Wander with me (and my thoughts)

If it seems like I've been lost in let's remember
If you think I'm feeling older and missing my younger days
Oh, then you should have known me much better
Cause my past is something that never got in my way

 - Billy Joel, "Keeping The Faith"

One thing I probably will be doing a lot in this blog is reminiscing -- thinking of days gone by and things that I or those close to me used to do.  For some reason, I find myself doing this quite a bit lately.  I'm not sure if it's because I'm bored or if it's an attempt to figure out what from my past has influenced my future.

When I was a kid, I didn't have a lot of exposure to "pop culture," or at least it wasn't as in-your-face as it is today.  I think, as a result of this, I missed out on a lot of things that I didn't discover until I got older.  I was also a lot more trusting, always willing to believe the best about someone or taking what I was told at face value without question.  It wasn't until adulthood that I actually started to really question things, mainly because of one excellent piece of advice I received in my twenties, that still carries with me today:

"Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see."

I also remember a lot of attempts by my parents to try to better their standard of living by hooking into the latest make-extra-money scheme.  I recall Amway, and Miracle Maid, rather vividly.  I think that my mother still has some of the Miracle Maid cookware, even after thirty-five years or so.  I'm also thinking that most of this was instigated by my father, for better or worse, and I also know it never lasted all that long.  

There will be more as we progress, little snippets of things that come to mind or a jog of the memory about a favorite toy, or television show, or just something that stuck with me through all of these years that, if I let it, comes to the front of my mind seemingly out of nowhere, compelling me to write it down before it disappears again.