Today we are going to do something a little different than usual. On Tuesdays we are going to do a blog that gives you a little insight into me, the author. There will be stories about my background, about my struggles and my successes. Hopefully this will empower you to know that no matter what difficulties you are facing right now there is hope.
This is my story, a culmination of my life events so far. What I've learned from them and what lessons I can use to make my next 30 years better than the first. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately I still have to pay for some of my mistakes. Yes it could be nice to start off these next years with a clean slate but then I wouldn't be the person I am today. I am happy with who I am but like all of us strive for something more.
I was born in a small farming community in Southern Illinois. It was a bedroom community for the city of St. Louis, Missouri. I was born in what I consider a fairly upper middle class family. Upper middle class for Southern Illinois. We had a nice house. Good parents. We didn't want for much of anything. Waterloo is a town where you can let your kids ride there bikes all over town without worrying about them. There is basically no crime. It's the kind of place anyone would want to raise a family.
It was a great time growing up there. I eventually became the oldest of three children and like most siblings we had our spats but all in all it was a very loving family. In the quaint little neighborhood about three miles out of town the houses were all set around a lake. Most of the other houses had families too with children of similar ages. So there was always something going on in the neighborhood. When we would get off the bus from school we would run in the house, we'd throw our backpacks down and just as swiftly run back outside to find the afterschool adventure of the day. A lot of this depended on the weather of course. You see St. Louis like most of the Midwest had very drastic changes in the seasons. I am writing this in SW Florida where I have lived for nearly five years. And I can tell you from experience that August in Ft. Myers in no way compares to the heat of August in St. Louis.
If it was the typical hot and humid day after school or in the summer we would put on our swim trunks and meet in the lake behind the house. The neighborhood kids would all take turns flipping our canoe over and using it as a diving platform. Or my favorite was going underneath it while it was tipped then popping my head up in the air trapped underneath and pretending it was a submarine. My life was filled with carefree days of play after school in the neighborhood. Football games in the fall. Playing in the woods in the spring, building club houses and forts.
This was except for the summertime when my brother and sister and I spent most of our time at the Waterloo Country Club. Now the Country Club was comprised of members who were the upper echelon of Waterloo society. But don't compare it to most Country Clubs of upper echelon people. I have been in some very exclusive very ritzy Clubs during my years. This doesn't hold a candle to those. Yes we had a golf course. A nine hole golf course with fairways so wide and forgiving that I even look like I know what I'm doing with a club in my hand. We also had a swimming pool which is where we would spend most of our time during the summer. Jumping off the diving board, playing Marco polo, dunking the smaller children. Our parents pretty much treated the Country Club as summertime day care. They would drop us off early in the morning and pick us up later in the afternoon. We were pretty much free to do what ever we wanted. We could fish in the many lakes which we sometimes saved the good ones to take home and stock the lake behind our house. We could play on the tennis courts although none of us ever excelled at tennis. I spent a lot of time on the putting green practicing my short game to no avail.
But our favorite part much to the dismay of our parents was the Tab. See all members were allowed to run a tab for food, drinks, etc. and then you would pay it at the end of the month on your bill. Luckily for our genetics or the fact we were running around all day and swimming the thousands and thousands of calories of candy and soda and chips and pretty much every other junk food you can conceive that we consumed had no effect on us. We had many a talking to at the end of the month about the size of that bill. But what did my parents expect with all that temptation and no one there to tell us no.
That brings me to the point I am going to try and make. About temptation. About life and the choices you make.
(to be continued)
Erik Elsea
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