5:00 p.m. “rush hour” traffic on the I-75 system (about 5 miles south of Atlanta, Ga.) and there came up a wicked thunderstorm. All of the motorcyclists were at a literal standstill as the rains pummeled them. I looked over from the southbound side and saw some woman beating her hands on the top of the helmet of her “significant other!” (I would have given a hundred dollars to hear what she was saying to him at that time!) Then, a memory from even further past popped up, reminding me of my days right out of the army, where I was hauling some big oversized office trailers (and helping my father set up those multiple-unit complexes). We were doing a “5-pack” (5 of the 12-foot wide by 60-foot office sections that would join together to make a 60-foot by 60-foot complex). Our crew had set together the first two units and were awaiting the delivery of the other three pieces when my beeper went off. (Do you remember those?) My dad was calling to inform me to gather the tools and close up the site for the day. When I asked him why, he told me that there was a “small problem” with the third unit in its delivery. As the other factory driver was bringing the unit through Tampa, a driver hauling a large boat had his “load” come off of the boat trailer and hit the office unit dead in the middle with its bow. It took over a week for the factory to rebuild that thing! When I saw the accident photos it looked like a giant shark took an eight-foot bite out of the trailer floor!
Now, it was both fun and sobering to go down this little “memory lane,” but now I come to our present day, and look at the history being made. As I turned the “P.C.” on, I did my normal daily news intake from the “web,” and the first thing I see is from a woman who titles her channel “The Patriot Nurse.” She instructs people on how to help others with things like field dressing wounds and what “at home” medical care you can do for your loved ones (in the event of a “grid down” emergency). Her comments this day were all pertaining to the (now infamous) Biden/Trump debate. Her thoughts were started on just how terrible “it” looked for the present President. She then went on to say that what “Dr. Jill” and the other Dems are doing to ‘J.B.’ was actual elder abuse! My last mention (and I’ll close with this) comes from the man Glenn Beck. (I’ll just go ahead and quote him here.)
He said, “It was something I have never EVER seen before, and it was TERRIFYING”. (This can be seen in his video, “Post Debate Reaction: The Most TERRIFYING Part of the CNN Presidential Debate”). For many of you readers, some of the events from the past (that I had mentioned) are present in your minds as well. What is playing out today will be considered a “Historic moment.” As I get older, I want to share these memories with not only my younger family members and friends but with those out there who still care a lot about this country and would like to share with their loves ones some interesting historical events as well. I will share with you all when the book is finalized, and I hope that it can be as much of a blessing to you to read as it was for me to produce. Have a blessed day!
Steve Goodwin is a recently retired Christian conservative veteran (of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division), who still feels that “duty to country” did not end when the military uniform got hung up. He and his wife Cecelia live on the edge of a beautifully wooded tract of land just south of the bypass, and are involved in not only church activities, but also attend school board meetings and local community action events as well.
