Echoes of Richard Jefferies

About the Book

“It is eternity now, I am in the midst of it. It is about me in the sunshine; now is the immortal life.”

About the Author

Brian was born in Windsor Ontario pretty poor household . There were 8 of us off and on. Dad was an amazing musician married twice thus 8 of us a mix of brilliance and criminality. Running through the family fine was a form of Muscular Dystrophy which was not too noticeable because we were all fighters (one professional) I missed a lot of school in my denial years.l repeatedly walked out of class & went hitch hiking to London Ontario When my sister was having a leg amputated. I was a pissy angry teenager getting blitzed on alcohol and drugs By grade 12 1 was asked to exit the building . Working since I was 14 1 remarkably did alright. Ran off to Europe when I was 17, I tried to smuggle hash on my return flight and had an exciting run with the RCMP I was able to jump into a cab and head towards the 401 hwy. I took a couple of punches from the cabbie when I told him I didn’t have any money, what I did have was pockets full of every European currency imaginable. The cabbie ended up doing quite well. The first truck that went by was a Mc Donalds truck the driver said hey do you want a job ? We delivered to all the small towns in Southwestern Ontario. I made a little cash then stayed at a friend of a friends house in London Ontario As I was sure the police were still looking for me from the airport hash incident. House was boarded up but clean, young guy stayed in a housecoat all day and asked me why did you come here?’ told him that my best closest friend picked up all of his marijuana here and he gave me your address the cops are probably still looking for me. He laughs incredoulsly . There were two unmarked cars here earlier they will probably be here this afternoon with a battering ram. I snuck out the next morning. These were very hard days and I hurt a lot of people, my drug use brought addiction to Methadone, I fortunately had an epiphany of sorts after a real nasty barfight & stabbing (and, in the morning after no sleep a brilliant summer day I heard footsteps coming up our old street, there was a young black girl in a nurses uniform with her cap on and a subtle smile walking briskly with perfect posture, I was transfixed by the beauty of her entire being she caused me to instantly assess my current life, I’m 19 and had just had a bath and yet felt filthy, It felt like my teeth were falling out and I was picking at my skin a bit and the towel on me hurt, and I thought what do I want to be in life ? I couldn’t conjure a heathy thought for my future and this young woman had purpose & nobility, I remembered the previous night Charlie Dawson & Bob Wilson had putted me aside and showed great concern for my well being, they jared unexceptional band and Charlie said “You know Brian if you could ever get your life back & get on some drums your the guy we’d want to play with, they had no idea “the power of words” I was in such bad shape but deep in my mindl told myself “I’m going to do it” this Nurse walking by the next morning was the catalyst Hardening in my DNA I was working at American Can art the time,they manufactured Tin Cans of every size, the place was filled with older hardened men, some Farmers working 2 jobs some serious jailbirds but making an honest living, i would take Amphetamines to keep my body going and I learned some real hard lessons in there, had a Union Foreman meet me in an isle and he suddenly let lose with a few punches while saying he just didn’t like me, as my our neighbour Mr.Pettit got me the job and he was upper management & made some deal to get me in, since these hits were not going well (guy was built like muscle beach party with his sleeves rolled up | thought well I can’t win but I’ll at least hit him once, so I clocked him in the face, it shocked him, he stopped and glared at me and like lightning threw me in an headlock and dragged me out on the shop floor where there was 3 guys waiting, one was a friend I had made, he suddenly laughed and said you crazy little bugger, you name is now “Herc” we became the absolute best of friends, he was a Caron as was my buddy with him,I forget their first names but they were all French Canadians of reputation from the area of Pain-Court, I worked some real hard men in there and got to work right alongside them,if felt tremendous and I treasure some crazy scary memories that happened in there, some families have a cost to join. Anyway this job gave me the money to buy some brand Rogers Drums from the man himself “John Bellone “ in London, I locked myself in the basement and stopped all hard drugs but allowed myself Beer & Maryjane. I ended up in a great band with Charlie and life got a lot better fast! Words can be seeds of great hope when the soil is ripe! (Matthew 13:8 But other seeds fell on good rich soil that kept producing a good harvest.) Fast Forward, the impetus to push through the challenge was after reading a bit of Richard Jefferies remembering my Mom saying you have a famous poet as a Great Grandfather. I am now 72yrs of age I read a revisit by Brooke Williams and Terry Tempest Williams and was launched out so deeply by the writers who wrote this commentary. I was curious when they relayed their heart experiences in church world which became some what negative for them. My wife Kathy and I had a tremendous born Again experience that continues to vitalize us, but our travels through church world were not good overall we were caught in some ugly cult like practices in a small church that has taken yrs. to heal, and yet we are currently enjoying the Vineyard family in Langley B.C. Canada. So our son and daughter are marvellous individuals and they occupy space here in this book. My son Jared is miles above me as a gifted poet and my daughter Selah is also an expressive writer finding content from daily life on Lashmar ranch. People, people, people we can’t escape them, if we did its to our peril so ! write about the ones who have touched my heart some in previous centuries and that’s the part of the wonder isn’t it? People dropping jewels when they don’t even know it. Hopefully you pick up a few here and they bring you a smile.