SOME DIMENSIONS NEVER CHANGE!

RIDE SAFE!

Recently—well several months ago—I came across two old family photos. The first was taken in October 1947. It is me riding my WHIZZER motorbike. I was age 14, really proud, and sort of (Ha!) a maverick. That means I did the exact opposite of whatever was expected of me or what I was told to do. P/S Still do sometimes.

This bike had 'power assist', i.e., the rider was the power, and he/she assisted by pedaling when the uphill journey demanded. I loved that bike—it did about 50 m/p/h with a tailwind—downhill—grin! (For this motorbike I paid $60...money from washing dishes in a large downtown Cincinnati restaurant.) Parents had said “No! Be smart! Deposit your money in a bank!”) Fat chance!

 

Photo #2 (below) is of me driving, a friend (Don) riding shotgun, on a 1948 Salsbury Motor Scooter (The last year they were manufactured). I bought it new in 1949, cost me $220, quite a lot of money in those days. I was 16 years old, a violin-practicing, farm working Peep (shoveled LOADS of you-know-what!) in an all-male high school. (What a screwed-up world!) I loved that scooter, it breezed along easily at 70 m/p/h/, ran circles around the competition. Automatic Drive, no gears to shift, no “owner-powered-assist”!)...

Can you see one of several Collies, "Lassie" 

in the background by front headlight? 

Also behind us is house where I lived 

from birth until "Goodbye"--about age 18

Hope you enjoyed this look at

Steve E in his 'yoot'...

NOTE:  During these years of youthful fun-and-frolic, 
I 'suffered' all the symptoms of alcoholism; 
Fear, Paranoia, Self-Centeredness, 
Pride, Anger, Greed, LUST, Envy, Vainglory.

Although I did not drink "TEN quarts of vodka each week, 
I  was never able to stop, once begun. 
Always wanted to feel better, to be someone else. 
And alcohol did that for me--from the first. 
Thank God for Alcoholics Anonymous!

 (Photo Credit: Norma E, my mother, died 1995)