1976 Memorabilia and How To Cook An Ostrich care of the Farmers Almanac--by Bryan F.

I decided to share this Bicentennial magazine shown below, that belonged to my Mom because it was well done and contains a lot of history. It's the only bicentennial item I own. I've never been much of a flag-waver but I like the effort put into this memento and that it serves as a learning tool about our Constitution and other historical artifacts.

I can clearly remember that year, 1976, my world seemed full of potential. I would soon live at the beach and was building a career. I had finally earned a promotion to restaurant manager and worked at one of the most important stores in the chain, the one that was in the owner's neighborhood and that he and his family visited once a week. I had a cool apartment and was making some good friends. In May I got derailed and joined the Church of Scientology. I got drawn in by their con game and believed that they would help me become a better person: That is until I didn't.

I left Scientology five months later and as I had even quit my job I talked my former employer into rehiring me. Employers don't do that. My ability to sell myself would help with my future career path. I went back to work and was assigned a store in Seal Beach to manage. I was back on track and 1976 continued to bloom into the best time of my life, my twenties. Living at the beach was a dream.

In 2020 some 44 years later I couldn't have imagined the path my life would take. I also could not have imagined the path my country would take. The Black Lives Matter movement and the progress that the LGBTQ+ movement has made I could never have imagined. I am proud to be alive to experience the important and scary time and I have great confidence that we will right our course this coming November. Change is always scary.

I've also included two Farmers Almanacs 1978 and 79, including some entries for July. How to cook an ostrich, of course, caught my eye and so I had to include it. The newspaper cut out ads were found in the pages. They were my Grandmothers and if you've followed my blog you know she was a saver. The Kodak film coupon never got used. I'm glad it wasn't. She bought a lot of rolls of camera film as is evidenced by the boxes of snapshots she left behind. I am their caretaker