Listen to what others have to say.
Keep your teeth, gums, and mouth healthy.
Always be ready to explain your position, which is
not the same as justifying your position.
It's okay to be wrong. Life is dynamic not some static
void with unchanging absolutes.
Negotiate. As anyone that has gone through debriding
knows pleading is not as effective as negotiating.
Cry when the need arises.
If you can see that there is confusion speak up and
point out the confusion. However, sometimes confusion
works to ones advantage.
1974 -- Moved
back to Miami
I
lost all my Matchbox cars
n
Miami, October 27th my
mother, Sandy Parrish (pictured), dies from a brain tumor
n
Halloween my father and step-mom (or mom) collect me from my Parrish
Grandparents in Miami
n
Start new school in Gainesville; drop back a grade to
third grade
1975 --
n
Learning to play the violin; perform in public
n
Many weekend camping trips
§ Cedar
Key--out in the marsh
§ Lake
Geneva--lots of swimming, sailing, camping out, hiking down the roads, and a
horse
§ Camping
and boating at springs and rivers
n
Purchase many books at school book fairs
n
Some afternoons after school spent watching Star Trek
and Gilligan's Island on televisions at friends' homes
n
Occasionally helped odd neighbors across street collect
aluminum cans (they had stacks of cans as tall as the house...so it seemed)
n
Spliced my first audio tape then played it back on my
reel-to-reel tape recorder
n
Rejoined Cub Scouts
n
Moved into a new house four block north of the previous
house (which, incidently, seemed like moving to the other side of town)
n
Started 4th grade at a new school, Metcalfe
Elementary School, Gainesville
n
For my school lunch I usually ate a tahini inside Syrian
bread wrapped in newspaper; while wrapped the newsprint would transfer to the
Syrian bread
1976 --
n
My mom taught me multiplication
n
More of the same weekend camping
n
Held a human brain
n
My dad and I each carved boats out of blocks of
wood--his was much better than mine
n
Started 4th grade again, Metcalfe
Elementary School, Gainesville
n
Thanksgiving morning at Lake
Geneva gas can explosion
Long
ambulance drive from Lake Geneva to Shand's Teaching
Hospital, Gainesville (about 30 miles)
n
Snowed in Gainesville; I got a glimpse from my hospital
room window (Jan 77, but my memory clumps it all together--as it happends central
Florida received snow
fall this Thanksgiving week 2006...30 years also had passed)
n
Was very concerned when I thought they had put fish
skin on my right inner thigh
n
My parent's brought in my turntable and some of my
records (of course I still have all my albums and the ones they brought still
have my name written on surgical tape stuck to the album covers) -- here's a
sampling of albums that graced the airwaves of my hospital room: Doors "Stange
days" -- Iron Butterfly "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" -- The Beatles "Revolver" --
Bob Dylan
n
Learned how to scream very loudly for a long
durations--was probably very good for my lungs
n
Whirlpools are not always a place for pleasure and
relaxation
n
Sometimes a Burger King Whooper can be the best food in
the world; as can homemade dinners served in a hospital room
1977 -- Released
from Shand's Hospital around Martin Luther King Day
n
Started hanging out at various neighbors homes
n
Sat through an entire football game on TV but spent
more time watching the people watching; and then they watched Baa Baa Black Sheep
n
Went to an angry psychiatrist who couldn't understand
why I didn't mind being out in public--I couldn't understand why he had a
computer that he didn't use and refused to let me touch it or ask questions
about it...asshole
n
April off to Shriners Hospital in Boston for three
months
§ Got
to spend time with my Great Uncle Maxfield Parrish
§ My
brother was born while I was out watching Stars
Wars from the back of the
theater with my arms up high in an airplane splint...got a phone call after
returning to the Third Floor West when others were waking from nap time
n
Started 5th grade, Metcalfe
Elementary School,
Gainesville
n
Still riding my bike to school
§ I
had strapped a radio to my handlebars and heard for the first time "We Will
Rock You\We Are the Champions" by Queen. It awakened me to radio.
n
I was a school crossing-guard
1978 -- more
surgeries in Boston over school breaks
n
Read the entire romance section at the school library,
then Encyclopedia
Brown, Hardy
Boys, Tarzan, James
Bond
n
Ride my bike down to the Gainesville downtown public
library
§ Made
a beautiful photocopied and spliced together map of Gainesville
§ Road
the city bus a few times
n
Road my bike literally across town to visit a girl I
had met
n
First girl friends
§ One
taught how to "cursive" tie my laces
n
Would stay after school sometimes to help the janitor
§ My
parents did not like this
n
First school paddling--and for something I didn't do
n
Got into a big argument with my best friend from 3rd
grade and his old brother over the existence of a god
n
Introduced to Godzilla at a friends home whom seemed to
have a dozen older brothers (I was sad to learn he had committed suicide some
years later)
n
Earned two certifications towards being a Lifesaver
(swimming)
n
Moved to Vero Beach
§ First
house was on seven acres and we got a crazy horse that absolutely loved to trot
out to the far fence and then turn around and charge full speed back and try to
throw me off her back--I rode Sugarbear bareback
§ Was
asked my a neighbor to move their Volkswagen, and I got in behind the drivers
seat and I didn't have a clue
§ Would
help the same neighbor's daughter with riding one of her two quarter horses to
the rodeo several mile away via horse trails
§
Witnessed an airplane drop a lode of something (presumably bails of contraband) over
the property west of ours; my dad and I went exploring
but quickly retreated after hearing many men in
the same woods
§ Discovered
world band radio; would spend hours listening to languages and music I didn't
understand
§ Stocked
my fish tank with beautiful fish I caught in the storm ditches
n
Started 6th grade
n
We moved to a houseboat on the Indian River (actually a
lagoon)
§ It
had four bunks
§
I ended up spending more time in my Great Grandmother's
home on the mainland
· I
would either sleep in the room in the back-back of the house over the water, or
in the front of the house in the living room
o When
I slept in the living room I'd turn the TV on around mid-night to watch The
Night Stalker--still one of the scariest shows on TV
n
I played Trombone in music class
§ Another
horrible public performance before abandoning the discipline
1979 -- First
"new" automobile
§
Only because our Morris
Minor's engine seized after
being serviced, as they didn't replenish the engine
oil (my Dad and I replaced the engine by pulling
together parts from three different engines we
located in Sarasota. Unfortunately, it was never
able to keep maintain oil pressure; but I did discover
that feeding it lots of oil worked, however this
was not a long term solution). It had been a wonderful
car, and it got something close to 44 miles
to the gallon (44 mpg).
-- My
parents bought ten acres inland
§ Untouched
natural Florida land surrounded by orange groves--twice a year the most
wonderful aroma of the orange tree blossoms
§ We
moved onto the land and lived in tents and had a hand well pump while we built
the house
§
I
slept in my Jungle Hammock, with my dog when he'd tolerate it
n
Built and completed house
§ No
air conditioning
§ Something
like 46% glass
§ We
had a running water, electricity, working toilet and shower, ceiling fans, a
real frig, and beds
n
Started 7th grade
n
n
Hurricane David hit dead on and we had almost two feet
of water surrounding our house for almost a month
§ We
used a boat to get from the cars to the house; the house was built on top of
lots of fill dirt
§ I
dug ditches in the ground under the water to help drain the property
n
Started spending more time with my dad's parents on the
weekends
§ HBO
and Coca-Cola
§ A
pool, and the beach across the street
§ Plus
lots of new books after my grandparent's were finished reading them; they read
at least one a day
n
Besides my father's parents, I had several dozen relatives
in the area with even more during the summer and holidays
n
Worse school year ever
§ I
couldn't spell my name if asked
§ I'd
occasionally get beat up at the bus stop by some much older students--though I
held my ground and fought back, and I never backed away from going to the bus
stop
§ While
in line for gym class a class mate didn't like the way I looked and got in my
face spitting as he went off on me, and I took a breathe spit directly back in
his face; then while in the locker room after showering he came back at me, and
I took him by the shirt and slammed him into the lockers, and began my usual
method of dealing with confrontations by asking him lots of questions; the
teacher stood in his office, which was separated by glass windows and watched;
afterwards he called me into his office and told me not to do that again, and
that was that
n
Another visit to Shriners Boston
§ Since
the first visit I would have them do as many procedures during a single
operation as possible; at first they resisted, but I said I was okay with it
§ I
was terrified of being put under; as soon as the option of an IV to administer
the drugs I took it over that damn gas; they always tried to convince me to
take the gas that way I would be out when they stuck me with the IV
§ I
also didn't take the sedatives before an operation; they didn't do anything for
me anyway the one time I did take them
§ I
also always walked to the OR, and had them explain what was going to be done
and the procedures ...again
§ The
nurses and doctors at the Shriners were excellent; they allowed me for the most
part to: remove my own sutures, change my bandages, remove my donor site
scarlet red (which is very painful)
§
The worse donor site was on my back, and it was
a huge site covered with scarlet red; I remember
exactly which bed I was in when they came to unwrap
my torso and check on the donor site; all that white
gauze was completely glued with dried thick blood
to the scarlet red, and when they removed the gauze
the pain was beyond reality; and too make it worse
there was no physical way I could convince them
I could do it; and this wasn't even the removal
of the scarlet red, which would come several days
later
§ A
note on scarlet red: as the donor site heals under the scarlet red the itching
begins; I think I filed my finger nails down once from itching the scarlet red
and the exposed heals skin as the scarlet red would separate at the edges--so
painful but some of the most pleasurable itching one can experience
1980 -- Another
great summer
n
Started 8th grade
§
My grades dramatically improve
1981 Continuation
1982 10th Grade at Vero Beach Senior High School
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Photographs
