- Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:46 pm
#288055
I have always been pretty shy and recluse for the most part. I've been the type of person who never needed a lot of friends, but a few very close people that I've deemed “trustworthy” has always been more me. I've almost always kept most people at an arms length, but we can dive more into that later. After talking to a fellow forum member over the course of the last few weeks, she's inspired me to do something I would never normally do. She has inspired me to open myself up more. So with that said this thread will be all about me, my life, maybe even some rants and I may even throw in some pics of my plants and a few miscellaneous pics occasionally. Thank you for the inspiration!
Some of you older members may recall where I've mentioned my memorial plant a few times in previous posts, well this post will go into much more detail than I've ever publicly (obviously not including the people who where there) gone into about that person, and that plant. That person was my dad. Growing up I wasn’t really close to my dad, I was the traditional “mama's boy”, although I spent more time at grandma's house than anywhere else. My parents got divorced for the second time when I was about 22. Yes, they married each other twice. After the last divorce my dad and I became extremely close. We ate together, drank together, rode together, snowboarded together, we even chased a few girls together. We were closer than most best friends. I'm laughing right now just thinking about some of the stories I could tell involving us, I'll get into some of those at another time. My dad has always been a physical fitness nut. He was a kayaker, a snowboarder, a runner, a rollerblader, but his love was racing his bike. At age 50 I don't doubt for one second he could've ran circles around me (being 23 at that time) without breaking a sweat.
My dad was taken from us doing what he loved most. He was in southern Ohio riding in a 24 hour bike race. Since it was such a long race, they needed a large circuit. So they did it on public roads and couldn't afford to close off the roads I guess. My dad was in the front of a group of riders that were riding on the left side of the right lane signaling a left turn. My dad started his turn when he was hit by a truck from behind. The person had crossed double yellow lines doing 65 mph to go around the line of bikes. My dad was killed instantly. This was May 1, 2004.
This traumatized me so bad that I don't even remember the following year. I have no recollection of both of my grandparents dying shortly there after. I have been told I went to all of the funerals, but I only remember seeing my extremely active dad laying in a box.
One of my dad's favorite annual things was to go out to Oregon every year for a bike tour of the state with his bike club. There's a stretch of memorial highway in Oregon named in his honor. He was also a huge nature nut, the kind of person who could sit and watch a waterfall for hours. And one of the biggest animal lovers I've ever known. I got countless unusual pets, because he would pick them up on the road and bring them home. Multiple turtles, a baby racoon, snakes. He also kept multiple snakes, the biggest being Bernie a 13’ Burmese Python. These are the reasons why I choose a Darlingtonia Californica as my memorial plant, a cobra lily makes perfect sense. Plus the resemblance is uncanny.
The whole scenario around obtaining Bob seals the deal for him being my memorial plant. I seen the help the injured biker thread, and I just knew there was something strange. My dad broke his knee cap when he crashed his mountain bike riding in the park with me. Since my dad instilled in me to always help others, I knew I had to at least make a purchase to help Phil. So I started discussing everything with Phil. I believe this was early March when we first discussed it. I went ahead and bought a legacy plant by Phil’s standards. At this time Phil only shipped like twice a month, and low and behold with just my luck I fell in between shipping times. I waited and as we got a cold snap coming in sure enough at shipping time I emailed Phil and asked him to hold off until next go around to ship. Next shipping date nears and everything seems to be cooperating. Yay! Wrong, there was yet another shipping issue. I don't recall off hand what the problem was this time, but shipping got delayed (I think it was weather on Phil's end). Now it's into the beginning of April, almost the middle of April. Phil emailed me and said he had it packed and it would be shipped the next day. He also told me he threw in a bunch of extra stuff, extra plant, live red moss, and a section of stolon. Finally my memorial plant showed up on April 18, the day before my dad's birthday, which was April 19th. He was officially dubbed Bob.
I normally just completely shut myself down for about a month from about a week before my dad's birthday to shortly after his death date. I typically just go through life's motions without seeing anything around me. Since I've gotten Bob I've actually been able to somewhat function through this time. It's been at the least a 40% life quality improvement through early spring. Hopefully this year will be a little better.
I'm posting this not for sympathy, but to hopefully help myself find the closure I've need for so long. It also let's you guys get to know more about me and what makes me me.
The next couple posts won't be so depressing. I'm just not really one for testing waters, so I dove right into the hard part.
Happy growing!
http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/board ... 30434.html
http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/board ... 31990.html
Some of you older members may recall where I've mentioned my memorial plant a few times in previous posts, well this post will go into much more detail than I've ever publicly (obviously not including the people who where there) gone into about that person, and that plant. That person was my dad. Growing up I wasn’t really close to my dad, I was the traditional “mama's boy”, although I spent more time at grandma's house than anywhere else. My parents got divorced for the second time when I was about 22. Yes, they married each other twice. After the last divorce my dad and I became extremely close. We ate together, drank together, rode together, snowboarded together, we even chased a few girls together. We were closer than most best friends. I'm laughing right now just thinking about some of the stories I could tell involving us, I'll get into some of those at another time. My dad has always been a physical fitness nut. He was a kayaker, a snowboarder, a runner, a rollerblader, but his love was racing his bike. At age 50 I don't doubt for one second he could've ran circles around me (being 23 at that time) without breaking a sweat.
My dad was taken from us doing what he loved most. He was in southern Ohio riding in a 24 hour bike race. Since it was such a long race, they needed a large circuit. So they did it on public roads and couldn't afford to close off the roads I guess. My dad was in the front of a group of riders that were riding on the left side of the right lane signaling a left turn. My dad started his turn when he was hit by a truck from behind. The person had crossed double yellow lines doing 65 mph to go around the line of bikes. My dad was killed instantly. This was May 1, 2004.
This traumatized me so bad that I don't even remember the following year. I have no recollection of both of my grandparents dying shortly there after. I have been told I went to all of the funerals, but I only remember seeing my extremely active dad laying in a box.
One of my dad's favorite annual things was to go out to Oregon every year for a bike tour of the state with his bike club. There's a stretch of memorial highway in Oregon named in his honor. He was also a huge nature nut, the kind of person who could sit and watch a waterfall for hours. And one of the biggest animal lovers I've ever known. I got countless unusual pets, because he would pick them up on the road and bring them home. Multiple turtles, a baby racoon, snakes. He also kept multiple snakes, the biggest being Bernie a 13’ Burmese Python. These are the reasons why I choose a Darlingtonia Californica as my memorial plant, a cobra lily makes perfect sense. Plus the resemblance is uncanny.
The whole scenario around obtaining Bob seals the deal for him being my memorial plant. I seen the help the injured biker thread, and I just knew there was something strange. My dad broke his knee cap when he crashed his mountain bike riding in the park with me. Since my dad instilled in me to always help others, I knew I had to at least make a purchase to help Phil. So I started discussing everything with Phil. I believe this was early March when we first discussed it. I went ahead and bought a legacy plant by Phil’s standards. At this time Phil only shipped like twice a month, and low and behold with just my luck I fell in between shipping times. I waited and as we got a cold snap coming in sure enough at shipping time I emailed Phil and asked him to hold off until next go around to ship. Next shipping date nears and everything seems to be cooperating. Yay! Wrong, there was yet another shipping issue. I don't recall off hand what the problem was this time, but shipping got delayed (I think it was weather on Phil's end). Now it's into the beginning of April, almost the middle of April. Phil emailed me and said he had it packed and it would be shipped the next day. He also told me he threw in a bunch of extra stuff, extra plant, live red moss, and a section of stolon. Finally my memorial plant showed up on April 18, the day before my dad's birthday, which was April 19th. He was officially dubbed Bob.
I normally just completely shut myself down for about a month from about a week before my dad's birthday to shortly after his death date. I typically just go through life's motions without seeing anything around me. Since I've gotten Bob I've actually been able to somewhat function through this time. It's been at the least a 40% life quality improvement through early spring. Hopefully this year will be a little better.
I'm posting this not for sympathy, but to hopefully help myself find the closure I've need for so long. It also let's you guys get to know more about me and what makes me me.
The next couple posts won't be so depressing. I'm just not really one for testing waters, so I dove right into the hard part.
Happy growing!
http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/board ... 30434.html
http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/board ... 31990.html
Lol. 
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