Childhood memories
Lou Ann and I went to the Los Angeles Rams versus Houston Texans Football game today at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Seventy years ago I got to go to my first game at this same stadium. I recall when I first saw the huge green playing field I was overwhelmed by the enormity and bright color of the grass. In 1957 my older brother Bud and I went to another Rams game at the same field against the San Francisco 49ers. There were over one hundred thousand attendees that day. The largest crowd in the history of the National Football League. At that time the stadium did not have any actual formed seats of any kind. Everyone sat on concrete rows. After the game we got out to the car and I discovered I had left my wallet in the arena. We hurried back to find the billfold still laying there, right in the open. Maybe that was a day that has encouraged me to look at the bright side of life.
We are staying in Woodland Hills which is out in the San Fernando Valley. My dad is buried here somewhere; I am not sure where. When we are driving by the roads and streets that I used to live on or by; so many memories come rushing back. Although it seems like someone else’s life. Hollywood was a child’s fairyland. Now it has been swallowed up by millions of folks still looking for that special place. We head back to Sedona tomorrow morning and it feels like going to a completely different planet. It is so peaceful and beautiful and quiet where we live.
I will always have a tender place in my heart for the Los Angeles area but “I wouldn’t want to live there.” I think there is some kind of therapeutic value for me to recall events and see them from a septuagenarians perspective. I can let go of some negative energy that I might hold from decisions I made when I was here. I can also see how some of those decisions led me to leave and create a “Wonderful Life” some where else. I hope you folks get the opportunity to see your life from a place that sets you free to be the best you can be. From my seventy seven years old heart to yours, Thomas