If you are following or thinking of following this thread, good news. I have decided to publish chapters on Tuesdays. Hopefully without fail.
Here’s the second installment:
Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Bruce, although I have had several monikers attached to me by myself and others.
For instance, someone on my high school yearbook took a picture of me playing my cello with the legend, “It’s Harpo! It’s Chico! It’s Groucho! No, it’s Bruco!”[1] I adopted the moniker a couple of years later when I was on the radio as “Bruco in the Nighttime.”[2] Radio was one of several career stops along the way. We’ll get there in just a bit.
When asked where I am from, I tell people that I was born in Maryland, weaned in Pittsburgh, went to elementary school in the Cleveland Ohio area, and to high school in Chillicothe Ohio. As this story unfolds, I have been living in what I refer to as my little corner of the DFW Metromess since 1998. This current location marks the second time I’ve lived in Texas – I lived in a corner of Houston back in the early ‘80s.
I am the oldest of six and the furthest flung. Three of my siblings live in Ohio, the other two are in Indiana and Maine.
My parents were the younger siblings of their respective families. Dad had an older sister living in Houston. Mom’s sister lived in West Virginia, less than fifteen miles from where she and my mother were raised.
Mom, her sister, Dad’s sister, and one of my own sisters were nurses. When it came to my health, they pulled no punches. That’s why I appreciate my care team. I can ask questions and get direct answers.
As you probably guessed from the previous entry, I am married to a woman named Carol. She’s a nurse, too.
Carol is my second wife (and I am her second husband). My first wife, the mother of my two children, is seldom mentioned by me. There’s a certain amount of enmity between us that isn’t helped any by my referring to her as “The Previous Regime.”
My second wife is nicer.
Like many “Baby Boomers,” I’ve had more than one “career” in my lifetime. Radio, for instance, was something that I was sort of born into. Robust, distinctive voice, and a penchant for trivia helped me to maintain my own in the medium. To this day, I encounter people who remark about my voice, asking if I’ve ever been on the radio. I admitted so to a couple I was in the process of selling at a well-known home improvement store here in the Metromess[3] that indeed I had been on the radio in southern Ohio. The woman immediately told me what radio station I worked in Ohio (much to my surprise), revealing herself to be the older sister of one of my running buddies.
Small world.
While performing on the radio may seem attractive, the downside is that wages suck. I’ve borrowed the term, “Minimum wage and all the records you can eat.” With the current state of the art, there are no longer records to eat – only what’s blowing around in this ether called the internet.
I had a six-year hiatus from radio in the eighties. Three years each working as a roustabout on an offshore oil rig, three years attempting to run a business I had purchased. I lost he money I saved working offshore running the business.
When I went back into radio for the next six years, the way radio did business was starting to change. I managed to make more money than I did previously, but still not enough to support a family.
There was a short time when I worked in the circulation department of a local newspaper, followed by what I consider to be my second real career selling major appliances for three “Big Box” stores.
Enough of my work history.
I believe I covered my personal history, too.
After “retirement,” I took up writing for fun and losing money. When this second round of cancer came about, I put aside some of what I was writing, to write about this new phase of my life.
Can’t wait to see how this all works out!
******
Two things should be noted here.
For one, this book, or guide, or whatever this turns out to be, follows notes I made on my Facebook page and on my WordPress site – bdharrellauthor.com
For the other, not everyone’s journey is the same. These are my impressions and may not be what you would expect if you are on this journey yourself.
Let’s hope you don’t have to go on that journey. If you do, let others know. You won’t believe the amount of support you’ll get.
[1] Pronounced – Brew-So, following the Marx Brothers’ theme.
[2] Not to be confused with “Cousin Brucie” AKA “Cousin Bruce Morrow” or with Don Imus’ “Imus in the Morning” which was being broadcast at the same time.
[3] A friend of mine used the term “DFW Metromess” a couple of years ago. I decided to appropriate (steal) the term to use as my own. After all, “Plagiarism isn’t stealing, it’s merely recycling!” – Professor Peter Schickele
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bdharrellauthor 