About Me
 |
The Auto Biography of BubbaJames
Who I Am
 Current picture taken 07/08/09
 |
 My WebRing Stats:
My ring manager name is bubbajames and at this time I manage 39 rings with just over 1100 member sites. I came to Webring around 2002 or 2003, I can't remember the exact time. I joined as a member of a number of rings to try and bring awareness to tobacco abuse.
If you are a Ring Manager, I hope you will join this ring called "Ring Manager Biographies" by clicking the link above. While you are there, read and get to know the men and women who work hard to make their webring communities the best on the web. If you have questions or comments I can be reached at:
james011155 (at) yahoo (dot) com
 |
______________________________________________________________________________________
Last Reveiw and Update made to this page was on November 14, 2010
Note: With-in my autobiography I have provided links to places and clarifications of certain terms
to help you better understand my life. Please note the links to my sisters Joy and Sherry's memorial sites have music.
My Quitsmoking Forum
Freedom Village
 |
|
I'm not much of a writer but I hope this will give you an idea of the person I am. First off, I hope the name "Bubba" does not offend anyone, if it does you may want to leave now. I will explain later the significance of that name.
I was born in January of 1956 in a place called Elberton Georgia, USA known as "The Granite Capital of the World". I was the last of my parents children. I had 8 half brothers and sisters and 3 whole sisters, Joy, Wanda and Sherry.
|
|
Age 3 in Elberton GA
Paternal Grandmother, my cousin Ann, sisters Joy and Wanda
 |
Age 5 in Elberton GA
 |
In October of 1959 I was stricken with polio and was treated for three months in Warm Springs, Georgia.
When I first became sick the symptoms were very much like the flu....fever, throwing up and just an over all ill feeling. When I didn't get better from the treatment for the "flu" by the local physician, I recall my father taking me to a prayer revival (we were/are Christians). With him holding my hand we walked into the revival tent and my legs became like water and buckled under me....
With God's, my father, mother and sisters help, I survived. At about that time the name "Bubba" (in American slang the name can mean "brother") came from my three sisters......I don't know which one started calling me Bubba but as the years went by, it was used with affection by family and friends. Although I walked (still do) with an odd gait wearing full length metal leg braces and crutches, it didn't slow me down, in fact I was not very well behaved and my father constantly said, "That boy has a hard head!"
|
My aunt,
my sister, Sherry and me, Bubba
 Warm Springs GA Nov. 1959
|
 |
When I was eight we moved to Okeechobee Florida because my father needed to find a better paying job as a heavy equipment operator. We were a poor family and literally going hungry in Georgia, even though my father worked everyday it just wasn't enough. Before we moved from Elberton, someone said that, "In Florida the houses don't have chimneys (very few homes now have chimneys...even in Georgia :-)" and "the land is flat"! My sister's and I had a hard time believing a house could not have a chimney and there was no hills!
Starting the second grade in Okeechobee, my teacher called me her "Georgia Boy" because of my deep Southern drawl and accent. It was about this time I became shy and self-conscious (but NOT because she called me Georgia Boy). I loved growing up in Okeechobee, it was a small town and everyone was friendly and "country".
|
|||
I saw orange and grapefruit trees for the first time and found out I HATED grapefruit! There were "swamps" with snakes, gators, coons, armadillo, deer, and most of all the best fishin' of any place on earth....there was nothing like sitting on the bank of a canal fishing with a cane pole. ( I won't mention the dreaded "mosquitos" ... hummm, guess I just did.) Best of all there was Lake Okeechobee for swimming, and of course I couldn't swim a lick and nearly drown more than once because of "pot holes". After being rescued by my father a few times (I lost count, I think he did too) he would tell me "don't go too far out"......that was like telling me to "go for it"!
In 1970 we moved to Fort Pierce, Florida, located about 30 miles to the east of Okeechobee. I loved this place even more because it is right on the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean (for some reason I don't recall my father going to the beach with us, hummm, I wander why?). My sister's and their boyfriends would allow me to tag along with them to the beach, drive-in, and my favorite place McDonald's for a Big Mac and the 7/11 for a 16 ounce bottle of PEPSI!!
Around 1973 we returned to Georgia and as much as I loved my home state it was never the same after growing up all those years in Florida. I missed my friends in Fort Pierce, my father was away in another town working, I was making straight "F's" during my first six weeks in 9th grade in Elberton. I quit school, stayed home and a few years later my father retired and I was forced to go on disability.
In 1979 I returned to Fort Pierce. My eldest sister, Joy's husband, was born and raised in St. Lucie County and he had decided to return after he and my sister had lived in Georgia for a few years. (they eventually went back to Georgia for good) I felt it was my chance to get back to Fort Pierce for a short visit. That visit became perminent! I've lived here ever since.
While I was staying with them, Joy sensed how unhappy I was (as my sis, she always could sense how I felt....I miss her everyday of my life.....cigarettes took her away from me far too soon). I didn't like being on disability and I wanted an education. She went to an agency called the Florida Vocational Rehabilitation. The counselor she saw wanted to see me immediately. From the time I shook the man's hand, with my head held down, my life changed! I stayed in Florida, even though my father and mother begged me to come home.....heck I was 21! It was time I grew up and began to live an independent and productive life. In the first year I went to the local college and:
 After three months of study I obtained my high school diploma with high scores. Took vocational courses to prepare for a career.Obtained a car and driver's license (the car was equipped with hand controls because I could not use my left foot on the brake).Got a full time job with the College and have been employed there since January 1980.My father has been gone since July 1989 and was always asking "When is Bubba coming home?" Before he died he did tell me, "Son, I love you and I'm proud of you." My mother lives in Elberton GA and is now 78.....I've been blessed to help her financially and talk to her every Sunday morning. I lost my younger sister Sherry, July 1, 2003 at age 48 and my eldest sister Joy in August 2004 at age 52, both deaths were contributed to smoking. I talk to my sister Wanda often but she still smokes and her cough gets worse as the years pass.
I was diagnosed with C.A.D. (Coronary Artery Disease) and C.O.P.D. (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) at the age of 45. I quit smoking on November 26, 2001 thanks to something called Zyban, Nicorette Gum and a quit smoking internet forum. The forum was my greatest support group and it is were I met a Texas lady (with a heart just as big as Texas) name Mags who has supported me and Freedom Village Quit Smoking Forum from day one. Judy Thigpen was instrumental in providing the name for this great forum at the time of it's conception. The symbols of FV QS Forum remain to be the dove and the butterfly.
My first successful quit lasted 18 months and within a few days before my sister Sherry died I allowed myself to start smoking again. I still remember the sadness on her face when I said I slipped and smoked. Even though she was a smoker I knew how proud she was of me when I had quit. Off and on I quit through the years and thank God I never again smoked over 5 cigarettes a day.
Unfortunately I became addicted to the nicotine gum but I think it helped me not to increase my smoking habit and I knew it was NOT the nicotine that killed but the smoking/cigarettes! My physical health greatly improved when I changed my smoking habits. At this writing I am 100% free of smoking and nicotine.
I quit successfully on December 25th, 2005 and continue to dedicate my free time to providing others with a means to quit smoking. I helped to create and manage quit smoking help webpages, forums and MySpace pages to bring more attention to tobacco abuse. I'd like to think I have helped to change the lives of others in some positive way.
God is good and so are the people who have touched my life on the internet. Thanks for taking the time to read about me and if there is anything I can do for you....."I'm only an email away." ....or you can often see me at Freedom Village Quit Smoking Forum. I also spend a great deal of time at WebRing as a Ring Manager and if you have webpages, consider joining our family of ring members as it will help to bring more visitors to your site.
|
||||
|
|
QuitSmokingHelp.org
James E. Davis
Copyright © 2002-2011. All rights reserved.