Ticket to Ride, the Promise of America

This memoir began with a letter written to my son a few weeks before his deployment to Iraq as an officer with the United States Army. My letter was an attempt to detail for him my life as a young boy growing up on the South Shore in Massachusetts - time and events he knew little about or could never have imagined.

I had realized all along that if this day ever came I might never see my son again, so I figured it was time to answer the many questions he must have had for me throughout our time together, but had never asked. I wrote what I could given the constraints of time, hopped a flight to Texas, and handed it to him as he exited the briefing room with his M-16, his armored vest, and his loving heart. I wrapped my arms around him and whispered in his ear, "Be safe my boy...." I handed him my letter and said, "You can read all about me on your flight to Kuwait." I gave him a kiss, shook his hand, and off he went.

On December 3rd at 0600, I watched as his flight, heavy with soldiers and weapons of war, lumbered down the runway at Fort Hood, Texas, lifting off into the early morning haze, bound for Iraq.

As a young boy, I lived under the abusive thumb of a stepfather who, when he was drunk, would curl the left side of his upper lip, revealing his hateful, arrogant nature. He never showed much respect for anyone or anything, including himself. He was a sorry character with little moral substance who took much of his miserable life out on me.

We moved too many times when I was young and growing up. Brockton, Brookville, Abington, Hanson, Bryantville, Rockland, Marshfield, and Hanover. Except for the City of Brockton, these were small, rural towns south of Boston, not far from the coast. There were eleven or twelve moves and seven different school systems. I never got used to being called "the new kid," especially later on when I was in junior high and high school.

It was a Monday morning in early November. My mind was racing as I zipped up my coat, opened the side door and walked down to the end of the road to catch the approaching school bus. The windy, biting chill off the ocean was at my back, pushing me along. Thanksgiving was two weeks away.

This was the beginning of my junior year. It had been another move, another new school - six schools in five years. I was living enough hell at home to fill a book. I was losing my grip in school, and it haunted me. Upon arrival, I slipped into the boy's room and remained out of sight while the principal concluded his morning announcements. When he had finished, I left the boy's room, walked down the empty hallway to my locker, cleaned it out, and headed around the corner to my homeroom. I had done all the thinking about this over the weekend, but never spoke a word of it to anyone. Now I just wanted to do this quiety and with the least amount of interference or discussion. I was sixteen and I was leaving, and no one was going to stop me.

So, I walked out of Marshfield High School that day and went to work, bidding farewell to the tormenting shackles of a hopeless future.

I haven't seen it all, but I've seen enough to know that patience, keeping your word, honesty, setting standards for yourself, saving your money, and always trying to better yourself are worthy goals, and you can benefit greatly by listening to your inner voice, and following your intuition - your heart. I invite you to read "IF," by Rudyard Kipling, and "The Road Less Traveled," by Robert Frost. These two poems inspired and encouraged me at an early age to set my own course and begin my own journey, independent and free. I believed in the promise of America and was determined to make something out of the one life I was given.

Never forget that much of the hard work has already been done for us. The fertile soil of freedom has been nurtured by generations of Americans willing to sacrifice everything. From Bunker Hill, to Omaha Beach, to Vietnam and beyond - the broken hearts, the spilled blood, the endless tears...the price paid in full.

If you're willing to work and work and work some more, you'll put that hard fought, God given freedom to good use. And as you gain confidence, set your sights on the impossible. Then watch with a smile as your dreams race across the endless wonders of a midnight sky.