Chapter 117 Bang, Out::3

• My old man was a factory worker and a part time farmer. He had fifty acres he had inherited from his grandfather. Between the job and the farm, mom didn't have to work, and we had a good life. He raised three kids, and if we didn't always get what we wanted, we always got what we needed. He taught us early if we wanted something, go out and earn it rather than waiting for someone to give it to you. A lesson I valued more the older I got.
• We were all grown, Jimmy was seventeen, when my mom got killed when a train derailed at a crossing. Mom wasn't even the first in line, the coal car rolled over four vehicles waiting to cross the tracks.
• It nearly killed my dad. They had married when she was sixteen and her parents had to sign for her. He often bragged that his best accomplishment was not spending a night apart. Not once. Thirty three years spent in the same bed with the woman he loved. He almost died from grief.