THE WAYWARD WIND

                                               

As a young boy, I grew up sharing a bedroom with three brothers on the top floor of an old house in Staples, a block from the railroad tracks. That room—our bedroom--was the only finished off room on that floor, the rest was attic. In the floor was a small register that was supposed to heat the room in the winter. The heat was for all purposes non-existent because my parents heated with wood and at night the fire went out. Even when it was warm downstairs it was at best, tepid in our room. Most of the time we boys slept together in one bed to stay warm. I tell you this not for sympathy or shame because lots of people slept like that back then. I tell you it because it set the stage for me and my life to come.

 In 1956, when I was sixteen, Gogi Grant recorded a song called the “Wayward Wind.” The lyrics were emblematic of what was going on in my life at that time. “In a lonely shack by a railroad track, he spent his younger days. And I guess the sound of the outward bound made me a slave to its wandering ways.” Yes, at night I would lie there and listen to the sound of my brothers breathing, the trains rumbling through town and the winter wind whistling around the confines of that old house and wonder what life had in store for me when it came time to leave. All I knew for sure was, it had to be better then this but I also knew it was up to me to find a better way.

Last night as I laid snug in my bed, some sixty years after Staples, the wind was blowing strong and although it was a muffled wind owing to the sturdiness of my house today, verses that leaky old shack I was raised in, my thoughts went back to those days in Staples. The fears and apprehensive I had back then are probably no different then the fears our young people going out into the world have today We all want to be successful, we all want a better life, but we all have fears that hold us back sometimes. Were naturally somewhat restless-- but sometimes not restlessness enough. It’s that unsatisfaction with our life that makes us look beyond where we are and towards where we want to go. Sometimes we just have to quit listening to the cynics in our minds and believe in our gut.

I started out in life in a job I didn’t like. Why. Because success at the time-- at least for me-- was tied to making money. Fast cars and girls aren’t cheap. Then I got married, settled down and reality set in. I realized that to be happy, I needed to want to go to work each morning, not have to go to work and I took a lot of steps backwards, to go forward again. Fortunately, at that time, I had an understanding wife who believed in me. I ask today’s young people to do some soul searching and think about what you would really like to do with your life and dream big, but be realistic. Dream about what it is within your means and your abilities to do and be honest with yourself? Life is precious and wasting years doing things you hate for  all the wrong reasons is just the breeding ground for a lot of regrets later on There will be bad times in life but fit yourself to them. Don’t be afraid to hitch your sled to that wayward wind that blows in all of us.