Buckeye Mike

It took me a long time to get it. A long time to figure out why, at 19, my parents would ask me to pay rent or move out just because I wanted to take a year off of school. I just needed a break, I explained. After all, I had been in school as long as I could remember, and I needed to just take some time to breath. College was hard, after all. In high school, I was able to kind of skate by and make it ok. But now my classes and labs and study work were dominating my time, and I had far better things to do. I remember my Dad telling me I would never go back. I assured him he didn't know what he was talking about. And I remember my Mother telling me that to get what you want, you have to put in the work. No one gets a free ride. I rolled my eyes, declared my independence, and set out into the world. After years of struggling in a failing marriage, trying to make a living out of flipping burgers, and feeling like I was treading water, the haze started to lift. I remade my life by cha

I very rarely use this blog as any type of political forum, for a couple of different reasons. The first is that I never want to get caught up in the rhetoric and partisanship that drags our country down more and more by the day. And the second is because I am a story teller, and I enjoy journaling my own personal experiences so I can look back over time and see where I came from and where I am headed. Making sure history doesn't repeat itself is a big part of who I am, and spending the time to re-read different posts helps me with that. but today, the blog will be very political, as I feel like no one is pointing out the obvious. I was never a George W. Bush fan. I feel like his 8 years in office saw this country spiral downward  while he was being less than honest, fumbling for words, and seemingly a little lost in the sauce. The right will tell you it was because of the mess Clinton left. The left will tell you it was because he was furthering his own personal agenda. I think