The other day I was thinking about ways to make this blog more personal. So I thought about writing about how I got to be where and who I am today, 68 years after my Life Safari began.
“I Would Not Be Here” Leads to Thoughts About Life
But even before I got around to thinking about myself , my mind careened off in a different direction as I thought about a song by John Hartford. The song is from his album Gentle on My Mind and is titled “I Would Not Be Here”…
First Genealogical Thoughts
First I thought about this song in relation to my family tree. I would not be here if Helen Ashton had not married Edward Karn. And if I only follow my Ashton line back. Helen would not have been there if John S Ashton IV had not married Elva Regars. While John would not be there if his father John S Ashton III had not decide married Margaret McCloskey . John S III would not be there if John S Ashton II had not married Mary Parezo. John II would not there if father John S Ashton had not married Martha Short . And John II would not be here if 1851 left their homes in Holbeach England come to America!
Then Thoughts About Events in My Life
I would not be here if I hadn’t been fired from my job as the store manager of the United Freight Sales store in Gainesville Georgia…
But I wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t thought maybe teaching wasn’t for me…
Then again, I wouldn’t have thought maybe teaching wasn’t for me if my student teaching experience had been positive. But teaching two classes of 8th grade Georgia history, one 10th grade geography class and one class of 12th grade history under four different teachers with different discipline methods was anything but positive!
I wouldn’t have been student teaching if I hadn’t decided to get a teaching degree from the University of Georgia rather than go to graduate school at the University of Florida.
I wouldn’t have decided on getting a teaching degree at the University of Georgia if I hadn’t gone to Gainesville Florida on an extremely hot and muggy August day. The purpose of the trip to decide if I was going to go to graduate school to study political science with Dr Bert Swanson. The day was so hot that my wife said there was no way she was going to live there!
I wouldn’t have been in Athens Georgia if we had t decided to move there after we got married so my wife could finish her degree at the University of Georgia…..
She wouldn’t have been at the University if Georgia in the first place if she hadn’t wanted to be as close to the University of Florida and to me as she could get……
She wouldn’t even have known me if she hadn’t been there at that softball game in 1971. A game where I was playing on the same team as her father!
And The End Result is…
So I guess it all started, at least for us, at that softball game in 1971. It’s been a winding trail to get here, but it’s been a great 48 years. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Well, I would trade a few years between 1979 and 1993 but not many! The end results ,so far, are four great children, two wonderful daughter -in-laws, three grandchildren. Oh, and a great future son-in-law. With, I hope, so much more to come!!
