The 'Nomads'

What you are about to read, should you continue, isn't exciting nor was it intended to be. Honestly, it holds absolutely no interest to anyone outside of myself, except perhaps my brother. At some point, if not already, you may find yourself wondering, "why reflect back on this?" And that would be a fair question. It's also a question which I can answer.

The memories which follow are, as everything currently stands, fairly lucid. However, I do know, due to recent, personal experiences, that the memories, especially the vividness, won't be with me a whole lot longer. And these events, which make the memories what they are, all combined, served to make me the person I am today. Please don't read anything into that either. I'm nobody special, by any stretch of the imagination. I'm simply the current result of everything that has happened or taken place previously, in my life. While the regrets are many, I have a clear understanding that I can't undo anything in the past, so I use it, hopefully to prevent anything detrimental from revisiting me.

Now, as the late, great, Paul Harvey would say, "now for the rest of the story."

Mom & Dad - she passed in December 1988 and he in December 2009.

I was born in 1957, in Natchez, Mississippi, in the old Natchez General Hospital, a long since demolished building. I was born to parents, who, themselves, wed in 1950. Dad was drafted into the US Army and was shipped to Korea, in 1952. Sometime, in the mid 1950's, due to his tenure in the military, Mom and Dad lived in Georgia. This was prior to my arrival.

At this point, if you're still with me, I'm going to suggest that you pay attention, if you're truly interested in reading any farther. I say that because my parents were nomadic by nature. Rest assured, that previous statement will ring as an understatement very soon. 

This was one of our residences, in Natchez and one of only three my parents ever owned.

When I was born, we were living in Ferriday, Louisiana, a small town, just west of Natchez. Shortly after I was born, we relocated to Natchez and the memory of 'musical residences' commenced. After moving to Natchez and up until my brother, Wally, was born, in 1963, I can distinctly recall nine different places we lived in Natchez. Were there more? Yes. I feel fairly certain there were a couple more but I use nine because those are the places I still remember the 'layout' of the residences, in which we lived. The house we were living in, at the time of Wally's birth, was the last location we lived in Natchez. It was time to relocate, this time, to Shreveport, Louisiana. 

For some reason, my memory feels as though it escapes me, as far as the different locations in which we lived. I truly sense there were more, however, in sticking to my original way of doing it, I'll go with the ones I can recall the 'lay of the land,' so-to-speak. That would be three different locations in Shreveport and two, in the neighboring community of Keithville, Louisiana. Keithville is where, at the age of ten, I was baptized at the still existing Grawood Baptist Church, in 1967. We left Caddo Parish (Shreveport) in 1968 and headed to the town I grew up calling my 'hometown,' Jena, Louisiana, in LaSalle Parish.

I won't go into any detail as to why Jena was my hometown, except to say that was where my Grandmaw lived, as did several of my aunts and uncles and the associated cousins. I also attended two different schools there (there were only three - elementary, junior high and high), before we 'lit out' again. However, while there, in Jena, we managed to live in four different locations, the last being my Grandmother's house. 

My Grandmaw's old house on the hill. So many memories. It was recently razed. 

We left Jena, shortly after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, in July, 1969 (I recall that as I watched it, live on TV) and moved 45 minutes away, to Urania, Louisiana. We stayed almost a year in Urania, then relocated to Jonesville, Louisiana, where we lived with my Uncle Vercy, on Brusly Bayou. We actually set 'records' in Urania and Jonesville, as they were the first two of a total of five places, where we lived in only one residence. Now, pay attention as it's going to seem like I 'mispoke' here.

In 1971, we left Jonesville and headed back to Jena. Right. We were in Jena in 1969, then to Urania and on to Jonesville, only to end up back in Jena, in less than a two-year period. Now, you may understand a little better, my proclivity to document this trek now.

Very soon, after arriving back in Jena, where we lived in two different places this time, 'the call' came to Mom and we moved, really moved, this time, to Memphis, Tennessee. Needless to say, I'm not getting into all of the why's and what for's of trying to explain any of this. My brother anf I have discussed it and even though we lived through it, we can't explain it. It just was.

In the early 1970's, Memphis was a fine city in which to live. I met Elvis and Linda Thompson (his girlfriend at the time) at Shipley's Donuts on Elvis Presley Blvd., in 1971. I later attended his last concert, in Memphis, prior to his death, in 1973. In Memphis, we lived in seven different locations, from '71 to the very beginning of '74. 

We left Memphis, for another 'one-stop,' if you will, in Corinth, Mississippi. We didn't stay in Corinth long enough for me to tell you much except that we got to see the spots "Walking Tall" was filmed and the fact that I loved Pickwick Lake. We left and headed back to Louisiana. 

This time, we landed in Nebo, at my cousins, Sharon and Mike's house. As I recall, we stayed there for a month (although I feel certain it must have seemed like much longer for my cousins - they never complained), before we moved again, this time to Alexandria, Louisiana. We spent the remainder of 1974, in Alexandria, living in four different places. And then, we headed farther west, to Texas.  

To this day, I cannot, for the life of me, tell you how in the world we ended up in Beaumont, Texas. We didn't know a soul there but we stayed long enough to live in two different spots (we were there in 1975 because it was where I turned 18). We then moved to another 'one-stop,' Vidor, Texas. If you blink three or four times, that was about how long we stayed there before heading back to Louisiana, this time, Monroe. 

Two different locations in Monroe, still in 1975 and we departed, this time to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We arrived in Baton Rouge, towards the end of summer, 1975. Eight locations later, in December 1977, my days of moving with Mom, Dad and my brother, were officially behind me. I was twenty years old and I got married. 

Just in case you lost count, that was 38 locations, in fourteen towns, in four states. All before I reached 21 years of age. 

People have asked me "why?" Why did y'all move so much. I don't know. All I can tell you with any degree of certainty is that I was not going to put my kids through that. And I didn't. I thank God for that fact. Going through life, thinking that a U-Haul truck was a family vehicle, isn't what I considered 'adventure.' 

Mom and Dad did see fit to relocate once again, back to Alexandria, after I was married and my brother had to endure that one and the subsequent move back to Baton Rouge. He eventually arrived 'at age' and got married as well. We both entered law enforcement and we both retired as Captains with the Baton Rouge Police Department.

And to this day, we still wonder.