Louisiana Outdoor Leagacy

Some folks have questioned me about how I came up with the title of my collection of true stories, "Louisiana Outdoor Legacy." It wasn't easy. Most of you may already know the written stories were never intended to be circulated to the general public. My original intentions were to write them down, make seven copies and give one to each of my seven sons. All of the stories, as unbelievable as some of them may sound, are true. Relying strictly on my own memory to recall the past events to begin writing down the first drafts made me realize that perhaps, the stories weren't entirely accurate, maybe I'd forgotten to put in some parts. I also knew I am not skilled in the art of writing. I hated to write lengthy reports of any type during my high school education, which is all I have. To satisfy my desire to be as accurate as possible, I decided to share the writings with the other participants to confirm accuracy and more educated individuals recieve their writing criticisms. I was wasn't too surprised to discover that on most all accounts, my versions were fairly accurate. And I wasn't surprised to discover that I was as dumb as I thought, when it comes to using punctuations and written words. What did surprise me was the very strong, emotional and heartfelt words of encouragement, from friends and family, to share them with the public by publishing.



That unexpected response frightened me in many ways. It would force me to expose my inner self to total strangers. The first thought of it left a feeling akin to being caught running from the bath to the laundry room, dripping wet, to look for a dry towel. No one else was home when you began your shower, the kids are in school and the spouse is out shopping with friends, so you're confident no one is there to see you. Your mind is totally focused on drying off and mopping the floor. You round the hallway corner and . . . Let's just say we all have warts we don't really care to show others and leave it there. Each story exposes a personal weakness of mine creating feelings of embarrassment, humiliation and a host of other emotions. Shame is not one of them, my heart was in the right place, even if I wasn't.



Each story is a personal treasure. There is no doubt in my mind, they were given to me from Our Father. With each adventure my trust in Him increased and I began to learn to rely on His grace. It's true, the original driving motivation of writing was to give a personal testimony to my children, to encourage them to go the outdoors and meet God in a personal way. I am not a theologin. I'm a realist and this I know, God is real. Jesus is real. And the Holy Spirit is real.



Some of you may be skeptic or doubters and that's okay. As long as you are a seeker, which in fact, is what an outdoorsman really is. He seeks, he hunts, all the while fine tuning all of his senses and . . . he finds. You can imagine my surprise to discover I was found, out in the woods and how it was revealed to me. Each unique story is a step taken on a life's journey leading me to be who I am today. I came to realize by sharing the stories with readers, who will make their own judgements, is the best way to thank Our Father for getting me out of the many situations I found myself in.



Why "A Louisiana Outdoor Leagacy?" More later, time to go to work.