I realize by re-reading my last blog I left out some time, so let me fix that now.

     My family moved to Baytown, TX in about 1970, and bought a house in a subdivision on the Galveston Bay, called Brownwood. It was a beautiful place with over an acre of land that butted right up against the bay. We would go crabbing and fishing in our back yard and the water was so clear you could see your feet when wading into it. We did a lot of motorcycle riding back then, I got a Honda QA 50 when I was about 8 and rode it everywhere. Growing up in the 70's was great, much safer than now. I still spent summers with Mama Pat, and that was when I met her stepson Clint. He was abusive, scary and 16, and he showed me what sex was.

Back to the story...

So I was about 12 when I became a member of the Baytown Boys Choir, our director was Mattybelle Durkee, a classically trained pianist who attended Julliard. She was incredible, and fostered my love for music and introduced me to theatre. It was at this time that I met my best friend in childhood, Tinker. He taught me things about life that I had never known, and showed me the world in a different way. We were inseperable from age 12 to about 16. Together we traveled with the choir to International music festivals in Mexico, to auditions in Dallas, and TV appearances in Houston. We performed our first musical in about 1975, Tom Sawyer. I played Cousin Mary (it was a boys choir) and fell in love with performing on stage.
The next year we did The Happy Prince, in which I played the Author. I loved singing and performing, and never had stage fright, still don't. At age 16 I was too old to be in the choir anymore, a fact that hurt me, but I understood. By that time I was in high school at Robert E. Lee and was in the choir and drama club there. Between numerous concerts, and three plays a year, my need for performing was met.

     My first year in Drama I performed in The King and I as a slave, and understudy for Lun Tha, one of the leads, I loved it. Our director then was a man named Kim, who I thought was awesome. He left after that year and was replaced by a fresh face 23 year old straight out of college. Her name was Rosemary Calico.
My 11th grade year I performed in a Noel Coward play called Blithe Spirit, it was the first play (non-musical) I had ever done. I enjoyed it, but missed music. The big musical that year was called Lost in the City, it was a melodrama, with old songs. Everyone hated it, it was my first bomb.
After 11th grade, that summer, I got a job at Sears in the paint department, there I met a person who was destined to change my life, open my eyes, and become my life long friend. His name was Rigoberto Hernandez, Jr. but everyone called him Luggie. He was, and still is the funniest and most real person I have ever met in my life.

I will stop here, because the story will get really intense in the next chapter. I hope you have enjoyed reading.

Love and kisses,
John

In the Beginning

This story is a long time coming. As I have matured I realized the need to be free of the burdens I have carried my entire life. I cast them off long ago, without a second thought. Now it's time to revisit them, to clear the air, and finally be through with them. What I will say will be hurtful to me, remembering the bad things in my life, most of them caused by me, some of them by others. And how I finally found happiness, and love in my 40's. Be prepared to be shocked, bewildered and amazed. My life has been anything but uneventful.

     I was born in Shreveport Louisiana, to my parents Jimmye and John Sr. My dad worked at a place called Kellys, I think it was a truck stop, not sure. My mom was attending a high school there, and my dad was from Bossier City. Mom was 15 when they met, dad was 18, they married at 16 and 19 and I was born shortly after. Within about a year we moved to Channelview Tx. and my sister was born.
I had a pretty uneventful childhood, my main memories are my mom being pregnant all the time. My two sisters were my best friends in my young years, playing with them outside when we could and inside when we couldn't. My memories of my early childhood are vague, I don't know if that is normal or not, but I don't have many. I remember flashes of things, playing, a screwdriver incident with the lawnmower the next door neighbors last name which was Svoboda, I don't remember them, just the name, lol. My moms best friend was Sherry, I remember her, and how beautiful she was with long red hair and makeup, she later became a Pentecostal, so that all changed, but she had a great sense of humor, and that never changed.
My summers were spent with my grandmother, Mama Pat, and at my Aunt Betty and Uncle Davids house with my cousins. All in all not a bad early childhood.

When I was about 12 I auditioned for the Baytown Boys Choir, and became very interested in music. My mother was a great singer and songwriter who never made it famous, but probably could have if she had not had so many kids. She sang to us all the time, her own songs and others. Sometimes she would make up songs that I still remember to this day. I loved my mom with all my heart, I thought she hung the moon.
My Dad became a truck driver and was rarely home, so Mom and my ever growing brothers and sisters were my whole life. I loved the choir, and was very talented, or so I was told. It became my very favorite activity. And there I met my best friend.

I'm going to end this segment now, not because I don't have more to say, but because what I do have to say will be extensive. So if this blog is of interest to you, look forward to the next episode!

Love and kisses,
John