Hi There!
My official name is James Wright. I am known as Jim. There are a few other aliases, but we won't go into details on those. I will tell you this much, when I did something I wasn't supposed to my mother would call me James in a low tone of voice.
My entrance into this world was on November the 10th, 1956. Yes, I'm a Scorpio. I was born at the Washington Sanitarium and Hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland. For those of you who don't know, Takoma Park is about three blocks from downtown Washington D.C. Yes, I'm a Yankee, and proud of it.
When I was two years of age we moved to Florida, just outside of Orlando, to a place called Apopka. My father assumed a position teaching Bible at Forest Lake Academy. One of the things I remember there was I received a cruise ship kit for my birthday that had a little electric motor on it. On it's maiden voyage, on what was known as Mirror Lake, I set it to sail. We had a little ceremony first and then it sped away from shore, eventually my dad had to swim frantically to retrieve it before it got away into the wild deep blue yonder.
Coming from a family of 4, I am the second oldest. I have an older sister Judy, a younger sister Jeannie, and a younger brother Jon. Yes, a bunch of J Birds!
In late 1963, we set sail on the USS Nordholm, from the harbor of New York City in (a fishing vessel) for real this time, to the mission field in Africa. It took us 3 long weeks and we encountered some pretty severe storms, probably of hurricane force, but nothing like Katrina.
The ship would rock and roll, and when the waves would come, the bow would raise up and then crash down into the water, and the deck of the ship would be submerged in spray for a few seconds, then the bow would raise up again and the water would wash off the deck. I eventually became aquainted with the captain on the ship and every once in a while he'd let me take the wheel, not for long of course!
We usually all ate together at one table, as there was only the crew, my family and Mr Monie, of Monie Wines (South Africa). It was necessary to wet the table cloth to keep the dishes from slipping off the table while we were eating. One of the things I remember the most about that venture was going to the bow of the ship (as in the Titanic) and as it plowed through the water I'd watch the flying fish come out of the water as the seabreese would hit my face. Occasionally there would be a shark, a whale, or a dolphin or two make their presence known.
After 3 weeks of rocking and rolling we finally saw the splendid view of Table Mountain and Cape Town off in the distance. It had a table cloth on it (covered with clouds on top). The Proteas (state flower) were in blossom and as we got closer, we could see the different colors and smell the fragrance even from across the bay. Terra firma sure looked good. When we finally got off the ship, it took a while for the rock and roll syndrome to subside.
As a child I spent 12 years in Africa. Four years were in South Africa at a place called Bethel College, near a town called Butterworth, where my brother was born. There my father taught Bible.
In 1967 we moved to a place called Malamulo College, in tropical Southern Malawi. In Chichewa Malamulo means the ten commandments. It was while at Malamulo in 1969 that the Apollo Eleven Mission landed on the moon. We didn't have television, so we listened to it on the radio.
Unfortunately my brother had a blood slide which was consistently positive with a disease called malaria, so in 1970 we moved to another location further north in Malawi called Mombera. The climate was much more favorable there. My father was the Principle of the school and he also taught Bible.
Mombera was a pleasant experience for me as I did my first engine overhaul on a Briggs and Stratton rodatiller at the age of twelve and it was successful. I also learned how to drive a Massey Fergusen 135 tractor and I loved it. I would haul bricks for construction, plow fields, haul water from the river to name a few functions.
There I built my first treehouse in a Mango tree. I used it as my study room for home study the last year before I went away to school in Rhodesia. It was while I was at Mombera where my sister Jeannie and I learned to play the trumpet.
We had a special treat the second Tuesday of every month when the flying doctors from the Malamulo Hospital would fly up in their Cessna 185 taildragger. There were about four different dispensaries in the Northern Region of Malawi that had airstrips at each one, and they would come with a Physician who was the Pilot, a Dentist, a Nurse, and a Student Missionary from the United States. It was my responsibility to go up to the airstrip and with the tractor, smooth the runway, put the windsock up, and make sure there were no obstructions before they would arrive.
It was a major event when they would arrive, usually late in the afternoon, they would buzz the campus and if the world war two pilot (Jack Harvey) was on board, he would get his speed up from the buzz, then pull up and do a barrel roll, then come around to land. All the natives from the surrounding villages would rush to meet the plane. There would probably be close to two hundred people there in just a few moments.
My sisters and I would jump on the Honda 90 and Yamaha 100 and race to the airstrip. My Mother and Father would follow behind in their Peugeot 403 pickup, and meet the plane. We would then pick them up and take them to the house where my mother would have dinner already prepared, and then a concert performed by us kids would follow.
Often times we would do a skit, then play a piano duet, either a trumpet solo or a duet would follow, not necessarily in that order, but we would have a grand time that evening. It was always ended with worship and prayer. We had an old 12 horse Lister Diesel engine that ran at about 800 RPMs that powered our electricity. It ran so slow the lights used to flicker. We only had power from 6:00 to 9:00 in the evening, so we had to have our concert finished before then.
The following two days we would be blessed with their company, and every once in a while there would be a seat in the back of the airplane, and you guessed it, my sister and I would get to go for an airplane ride.
In 1971 it was time for me to go away to boarding school. I had to make a choice. Would it be Sedaven in Johannesburg, South Africa, with my sisters, or to Anderson School, in Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe) which was 2000 miles closer to home? I opted to be alone for the first year. Being closer to home I thought was at the time a more favorable choice. That way, I was able to go home once every three months for a visit.
The first year away from home was like torture to me. I hated it. I felt like I was in jail. I was only 13 years old, I did not know anyone, and it seemed like everyone there at the school was out to get me. I remember one day I was out on the soccer field playing mandadory sports and the dean of boys was playing with us. Someone on the team kicked the ball and it was closest to me so I attempted to get to it first.
Unfortunately the dean of boys arrived there at the same time as I did, and he being 200 pounds and me being 125 somehow managed to knock me off my feet, then he landed on top of me and knocked the breath clean out of me. Seemed like an eternity before I was able to breathe again!
Anyway, I made the best of it, and soon I was in charge of upkeep on all the lawn mowers at the school. I also learned how to replace broken glass window panes, and to cut glass. We had a wood working class and I learned how to use a wooden lathe to make furniture. I did have fun doing that. This school was on the British Education system, they had what you call O-Level, M-Level, and A-Level. O-level was equivalent to a college degree, M-level was equivalent to a masters degree, and A-level was equivalent to a Doctoral program (You are welcome to correct me if I'm wrong). So once you were in your third year of boarding school, they began to prepare you for study on the O level program. The British system is probably one of the best in the world, and they are tough. If you make it through you will get somewhere with it. Here in the United States most schools have a class leader like a President, where you can vote as to who you want for a leader. Over there, that system is non-existent as far as I know (democratic).
Unfortunately the school was having financial distress, and the administration allowed some non-christian students to enroll. They had an influence on me. One day I was beckened behind a barn by one of the bad boys and he offered me a cigarette. He said "Here, have a smoke, these are good for you. They will make you feel better." So I took one, thinking about the training my mother and father had given me and I started feeling guilty. Anyway, I coughed and sputtered and choked. It was at that time I decided that anything that made me do all that nonsense must not be good for the body, and to this day, I have never had another one!!!
In 1974 I graduated from Anderson School, and had to take some equivalency classes in order to be accepted into a college in the United States. So I took American History, American Literature, Algebra, (by home study) and a Teachings of Jesus and Bible Doctrines class taught at Solusi College, in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) where my parents eventually moved to be closer to me. My younger sister joined me after my second year, and she being a more sanguin type (bubbly) personality, made it easier on me.
When I came back to the United States I was 18 and felt more comfortable with facing the world than I did at 13. I visited Old Jerusalem, went for a swim in the Dead Sea, (No, you cannot sink) visited Bethlehem and Golgotha (Where Christ was crucified) it's all commercialized now. Nothing like it was back then. I also visited Germany, then went up to see where my grandfather came from in Oslo Norway, even went for a swim in a Fjord (they were having a heatwave that summer) in 1975.
When I arrived in the United States, my life was about to begin over again! New culture, new faces, strange sounding people, (Southerners) and my first job (part time) as I was a full time College Student.
To be continued...
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Things I Like:
Cooking, eating and sharing a good vegetarian dish. Internet video songs, Mozart, Handel, Grieg, Beethoven, hand whistling, sitting on top of the rock on the hill in my back yard and watching and listening to trains coming and going in the distance, flying for fun, reading personal letters from snail mail or emails, internet activities, internet friends, watching a desert sunset, discussing religion, roasting corn or marshmallows around a campfire and telling stories, muscle cars, 20 series learjets, old trucks, pre-1968 Volkswagens, helping people.
Things I Love:
Meeting strangers (especially from abroad) and making friends with them. Good conversation, spending time with my cat or my dog, popcorn, cheese, roasted almonds, spending time with loved ones, or friends, traveling to a new place, looking down on a thunderstorm from 45 thousand feet, Hershey's Kisses.
Things I Hate:
Killing an animal for the purpose of eating it, makes my stomach churn. I don't believe I would be a good carnivore! Horse flies that bite, mosquitoes, ticks, flees, bed bugs, goatheads, flat tires, cigarette breath, cigars, pipe smoke, doing laundry, gas guzzlers, spectator sports, restroom reading, witnessing war on television, politics, house cleaning, destructive fires, allergies, liars, thieves, cheaters, people who beat around the bush, snakes, skunks, porcupines, moles, mice, leaking roofs, 115 degrees, dial-up, unsupervised 16 year olds behind the wheel, freeway noise, being stuck on a freeway. Tailgaters.
Things That Make Me Upset:
Kids (or adults) riding their noisy 4 wheelers up the hill in my back yard. Trespassers, those who intentionally block my gate with their vehicle. Loud music next door and all I can hear is the base, beggers who aren't beggers, tardiness, animal abusers, dripping water, toilets that need flushing more than once, loose objects flapping in the breeze when I'm trying to sleep, barking dogs, slow downloads.