I found out IBM had been damning me with faint praise,
telling prospective
employers I had been allowed to leave--
that is, asked to leave--because I couldn't
hack it. I had asked them
to raise their standard to my level, and they refused.
The victor writes
the history. I decided to move to Northwest Florida, where
the kids
could hunt and fish and be near bluegrass musicians. There weren't
that
many in South Florida. I went on a reconnaissance sortie in my
Datsun B210 with
120,000 miles on it and a rainbow decal in
the back window. I remember buying
oysters on the half shell
in Apalachicola. They were fat and salty. It was
just before
Thanksgiving. I went to Panama City, Fort Walton Beach,
and Tallahassee,
to scout out employment opportunities.
When Uncle Wayne offered to let me live
in the trailer rent-free
if I would spend. $1,000 putting a new floor in it and
furnishing it
I decided to move to Panama City and find work there.
Potter
and Suzette lived nearby in Miramar Beach
on Choctawhatchee Bay. That was the
music, the food,
the fellowship. The nights of love and laughter.
Owen was
a freshman in high school and Balder was in
the 7th grade.