I grew up in the heart of Texas, and how enjoyable it was. I loved Abilene and had a great childhood there as far as the settings go. In the household though, things were very different.

As a youngster, for the first few years of my life, I had a great life. My mother and father raised me in a wonderful Christian household. I was brought to church with them every week, never missing a day. My parents were both raised in the church so naturally they were going to do the same with me. Even at the age of three I remember playing in the nursery with other children. I remember going to Vacation Bible School and learning about stories in the Bible (mainly David and Goliath) even as a young child.

It wasn’t until five that my life was turned upside down. My mother got a new job that required her to work on Sunday’s and my father decided to do work around the house on Sunday’s. My days in the church were over at that time. A year later my mother and father began to grow distant. My father began to work late and not come home until almost the next morning. My mother stopped trying to figure things out and they ended up divorcing when I was 8. In the meanwhile, I was around constant fighting for two years.

My mother assured me that they would be okay as a couple, but she was obviously telling me this to put my mind at ease. It took them another two years before they could really tell me what was going on, and my father would even stop by on occasion to make it look like they were still a happy couple. I knew this wasn’t the case.

If there’s anything good that I can share about this experience, it’s the fact that I listened to a lot of radio between the ages of eight and ten. The music would be nice and loud so that I didn’t hear my parents yelling at one another, and there was one point in time where I came across a baseball game on AM radio. I was unfamiliar with the sport at the time.

I would try to listen to a game every day as I learned more about the sport and the different terms. It took me a while to catch on, but I figured it out as time went by. My father would always speak of the Rangers and Nolan Ryan, and I loved hearing the team play each and every day.

Every time my dad came by, I would always close my door, blast the radio, and hope to hear the Rangers on it. My mother came to realize my obsession with the team and she bought me a hat that I would wear every single day. This was during the 1983 season and the team wasn’t great, but it was so much fun to hear them win.

The Rangers are still just as special to me today as they were in 1983. It’s my favorite thing to see the Rangers play, and it all stems back to my childhood. They helped me through some rough years, and I’ll never forget that.