...It's early March 1981 and I am Leaving my wife and Baby Daughter Aimee' Beth behind in Kalamazoo while I head out for the Oilfields of Louisianna and Texas to become a Roughneck on the Oilrigs offshore in the Gulf of Mexico or maybe on a land based Platform...
...As I shared previously I was leaving town on a wing and a prayer with the smoke literally rolling off my backside and the stench of near death and destruction was clinging to me and in fact did carry over into my new environs which we will soon tragically discover!..
...It was truly a comical sight as I pulled out of our driveway on Gull Rd. with an old beat up rusted out hoopty that must of looked like a cross from a scene from the Beverly Hillbilly's and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures...
...My Brother-In-Law Steve comes along as a co-pilot but decides to drop 4 hits of acid as we are heading down the highway and keeps me awake for the entire trip by providing the entertainment...
...It is incredibly Hilarious to stay sober while watching someone else tripping their brains out on LSD on a 1200 mile roadtrip while being battered about on the highway in an incredible windstorm...
...To say the ride to Texarkana was an adventure in itself is an understatement, But reality began to kick in after Dropping Steve at the Amtrak Station in Arkansas...
...The Drive from TexArkana to DeRidder was a time for me to contemplate what lay ahead in what was supposed to be an attempt to make a Fresh new, and better start in my life and for my young family...I was only 21 years old at the time!..
...I pulled up at a little burger joint when I rolled into town and called Barry to come and meet me and guide me into their house. Doug Tuttle was the one that came up and I followed him back to my new home...
...Barry was out on an oilrig so I got to meet Doug for the first Time in my life, and we became fast and good friends...
...Doug was an incredible young guy with a smile and a heart as big as all outdoors. He had this incredible laugh, boyish good looks and charm that seemed to have all the pretty girls just eating out of his hands. I was incredibly envious and a little jealous of all these Southern Belle cuties that seemed to be like his own personal Harem...
...This kind of environment was not going to be good for me being a true and faithful husband, especially being so far from home and not having anyone that was going to be holding me to moral accountability...I Might interject at this juncture that it was incredibly naive for me to not understand... that whats good for the Gander is good for the Goose!
...That's all I have to say about that...That's her story, not mine!..
...Doug was a good host and tour guide, and he immediately began to take me around and introduce me to what had become his and Barry's circle of friends and compatriots...
...One of the first places we went to was several blocks up the street there on Texas Ave where my cousin Debbie and her family lived. Deb had married a guy Named Koch Rigmaiden, and this was my first time meeting him...
...As it turned out, Koch's Dad was the local connection that had gotten us all to migrate to that part of the country...Deb and Koch's house was a duplex with their good friends from Ohio renting the other half of the house...A cool guy we all called Smiley and his family...Smiley I believe was the drummer in their band...
...Koch was a serious musician that had high aspirations of making it in the Rock n Roll scene, and it was his Father that owned all of these income properties that we were renting and he was also the connection to the oilfield. I don't remember his name but he was some kind of big shot Oil Company Man. I never got to know him although I did meet him briefly a time or two.
...As a side story, if my memory serves me right, there was some kind of horrible tragedy in Koch's family where I believe the story goes something like ...His Dad had a loaded Pistol in his truck and Koch's little brother had somehow or another shot and Killed Their Mother by getting ahold of his Dad's gun. I was told that it was an accident, but as you can imagine, it wasn't something that was talked about very much and it certainly wasn't something you asked a lot of questions about...
...It didn't take me long to get around and begin to make new friends and fit in, Not only to fit in, but it has always been my nature to try and become more than just another one of the fellows...
...I guess I have a natural very outgoing personality and would be characterized as more of a leader than a follower, although I have done my share of following the crowd to my own destruction I'm afraid...
...It's sad to say though that I certainly did my share of leading plenty of others to the dark side...I, in some kind of very sick way, took a lot of pride in being able to brag about how I was the first person to turn this one or another one onto getting high or taught them how to party...
...It was like I enjoyed being a Pied Piper if you will of the drug culture or counter culture, so it didn't take me long to begin to establish myself as that guy!... The Man! Dr. Feel Good...
...Is that just nuts or what?
...Here I was...Supposedly trying to get away from a very destructive way of life and starting over fresh, but I found myself trying to set myself up as the Local Drug dealer, the new hip and main connection in town. After all it's what I was used too...
...That was a big part of how I had made my living and kept cash in my pocket for most of my teenage life. Don't get me wrong...Somewhere in there was an incredible work ethic. I wasn't afraid of hard work or holding down a job in the legitimate world... I had left home if you remember at 16 and went to work in restraunts and always seemed to have a job...As a matter of fact...I had quite a resume of experience by the time I went south...
...Excuse me...Again I digress...Terrible habit of mine in my writing style. I tend to be horribly redundant...Moving On with the story...
...If you remember...I left Town up north with a quarter pound of decent weed and a 1000 capsules of black beauty speeders...
...Per usual I began to try and develop a clientelle as well as establish some new connection and suppliers...It all seems to just go hand in hand with living that party party lifestyle...It really was all that I knew at that point in my life and I suppose that when you find yourself in unfamiliar territories you will tend to gravitate towards those things that have worked for you in the past.
...Shortly after arriving in DeRidder Barry showed up with a new girl friend, her name was Page and her and her Mother Joyce lived in a nice little house across town...
...Joyce was Seperated from Page's Father, a Man that was reported to be of substantial means, but for whatever reasons, that family was fractured at that point in their lives and someone put a bug in my ear that Page's Mother was somewhat of a cougar, with a sexual appetite for younger Men...
...As you can imagine, I wasted no time in exploiting that juicy bit of intelligence...and I am not sure if she was my conquest, or I was hers...Didn't matter really...The end result was the same...We both sought pleasure in each others Sexual prowess and ended quite a few nights of partying taking comfort in each others arms and quite a few mornings I woke up in her Bed with only a vague and foggy memory of how I had got there...
...Duh???
...Thats not too hard to figure out is it? Take loneliness and add a few random drugs, stir in lot's of alcoholic beverages, turn up the music, include lot's of mindless chatter, a large helping of laughter and hilarity, no moral fiber, very little conscience and accountability and...Voila!!!
...I think you get the picture from there? Oh Yeah...along the way... just change the days and the faces and you are sure to get some repeat performances with a different cast of characters...
...That's the way it went for awhile...I would make frequent calls back home and report on my progress and try and make some plans and projections for the near future and hopeful soon family reunion...
...I guess I was just too far gone in those days and way too self centered to realize how much trouble Beth was in, in her own life...
...The reality was that I had ruined her life...She had hooked up with the wrong guy...A Parents worst nightmare for their daughters...And she was also hell bent at that point towards her own destruction...
...I didn't know it at the time but Thank God, He was looking out for my little girl!
...Here's the Deal...I loved my wife Beth, I loved my baby girl Aimee', but after my Mom and Dad, Oscar split up and my sister Delana, little Brother Jeffery and I were carted off to Michigan, and grew up in the environment we did, I had no idea what a healthy family or even a healthy individual was supposed to behave...I didn't grow up in a Leave it to Beaver Home...
...I got married way too young 18, was also too young to be a parent 20, I didn't have a clue...But at least I realized that whatever I was doing...was not working for any of us...I knew deep down in my heart of hearts that something had to change and God was arranging some of the circumstances in all of our lives, trying to reveal Himself and His Immense Love for us all.
...That was true for me, Beth, Barry, Doug, Debbie and Koch and really everyone that was taveling in our circle those days. We couldn't see it very clearly then, but they say that hindsight is 20 20...
...What is also true...there was another character in the background that was working very hard to maintain his grip and control over all of our lives and his agenda was bent on our total and complete destruction ...
...As I think back to those days so long ago, It almost seems like we lived a lifetime inside of what could have been only a month and a half at the most...
...I started job hunting almost immediately upon my arrival in early March but when you consider where DeRidder is located in the State and the distances I would have to travel to apply with the different companies...It just wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be...
...DeRidder is located on the western side of the state almost on the Texas Border, just East Of Leesville, where the Ft. Polk Army base is located...Its just about, smack dab in the middle with Shreveport to the North and Lake Charles due South. I might add that DeRidder is in Beauregard Parish which is a Dry County, so there was a little driving involved if you needed to supply yourself with Alcoholic beverages for the evening festivities...This little fact will play a significant role just a little further ahead in this story.
Now you need to bear in mind that unbeknownst to any of us at the time there was a tremendous battle being raged in the spiritual realm at that particular time in all of our very young lives and in retrospect you can actually identify how God and Satan were battling nack and forth with our souls and lives hanging in the balance, Many years later I would read a book written by C.S. Lewis called the "SCREWTAPE LETTERS" and I can imagine that there was literally that type of struggle taking place in all of our lives.
Well I think that the stage is now sufficiently set for me to share with you what could be one of the most heart breaking and heart warming parts of my story up to that moment in my life. Tragedy and Triumph...But I just pray That I share these next events in such away that there will be those that find some comfort in the knowledge that there is some incredible good that comes out of what must have seemed for them to be some of the most senseless tragic circumstances and realities they ever encountered...And it is my Prayer that maybe for the first time since those tragic events of April 1981 some unanswered questions get answered...Maybe Not? But that is my hope and my prayer!
Brother Michael
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