And this is my story. Some of it is filled with wonder and awe. A time of great self discovery. A private personal journey along life's ever changing road. The other parts of it have been shadowed with difficulties, hardship, and disappointment. My hope and prayer while you read this section is that you will learn something about yourself, find a place where we connect, see that the negative can create a positive if we just let it.
Family vacations would bring my father in off the truck and back into our lives. Life began the moment he entered the front door. His happy, easy-going personality miraculously impacted each of us. It was time to play and have fun!
Mom would make homemade potato salad and fried chicken, pack up our small travel trailor and off we would go on our grand adventures. We would drive for hours site-seeing, playing car games, visiting interesting places and picking up soveniers.
Dad loved to fish. So I learned at an early age how to bait my own hook. However, being a very young spirit rebel, I insisted on using spinners and plastic worms. Cast and reel was more my style! lol
And, yes, I do have fish stories I can share that had they not happened to me I probably would never believe them either. You try keeping a Northern Pike along the shoreline by just poking its stomach with the tip of your fishing pole! But I did and that fish ended up stretching from my father's waist to the ground (and he was 6 foot tall). The fact that the female fish was pregnant and I was pushing into her egg sack had something to do with immobilizing her escape.
My fascination with western wear and the western lifestyle I owe completely to my father. As a child growing up in southern Kansas, I cannot remember a day my dad went without his western jeans, western boots, western shirt, and his straw western hat. Many a trip was made to Harry Shepler's to keep him dressed country. Harry Shepler's originated out of my home city of Wichita, Kansas. But has since then branched out across the United States under the name of Shepler's.
Think my love for the scent of leather developed during those shopping trips to Shepler's. I would crawl up on one of the many leather saddles for sale and ride my imaginary horse while my father tried on boots and jeans, etc. Still to this day, I remain in-love with that unique scent.
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