May 20th, 2012

Larry John Smith 's Story

Birth Year: 1958




Table of Contents





    My Name is Larry John Smith and this is my life.


     


    I am not living in a house these days. My drinking got the best of me and as frustrating as it is to me I survive day to day. I eat once a day bro here at McDonald’s. It is a lousy diet. I’m an alcoholic and I have been on the streets for 6 years. Today, I call the S. Platt River my home. I live under a bridge. I was asked a question today. What am I going to do with my next 30 years of my life? My answer is, I don’t think about it. I have not given up on life. In fact I don’t want to. I am just stuck in a bad way. I’m wondering if it would be ok to go back to school? Just don’t know how to go about doing it.


     


    Today, if I had money, I would probably go to the casino up in Blackhawk. I mean why not. I like to play the machines with the handles. I used to enjoy that. You know I never thought of being homeless in Blackhawk. You know, give me a quarter and I can change my life.


     


    I was born in our family home in Parker, CO on November 15, 1958, to my Dad, Grandison Smith and my mom who’s name was Elaine Morrisey. We took a taxicab to Children’s Hospital after I was born.


     


    My parents are gone now. They gave me everything! I didn’t give them a whole lot back. Christmas was the greatest time of the year. That was it! We had an artificial tree for a long time maybe 20-30 years. I used to hate it because it was my job to pack it all up afterward. I never liked taking it apart. My grandmother didn’t do it. I had to and I never liked that.


     


    Back when I was 8-9 years old my dad one Christmas gave my brother and me a stingray bike. We had to put them together ourselves. It had the banana seat and the sissy bar on the back, with the high handlebars. That was my favorite gift. There was nothing we wouldn’t do with those bikes. Jumping over and off things. We would drive across town and steal chains for it. When the chain would break we needed a way to replace it. We did it because they weren’t using um.


     


    After my parents got divorced we lived in Thornton for a while. There were some hoodlums in the neighborhood. There were two of them that took the bikes and were jumping them and trashing them. Once in a while I would get into a fight with these two. But I tried not to.


     


    I have two half sisters from my mother Mary Ann & Kathy Potrasic and a full brother who we called “Grandy” for Grandison Smith Jr. They are all still alive as far as I know. I know I should stay in touch with them but I don’t; at least not enough.


     


    I of course had a good relationship with my grandparents the Smiths. My grandfather was a retired lieutenant Cornels in the Army and my Grandmother worked at the Air Force Academy finance center. All my family went there. All my sisters and brother went into the service. I did not. I didn’t go. I could have but I missed the Vietnam War I was too young. They might have had to come and look for me like in the movie Saving Private Ryan.


     


    I was a landscaper for a time. I guess you could call that my occupation.


     


    I was 24 when my first child was born. I had some odd jobs and we were living in a house. As far as I know I think I have three children. I never met one of them and I can’t even remember her name. But the other two, they are of  my name. The first one born was John Louis Smith and the other Shannon Smith. I never married their mom. In fact I never got married at all.


     


    Back when I was a kid, Parker was not developed as it is today. It was a ways out of the city of Denver. I had a fairly good childhood. We lived on a ranch as a family and I raised and would show horses. They were a big part of my life back then. We raised gray Arabians and I did win some awards with them. My favorite horses name was Dan Cupid. He was born on Valentines Day. That’s why my grandmother named him Dan Cupid.


     


    I went to school and I did graduate back in 1976 from Parker High. I guess you could say I was a rebel rouser. Trouble followed me. I once skipped school for 45 days in a row. It was about the time my parents got divorced. I did get to go back. But they spanked me for my trouble. They had corporal punishment back then. The Principle had the duty and it was directed at my butt. I also had to do the entire make up work. Now I can’t say what they did to the girls! That makes me laugh!


     


    Now when I got in trouble at home I got the belt from Dad. Yah, we got the belt. Now when you did something wrong in front of Mom, she would just tell Dad and he would take us to the whipping post. I think he was a little abusive with his punishment. But I don’t think he enjoyed it, well he might of. Most of the time he was drinking too.


     


    We had some good times also. I went to Disney Land in California. I was 3 years old. I don’t remember it really. I have been back there since. But I never took my kids there. I wished I could, but that just didn’t happen. I was never really a dad to my kids. I regret that! I would like to change that I know where they are at but I don’t make the effort. When I did have the time with them they didn’t listen to me anyway. It was always Mom. They paid no attention to me. I paid my child support and it is over for me now. Now a relationship is more than advice. I would like to reestablish a relationship with them now that they are grown up.


     


    When I was a boy for fun we would go cat fishing. We would sit out in the middle of a pond in an inner tube.  We would use corn or rotten sausage for bait. I mean, you wouldn’t even want to touch it and the catfish love it. We didn’t fish at night as some do. We would just go to places other kids wouldn’t even think of going.


     


    I have a collection of arrowheads that I found as a kid. We would just go out looking in no particular place and I would find them. They would be on the ground. Sort of like a four leaf clover in a clover patch. I have some spearheads and quartz. I have the arrowheads and it took time, a lot of time. I never did any panning for gold. Nope never did that!


     


    Man! I haven’t thought about this for a very long time. I can still remember my first girl friend. Her name was Barbara Winters. Well Brother, I do know what happened to her and I will not ever forget. They were building a house up in Parker and it wasn’t finished yet. They didn’t fix the steps and she fell to her death. She was gone as soon as she hit. She was about 10 years old at the time. They hadn’t built the steps yet. There was supposed to be a barricade kind of thing. It still bothers me to this day. I have not thought about her for a long time.


     


    Back in 2000-2001 I flew across the country to meet a woman. I flew to meet her from Syracuse, NY. And it cost me about $800. I met this woman online and this was back when I had some money. I’m not going to say her name here; no I’m not going to do that. She was a pretty girl. But this was not my first flight but memorable because it was all the way across the country. I flew all the way out there and she met me at the airport. She was sitting there waiting for me when I got off the plane. We had a hotel to go to in Baltimore, MD. She drove all the way down there to get me.


     


    What I found out when I got there was she was doing the deceiving thing. She didn’t tell me that she had a husband and all that. Anyway I cut the trip short. She was sitting there crying and all that crap. So I had to switch my flight home and that cost me another $300 freakin dollars. I also had to get another hotel room for that same night. Then I spent another 24 hours waiting out there at the airport cause I’m trying to get the hell out of there. So much for finding girls on line!


     


    So here is some of my advice to the youngsters out there, “Do your best and don’t give up. Just keep going!”