Do we ever really "grow up"?

So I've been wanting to do this blog post for a long time now. I had all these grand plans and ambitions on it, but they aren't panning out. Let me explain.

I recently have gone through some old photo albums and seen some pictures of my childhood. Something interesting occured to me. We dont' really ever grow up. As I was looking at all the pictures, I realized that almost all of the things that I love today I enjoyed as a kid too. Let me illustrate.....


So for those of you who know me well (and even some of you who don't) you know that I love the lake and more specifically I love Lake Powell. This picture above is of me driving the boat at Lake Powell. You can even see castle rock in the background. It's just interesting how something I loved as a kid I still love as an adult.


There are a couple things interesting about this picture besides the fact that we had rust colored carpet growing up. Most obviously is the fact that I was into guns as a kid. But beyond that is that I would actually take the time to take a picture of those guns. I took this picture when I was a kid as I was very excited about my gun collection. Granted, not all these guns are mine, but some of them are. Part of my original plans for this post was to take current day pictures to compare the difference between now and then. So for the Lake Powell picture, I would have posted a picture from one of my recent trips. For the gun picture, I would have posted a picture of my "current" gun collection. (which is a LOT bigger by the way) Anyway, I think the point is still well made that I am still very much now into the same things I was into when I was young.


Okay this one is hilarious. Besides my butt part feathered haircut, check out that computer! It's an Apple IIe. How do you like those two big floppy disk drives sitting next to the computer! Good stuff eh! Not only do I have comparative modern day pics to compare to, but I've got one on this blog. Please see "Two Nerds In Ohio" post for comparison. There is almost NO explanation necessary for this current day comparison.





This one is pretty self explanatory as well. In the top picture, I can be seen riding my Honda 200s 3 wheeler in the empty lot next door to our house after a rain storm. In the next picture you see my sister Andrea and I (probably in Pinetop) riding her four wheeler. Once again it would be cool to post pictures of me these days riding my motorcycle, rhino, etc. etc.


This may be my favorite picture in this whole grouping. As I'm sure you can tell, this is my Dad and I. I'm sure pretty much everyone that knows me knows I love tennis.


This picture is from an air show I went to as a kid at Williams Gateway airport. I loved planes and I love planes now. So much so that I learned how to fly them. I really wanted to post a picture from my first solo flight but I don't have it with me right now.

The above two pictures are going to need some explanation. When I was younger (I'm not sure what age, maybe my Mom can tell me) I took a photography class in summer school through the Tempe Parks and Rec. at the Tempe Public Library. The guy in the blue shirt is our instructor, and he's talking to another one of the students. The bench in the picture above that is of course of a park bench. I took this as part of our assignment we were given to go outside and take some pictures. Clearly I was working on geometry and lines in my pictures.
The sad thing is, I would have expected my photography to have advanced slightly over the last 25 years.....doesn't look like it has though!


So the net net of all this is......my parents rock. They gave me a great life growing up. They helped expose me to a lot of things that are still a part of my life today. Many of my friends (some who may end up reading this) like to joke me about all the hobbies and in my life. I think we know now where they come from. Maybe next I'll do a post on how I've begun transferring these same interests to my kids!!!!