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Your Life is Your Story, Issue #226 – Two Brothers, A Truck and Jaws July 26, 2025 |
| Greetings "Your past is your story up to now. The future is the story yet to come. The present is where you live with that experience, your hopes and your dreams." 
Your Life is Your Story Newsletter July 26, 2025 Your Life is Your Story, Issue #226 – Two Brothers, A Truck and Jaws From Tom Gilbert – Editor and Writer, www.your-life-your-story.com In this Issue: Opening remarks: Finding Awe Featured Article – Two Brothers, A Truck and Jaws Featured Resource – Local Bookstores Opening Remarks: Finding Awe
It’s wonderful when we experience awe and wonder. Often it comes from amazing vistas of nature or in the birth of a child. But you can also find awe in simple and everyday occurrences. The article How Awe Slows Time And Supports Well-Being was a fine read. The point was made that awe can activate our “small self” effect, which means that we get out of ourselves and focus our attention on the beauty that is so often around us and yet overlooked when we are too busy caught up in our head and our agendas. I certainly get that. A big reason why I like to go for a walk each day is to connect with things outside of me, to enjoy nature, to perhaps witness something wonderful like a bird, tree or amazing sky. That can be really good for our mental health. Keep learning, keep growing. When I was teaching fifth grade I would often emphasize the importance of wonder and awe. It makes us curious and opens us up. It was a great discovery for me and a powerful lesson for the students. Thank you so much for being part of the Your Life Is Your Story community. Thanks to all our subscribers. I hope you enjoy this month’s issue. You are receiving this e-zine because you signed up for it or someone who is subscribed passed it along to you. If a friend DID forward this to you consider subscribing by visiting our signup page . Also, let me know what you’d like to see more of in this newsletter – simply reply to this email e-zine. – Tom Featured Article: Two Brothers, A Truck and JawsAdventures are often memorable events. My brother and I had a wild one driving a truck across America.It was the summer of 1975. Halfway through a defining decade in my life, I had just finished my first year of college at the University of Oklahoma. My younger brother had just graduated from high school.We were Air Force brats, but our father was retiring from the service after 26 years. A full colonel with years as a hot shot pilot, not short on attitude or confidence. Most of his ideas were good ones. But occasionally there was one you might consider a bit fringe. I don’t know where he found this old box truck. It was white, 30 feet long, but I couldn’t tell you the make or model. Probably inexpensive and in need of some tuning up. Luckily Dad and my brother liked tinkering with mechanical things. I didn’t. Besides, I was away at college when he bought it. Anyway, the deal was this truck would serve as a moving van to transport furniture and belongings to Norman, Oklahoma where Dad and Mom planned to settle, at least initially, following retirement. Later on they relocated to Kansas City, but Oklahoma was first because Mom wanted to finish her college degree. She’d dropped out when they married and Dad started his Air Force career, but now she was going to get that degree. Good for her. We even ended up taking a couple of classes together in the Fall of ‘75. However, I am getting ahead of myself. 
On a hot and muggy day we headed out of Rome, New York, my brother and I, in that old panel truck, rumbling down the Thruway towards Buffalo. Suddenly there was some other rumbling along with smoke coming from the truck’s engine. Uh oh. Not good. Turns out the truck engine went kaput. Threw a rod. Dad was back at the air force base still finishing up retirement business. Fortunately Mom was able to drive to our rescue with the Ford LTD. She got a couple of friends to assist, a tow truck was called, and we all made our way to the nearby town of Batavia, New York. We found an auto shop and proceeded to get repairs underway. Easy, right? Uh, not so fast. The garage was filled with upstate good old boy mechanics who were honest enough but didn’t like being told how to conduct business. We picked up on that with their humorous sign that stated, “$50 an hour, $100 if you watch, and $150 if you help.” Arrangements were made for repairs. A replacement engine was ordered. Mom handed over the keys to the LTD and left with her friends. That left two young men to fend for themselves for the next couple of days. Trouble was we didn’t have much money and we were going to have to rough it. Nearby was an RV campsite and although we didn’t have any camping gear there was a picnic table and a water pump. Hey, it was summer, we can sleep out under the stars. To wile away the hours before our overnight hobo accommodations we decided to go into town. There was a movie theater and it just happened to be showing the new summer movie “Jaws.” That movie became a huge box office hit that spawned several sequels and is the stuff of legend. But fifty years ago nobody knew just how big it would become. Read the rest of this story at here. Featured Resource: Local BookstoresThere is something about walking into a bookstore that excites me. I am a reader and a writer so I gravitate to such an environment.Even better is a good local bookstore. It just feels more personal to browse among the stacks of books and see the little touches that the owner gives to their shop. Local bookstores take pride in their location and are more connected to their community. One week from today, Saturday, August 1, 2025 at 12 noon I will be at Books on the Bosque as part of a local author event showcasing our writing. I truly enjoy this bookstore not too far from my home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It will be exciting for me to meet others and to share about French Twist, the memoir I wrote for Janine Winters. Janine is traveling from Arkansas and will be on hand and people can meet her and learn more about her amazing life journey. You can also find out more about Janine at her new website, JanineWinters-FrenchTwists.com. Closing InformationThat’s it for this month’s issue. Thanks for reading. Here’s to telling your story. Do give it some serious consideration because I just know you’ve got a great story to tell! Be sure to see the Get Started section.Any comments, ideas or feedback is greatly appreciated. Just reply to this ‘zine and tell me what you think! Until next time, – keep your story alive! Tom Gilbert |
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