Paul Owens

Our granddaughter was visiting us one summer and we were going somewhere I know not where, regardless, I was driving and she was in the back seat of our SUV. As is my custom I regularly check behind in the rear-view mirror, whereupon I happened to notice that our granddaughter had an aggravated look on her face. I said nothing but it seemed that every time I checked she was also looking back at me, and her expression was becoming more sour. Finally she said, “Papaw, why do you keep staring at me?”

I chuckled and explained that I was not looking at her, though I could see her whenever I checked the traffic behind us. I explained that when driving I constantly checked all three mirrors so to be aware of the cars about us. Then I held up my index finger up and twirled it it in a small circle while saying, “The world does not revolve around you”. That quieted her, and after a bit I caught a glimpse of her again in the rear-view mirror, grinning. Howbeit, I was wrong.

The world does indeed revolve around each of us. Who we are, everything we say and do is a response to what we experience with our six senses. Everyone knows the basic five, sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. However, I believe the one that influences us the most is our imagination. Ah, but you say our senses are facts, that imagination is made up in our mind. Well, my granddaughter saw me looking in the mirror at her, her imagination perceived that I was staring at her, and she wanted to know why. So it often is with eye-witness accounts of a situation, they hardly ever match completely. Also, the longer time goes by, the more what they saw changes.

Dictionaries define imagination as: the brain forming a mental image of something, anything, that is not perceived by the senses. It is also credited with our creative ability, interests, our ability to solve problems, the way we think, how we confront life, and probably most important, our assumptions.

I say all that to say this, all that I have ever experienced, along with my assumptions about everything encountered, have made me the person I am. I was born in Kentucky, and raised in Indiana, where up until fifth grade I had a normal childhood. Illness kept me from strenuous physical activities until tenth grade, so I took to playing board and card games, acquired many pets, and hung around the “old people”. To this day, my favorite relaxing pass-time is playing checkers, online I get to play people all over the world. I would spend hours listening to my elders talking of their lives, telling short stories, and tall tales. I was always fascinated by watching grownups work and make stuff, amazed at all they knew, and what they could do. I found that every person had a story, and could teach you something, even if it was what not to do.

I spent three years in the military which reinforced my OCD tendencies about neatness and order, and thirty years working in the local automotive plant. That “easy factory job” did give me an early retirement, howsomever it also gave me seven surgeries, a bad back, and shoulders. Wanting to leave the cold of Indiana we bought horses, loaded up our dogs and moved to Florida for our retirement. When people would ask me why we chose that particular property, I would tell them that we bought a snow shovel and tied it to the front of our truck. When someone asked us what that thing was tied to the truck, this was it.

The easy life for us consisted of clearing ten acres, sectioning off and fencing the property, taking care of our animals, building a barn, and lastly a house. We spent twenty-two years there before buying another house, selling the place in Florida, and moving to Tennessee to escape the heat. And here we are.

I do not consider myself much of an author, howbeit, like I said, “Everyone has a story”, and mine was “Nevaeh”. I never expected to sell any books, I give them away to friends and family, and offer the Kindle edition free during the weeks of Memorial Day, Labor Day, Christmas, and Easter. A few people have taken the time to read them, and told me they enjoyed them. My other writings are merely my opinions which I felt compelled to write down because of “religious discussions”. I am thankful that KDP lets me turn them in to books, which I can then also hand out.

My writing is mostly for my edification, hopefully, someone else may find them worth reading. And if you would please write an honest review, good or bad, it will be appreciated.