Jerry Lynn Scoggins - July 29, 1947

This is another one of those that is hard to write, because Jerry is a complicated, but oh so simple person. Jerry is ten years older than me, so he was gone from home by the time I can really remember  details of us growing up.

I do remember a few details growing up - mainly him trying to teach me to drive. At this very young age, we did not realize how bad my eyes were. He would tell me to watch the road, and I would tell him I was (while my head was turned toward the ditch. My right eye was very dominant.)

My first airplane ride was when I was a Junior in high school. I got to fly to Houston for a weekend visit while he was living there. 

After he retired and finished college, he relocated to Gunter part time. Then the wanderlust kicked in and he started going to Asia. He spent the next years roaming around different parts of China, Thailand, Cambodia, and many cities that I can't pronounce or spell. He has always enjoyed traveling, which is something that we all enjoy. He has many stories of his traveling adventures that he should really write down.

The negative influence of living abroad ten years is that he lost his ability to drive fast and furious (as he did in Houston). He is known to be putting around going down 289 on the shoulder of the road. 

He has a few "quirks" that makes us laugh. One of the funniest is that he gets up during the middle of the night and eats a snack. He has no idea he is doing this. Diana finds crumbs where he has been in the sweets. Even though he eats pretty healthy - sweets are his weakness. He says he loses all self-control with sweets at night. 

Jerry does not like any part of cold weather. He says it hurts his body. That is one of the reasons he loved Asia. He is in his element on a warm sunny beach. This year we are hoping that was his last long season abroad. He is planning on spending the trip in South Texas this winter. He has done this in the past and it was a pretty good compromise for not going abroad. He has a brand new truck and camper, but has never had the camper hooked to the truck. He sees no need to practice. Some Sunday morning, he is going to hook them together and creep to south Texas on the back roads. 

He was gone while our kids were little and never really experienced their childhood. However, he has been much more involved with our grandchildren.  Marlow learned "Bub" really fast and knows that she can convince him to go see the geese or "bull".  Diana had to get onto him, because he was calling the horse the "bull" just to please Marlow. During the fourth, he did put his time in helping with the grandchildren. Bub and the rhino were great entertainment for the children.

Today is his 70th birthday. We will have a simple birthday meal to celebrate this occasion.
Happy Birthday, Jerry!