My Driftin Memory

 We lived at 1312 Stophlet St. in Fort Wayne Indiana. My father bought the house in 1968, and we lived there until 1975. The house was built in 1890. and my father was the second owner. He bought it from the original builder, Mr. Howard Rohr. The house was three blocks from a major General Electric manufacturing plant. The original owner worked for G.E. for some 40 years. It had a basement that had a huge furnace that too up most of the space. There was a little ledge around the bottom. It was about 2 feet high. I remember sitting on that ledge while a tornado raged above. I was about 5 or 6. My father and I built a table and put a train set on the table. The basement, had a room, off the basement, with another space carved into that room. It was all very spooky, and scary.  

 I remember we were swimming at Salamonie Dam Lake, and we were hungry, it was a day trip. We decided to eat bologna sammiches. I remember my father using his finger to spread mayo on the bread. We were in the car. 

 I was listening to the radio, and the song came on the radio called Back Home Again, by John Denver. I remember that song on the radio, and on an album I used to play it all the time. I remember the winters in Fort Wayne Indiana about 1974, the warm house and the smell of my mother making very tasty baked goods wafting thorough the house. I heard that song, and the memories came back. I could see the den, and the yellow and white shag carpet. Things I remember.  

 I was watching a tv show where a sister and a brother were having trouble reconciling. After years of being a problem, the brother apologizes. I It brought me back to when I did that with my father. When my father had his first heart attack, and I thought I was going to lose him, he and I sat down and talked. I thanked him for the things that he did for me, There were times that I didn't like what he was doing, but I came to understand his motivation later. I apologized for the being a problem child. When I was young I was at odds with the world, and a harsh, mean unforgiving individual. He deserved better from me. I could have been a better son. More like him and less like me. I remember it like it was yesterday. I wasn't lookin for absolution, I am not sure I will get that here, I was looking to tell him that I was truly sorry, for some of my behavior. I told him that I loved him, he told me the same thing, that was the only time either of us said that to each other. We alwa...