Selling my Hiking Buddy

Real sorry to hear about your Dad mist.It sounds like he's had a full and interesting life.I also served in the Marines,and my prayers are with your Dad,you,and your family.
 
Your predicament is one I do not look forward to. Be strong and rest assured that your friends here at BF have you in our thoughts and prayers.
 
+1. You definitely do not have an enviable situation, mist. Please, know that your father's service is greatly appreciated, and we will keep you, your father and family in our thoughts and prayers!
 
Mist sorry to hear about your dad. I too lost my mother at an early age (8) but still have my pops. That I dont have much of realtionship with. Glad to hear you got to straighten some stuff out hope you get to relieve the rest. Prayers with you bro.
 
:rolleyes:Very nice Thread. Enjoyed every picture.

That's one happy, balanced child. Children never look like that ... if they aren't constantly cherished.

You're a lucky man.
 
It is so cool to see her learning good knife skills and outdoor skills. She has a GREAT blade (Izula) and one she can keep for life.

Good job dad. Glad you had a good day.

TF
 
Hey buddy, my thoughts are with you. Lost my mom to cancer last summer and my dad and I haven't seen each other in over 16 years. We have reconnected and are planning a meet this summer in order to catch up on lost experiences. Hang in there! Smoke sent...
 
OldPhysics said:
:rolleyes:Very nice Thread. Enjoyed every picture.

That's one happy, balanced child. Children never look like that ... if they aren't constantly cherished.

You're a lucky man.
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Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. My children are my world and Alayna has a very loving very affectionate mother too.

I love them both more than words can say, but it was my oldest that actually saved me and gave me back my heart. I have always had a close connection with the natural world and the animals but at the time Sarah came along almost 19 years ago I had been too long in a dark place and didn't care much at all for people. All hell broke lose on Dec. 1st 1980 when I was 15. My estranged and drugged out (at the time I had no idea about the drugs they were doing) stepfather kicked in the door of our house and started shooting. It's always been a bit blurry because it happened so fast...I remember the pops and muzzle flashes and then grabbing my 30-30 and ducking and running and shooting and being shot at. The next memory was looking around at the house and the walls and finding my mother who took two rounds from a .45 through her face. I remember flashing on all the times I had sat across the table from Floyd at dinner and all the times we had gone camping together and trying to reconcile the present with the past. I then moved back to Alabama with my father and my stepmother that I couldn't stand anymore. She was cool at first but over time had changed. She had become a drunkard and was hard to deal with a lot of the time. By mid December the following year, when I was 16, things erupted there. It had been a rough year dealing with their arguments as it was but one day I just hit a wall with it. Dad and I had been out deer hunting and after dressing the deer I was in my room cleaning my Remington pump 12ga. My stepmother was drunk yet again and pissed off about something...again...I never knew what that time. The argument had gone on for about an hour and then she shouted "you s.o.b. I aught to just blow your f_cking head off"!! We lived out in the country and there was always a loaded 20ga by the front door after the copperhead incident (another story). Having just lived through one such incident a year before I responded quickly by shoving two rounds of 3-inch 00 Buckshot into the tube on my way to my bedroom door and racked one into battery as I entered the hall. I had a good view of the front door from my bedroom door and I was glad I could still see the 20ga. She was just drunk and running her mouth of course, but it was just more than I could deal with at the time. The house had gone quiet once I racked that round and I walked into the living room furious shotgun still in hand. I shouted "WTF is wrong with you?!" "Do you realize how close you just came to dying?!" I knew that after her shouting that stupid sh!t if she had been just walking toward the front door to go out it and reaching for the knob even looked like she was reaching for the gun I would have shot her. I looked at dad for a minute and then told him this was really unhealthy for me, that I had to go somewhere, I didn't know where but I had to leave there. I took my shotgun back to my room and put it up loaded and just sat there in thought. One day soon just put some things in a pack and left walking. The next few years until adulthood were a mix of living in various woods and on city streets as I wandered my way back to Dallas the long way, hoping to find old friends who were mentors during a rough period of my teenage years. Back then I just thought my stepfather was being a jerk due to stress of the new job programming computers for Frito Lay. I had no idea about the drug use but I think Pete and Dave knew. I also think they knew what may come because it was them teaching me how to play hide-and-seek with a Green Beret twist that saved my life that night...and on several nights over the next few years. My time on the streets brought a few instances of having to hurt or be hurt in the process of just trying to maintain the right to possess my shoes and my clothes. My father, my mentors Pete and Dave...along with believe it or not Jed Clampett and Andy Griffith had done well at teaching me right from wrong and how a man should conduct himself with honor and integrity. I never resorted to stealing...other than the occasional bit of food when I could find no other option, but dealing with the predators on the streets and the gangs on top of what had happened earlier took my mind to a very dark place. By the time I was 19 I had a one or two friends that were sort of close but I didn't completely trust anyone anymore, and I never had more than a couple of friends at a time. Too many instances of feigned friendship only leading to problems later in previous dealings with people. I never was close to my oldest daughter's mother even...it was simply acts of processing a mutual need of physical contact. I wanted to love someone and I did marry her, but I honestly thought that part of me had been lost forever. Thirteen years after mom was killed, the day Sarah was born, the doctor handed me my daughter. I walked out of the room to show her to the waiting family members then started back to the delivery room. It was then that Sarah and I made our first eye contact. I spent the next 20 or 30 minutes...hard to say really, it was as if time stopped...it could have been an hour for all I know, walking the halls and looking into her eyes. I could literally feel things inside me changing, thoughts rearranging, and my perspective on life taking a whole different point of view. It was the first time in thirteen years that I had experienced any true happiness and it was a very overwhelming experience. That day that little girl gave me back my ability to love, and though raising children is a challenging experience it was as if getting to raise her was a gift that marked the end of the darkness. I never grew to love her mother unfortunately...the more I got to know what she was really like inside the less I liked her. She was a verbally abusive parent and Sarah and I spent a lot of time playing in the woods and in parks avoiding her. We eventually went our separate ways and I was later given the gift of Lisa, my current wife, and my youngest Alayna. And I get the pleasure of doing it all over again and this time with a wife that I am deeply in love with. I have no idea where or when, but I must have done something right somewhere along the path, because yes...I am indeed a very lucky man.


Talfuchre said:
It is so cool to see her learning good knife skills and outdoor skills. She has a GREAT blade (Izula) and one she can keep for life.

Good job dad. Glad you had a good day.

TF
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Yeah, I have always had a goal of teaching my daughters as much as I can about how to take care of their own needs to help avoid dependence on some man. In the future I want them to have healthy relationships based on love and not being dependent on someone else to survive life.

She has one custom knife already, and I plan to get her another at some point and hopefully one of your sheaths, but the Izulas are tough knives and good users to learn with so I have given one to my wife, one to my oldest, and since Alayna's favorite color is pink I'm going to get her a pink one :)


Rockywolf said:
Hey buddy, my thoughts are with you. Lost my mom to cancer last summer and my dad and I haven't seen each other in over 16 years. We have reconnected and are planning a meet this summer in order to catch up on lost experiences. Hang in there! Smoke sent...
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Thank you Rocky, I'm hanging. Glad to hear you are reconnecting with your father, it is a worthwhile endeavor and I hope all goes well.
 
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My. You are dead serious when you say you came from a dark place.

That's behind you now, though I know it will never really be gone. Just keep doing what you've been doing -- concentrate on today and tomorrow and take the best care of your beautiful child.

If life can be awful and curdled, it can also be bright and good. I've been seeking balance for a long, long time myself.

Smoke and prayers going up.
 
Amazing story Mist, and thank you for sharing it. Those of us who have come from such dark places think we are alone, only to find that others have been walking a parallel path all along. My family was nuts too (in a different way, but still bad) and like you I had a long journey to find myself. Along the way I was inspired by others like you who shared their stories and gave me hope. You are obviously an amazing person, and you will get through this hard time as you always have, with dignity and courage. All the best to you.
 
OldPhysics said:
My. You are dead serious when you say you came from a dark place.

That's behind you now, though I know it will never really be gone. Just keep doing what you've been doing -- concentrate on today and tomorrow and take the best care of your beautiful child.

If life can be awful and curdled, it can also be bright and good. I've been seeking balance for a long, long time myself.

Smoke and prayers going up.
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Yeah, it got pretty dark at times.

Part of me knows this, but part is afraid it's just a long break. I can still tell the feel of a street predator when I encounter them. I can feel it in their presence and I can see it in their eyes. I think they can still tell who/what I am too when we make eye contact, especially when I have my wife and kid(s) with me. Usually eye contact is all it takes to get them to break contact and go on. I'm not a bad ass or anything, it's just when they know that they are known for what they are then they have lost the element of surprise that they need to work their usual plans and they usually move on seeking an easier target. They prey on the weak, so I learned at an early age to never show any weaknesses.


geargeek said:
Amazing story Mist, and thank you for sharing it. Those of us who have come from such dark places think we are alone, only to find that others have been walking a parallel path all along. My family was nuts too (in a different way, but still bad) and like you I had a long journey to find myself. Along the way I was inspired by others like you who shared their stories and gave me hope. You are obviously an amazing person, and you will get through this hard time as you always have, with dignity and courage. All the best to you.
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Thanks man, I appreciate that. When I would complain about something when I was young my father would often repeat an old saying..." there was once a man who had no shoes who felt sorry for himself in his plight. Then one day he met a man who had no feet and then realized he didn't have it so bad." I always understood the words, but it took years to truly understand the story. As bad as my own story may have been, I met several who had lived through and seen much worse than I had. I observed the natural world and the so-called civilized world of people. From my observations life is neither fair nor unfair, life is just life. The world is a hard place, it cares not whether we live or die. It is also a beautiful place filled with many wonders. All we can do is to do the best that we can, and realize that no matter how bad we may have it, there is always someone out there somewhere dealing with something even worse.
 
Does your little girl own an Izula I or an Izula II?

I have an Izula II and I have wanted to make a sheath for it - but have no need for one myself. Maybe your little girl could use one?

It would be a fun project.

TF
 
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Talfuchre said:
Does your little girl own an Izula I or an Izula II?

I have an Izula II and I have wanted to make a sheath for it - but have no need for one myself. Maybe your little girl could use one?

It would be a fun project.

TF
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Alayna has neither just yet. I bought her mother a black Izula-I so I could put the custom black & blue G10 scales from T-K-C on it because Lisa is a blue nut, and I bought my oldest a green Izula-II because she likes green. I let Alayna use her mother's knife on this outing because it was handy and she really handled it well and seemed to like it. I am thinking that since pink is currently her favorite color I will get her a pink Izula-I (they don't offer the Izula-II in pink or at least not yet anyway) and then put the black and red G10 handle scales on it. I've bought a few Izulas of both kinds now and they are great small knives that don't cost a lot, have a great shape and grind, and don't draw a lot of attention in wooded parks.
 
Sorry to hear about your dad Mist. Hope he realizes what a hell of a son he has.
 
RedbeAR15 said:
Sorry to hear about your dad Mist. Hope he realizes what a hell of a son he has.
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Thanks man, actually dad knows very little about me past the age of 16. I never told him about life on the streets, I made the choice to leave and I never wanted him to feel guilty about the things that happened. It was my choice not his. He offered to divorce my stepmother but I knew it wouldn't be long till I was grown and gone anyway. If he wanted to divorce her that was up to him, but I left so that he wouldn't divorce her just over me and then be alone later. I still don't really get along with her all that well even today, but even though they have had their rounds 30 years later they are still married and she is the one looking after him now.
 
An update to this thread. Lisa asked me a few days ago how I really felt about the Hiking Buddy. I said I love the knife, my only slight regret was that it wasn't a high saber or full convex grind (not that she understands the difference between those two). She then asked if she could get it back without spending any money if she could have it and me just except that it was hers and leave it alone? I said sure, if you like it that much, what's the angle? Apparently Bill needed some IT help at his office. Lisa has had a computer available to her since she was very little, she grew up with them and learned DOS as a second language early in life. She is familiar with damned near every OS that windows has put out. She was raised by a mother who programs computers for a major corporation and a father who programmed computers on US Navy submarines and taught computer literacy, operating, and programming courses at a community college in Alabama years ago and who still builds computers today...neither of the computers owned by my wife, my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, or my father-in-law at home or either of their offices were bought at a store, Jack built them all and all are damned impressive and way over-built for any of their needs. Lisa uses a 36 inch vizio for a monitor and I've seen her have eight windows open at once working in all of them and I've seen her have as many as 57 tabs open at once just to see if she could and the commuter showed no signs of lagging. Anyway...Lisa really doesn't understand how valuable the knowledge in her head really is at times, she is the only person I have ever met who can type like 50 words a minute while holding a conversation about a completely unrelated subject (it drives me insane when she wants to talk to me when I am working on articles). Well...I had already forgotten the conversation when the other day she came home and took me out to lunch at Chili's, and then pulled the hiking buddy out and cleaned her nails while we were waiting on our food. She just smiled when my eyes got all big. She said "just remember it's mine now, and look at it this way...as soon as we can afford it you can get the other one that you really want" Then said, oh by the way, I think I put enough money in the bank to cover that ball joint thingy but we'll definitely have enough once you install the new french doors going into mom and dad's bedroom." Crazy how things work out sometimes isn't it?
 
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