earthmann

But such is my life. I knew from early on it was a bit more than it was all cracked to be.
My mother always told me I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up. For a few years my grand ambition was to be a garbage man.
I’d run out to the end of the drive twice a week when I heard them rumbling down the street. I became somewhat friendly with them. They’d say hello to the curious gaping white boy.
I’d wave goodbye vigorously as they drove away, amazed that they were allowed to stand on the back of a moving truck.
My parents seemed supportive of my career, buying me a Tonka garbage truck for my third birthday.
They said I could be anything I wanted, and I believed them for a while.
I had my first inkling that life wasn’t so simple when I went to my mother and told her I wanted to be a puppy dog when I grew up.
You can’t be a puppy, Johnny.
I thought I could be whatever I wanted?
Well, you can’t be a puppy.
And that was just the beginning.