San Antonio Light

[toad]

share this with me please......toad

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.” BENJAMIN DISRAELI



When I was eleven years old we lived in San Antonio, Texas. What a wonderful place for a young boy to live. The warmer climate allowed for an abundance of wildlife, which actually lived right in the city. There were horned toads, all kinds of snakes, frogs and toads, tarantula’s and scorpions, doves, crows, ravens and crackles, armadillo’s, coons, skunks and rabbits. Everyday was a real adventure for me turning over rocks and exploring the wonders of God’s creation. But where I learned the most was delivering papers. I had a paper route with the San Antonio Light from the time I was eleven until I was thirteen. Every afternoon and Sunday morning I would deliver the paper. It took about two hours a day seven days a week. At the end of the month I would get about thirty-five dollars which made it all worth the while. I can remember every Saturday going downtown on the bus and taking a guitar lesson, which I paid for myself. I also bought my first guitar and amp by myself. What I see now, is that I was learning to do a daily routine regardless of the circumstances. Later on in my twenties I made some decisions in which I was only thinking of myself, and this led to thirty years of substance abuse and self-centeredness. Today in my daily time of devotion and staying sober one day at a time, I draw upon my paper route experience of doing one thing everyday, and trying to do it well. By the grace of God I don’t have to live the way I used to. I am grateful, today God is doing for me what I could not do for myself………………toad



“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

ROMANS 8:38-39 NIV

[Sheryl85]

I loved the story. Sometimes those lessons we learned in our childhood have more wisdom than all the lessons we pay money to learn today. Your lesson is a wise one to follow. Glad you rediscovered it.

BTW, San Antonio was a great place for a girl to grow up too. (I noticed there are so few horned toads left now days...sad.) And another side note, my family subscribed to the Light. I had a huge crush on our paper boy... Evendtually the Light was bought out by the Express and News and they closed the Light down.

Although the paper is gone, it's good to know that the lesson still lives! Sheryl

[toad]

Thanks Sheryl,

Last year I went back to San Antonio for the first time in since 1960. I rode my mountain bike and cruised the same old neighborhoods from my childhood. I rode downtown and saw the old Light building, rode through Breckenridge Park, and got to experience some of the hill county that would be north west of downtown. The reason for riding my bicycle was the fact that I didn't have a drivers license. After 14 years of having a revoked license I finally got them back in January of this year. God blessed me with a 2007 Road King Classic. I wanted to get back to SA this spring, but AA business has and kept me pretty busy. My plans are to still go to SA this spring or summer (my sister lives there).

Thanks for sharing the info.........I was named after my uncle Ralph who lived all his life in San Antonio, his nick-name was "horned toad".......hence my name "toad." Now you know the rest of the story..........toad

[BillJ]

Sweet story, Toad. Thanks for sharing.

I was a paperboy, too, but any life lessons I might have gained from that experience must've been washed away in the flood of alcohol that followed soon after. All I remember is badgering subscribers to get the money out of them (a task I dreaded then, and still wouldn't choose today), and the bicycle-car collision that ended my paper-throwing career.

No great loss. I was an unmotivated, screwed-up kid, and I was absolutely incapable of being a good employee, then or for years afterward. It was only in sobriety that I developed a work ethic, ambition, and a sense of responsibility and reliability. It's that "growing up in public" thing we AAers talk about.

I'll second your kind words about San Antonio, though. It's a great town.

My first look at Texas was at the San Antonio Airport. I was half-drunk, it was the middle of July and hotter than blazes, and I was about an hour from having my head shaved over at Lackland AFB, but I fell in love with Texas in that instant. For the most part, I've been here ever since.

And who wouldn't? We have an 11-month riding season, great roads with 70 and 80 MPH speed limits, and free choice on helmets. The only downside is that summers can be hell. Other than that, Texas is a bikers' paradise!
:andy:

[BillJ]

Originally Posted by Sheryl85

BTW, San Antonio was a great place for a girl to grow up too.

My wife's a San Antonio girl, too. She grew up near Oblate and San Pedro, and most of her family still lives in the area.

[The_Hammer]

Phewww, man. THanks toadster-that was rich! Hey don't forget the bats! I remember those so well since I hate those nasty little flyin meeses. I would look out the dorm windows (Lackland AFB, 1980-October) and see 'em by the hoardes.

[Sheryl85]

Bill,

If she went to High School in that area, I bet we are alumnus from the same "Hallowed Halls." (I think that's Lee territory, but it could be Mac...same school district though.) I grew up off West Ave. very close to the same area. (Anything within a seven mile radius is "close" in SA.)

I love Waco, but somehow SA will always be my home. That plwas ace has some great AA going on. Their "AA in SA" Convention (I still want to call it a conference), was killer. And we just had some great speakers here in Waco at our conference... one from your little corner of the world as a matter of fact, Bill. Danny B.

Anyway, I love Texas. And I llove you guys too!

[BillJ]

Originally Posted by Sheryl85

If she went to High School in that area, I bet we are alumnus from the same "Hallowed Halls."

She would've been at Lee, I think, but actually attended Incarnate Word.

San Antonio has its urban blight, crime, etcetera, but it's as nice as any large city can be, IMHO, and it's close to some of the best riding roads in Texas. I don't get to many meetings there, but my brother-in-law turned me on to a good Sunday morning meeting at one of the hospitals.

[The_Hammer]

...except for those flyin meeses! (bats) ya can't forget them when yer talkin drawbacks....

[BillJ]

Jimmy,

Here in Austin the bats are a protected species, and big-time celebrities. Every evening, at sunset, people line the Congress Avenue Bridge in downtown Austin to watch the bats (who nest under the bridge) swarm out in search of dinner. The little buggers put on quite a show!

To honor the bats, at the south end of the bridge the city erected a large steel sculpture of a bat. You can buy all sorts of bat-goodies at the local tourist shops. Heck, we even named our local hockey team The Austin Ice Bats!

:andy: