Timothy Alexander " A wonderful creation and child of God."
Age 34 February 12, 1975 Framingham Massachusetts
Favorite Pastime: Travelling with military family to England, Germany, and across the US. Graduated at RAF Lakenheath High School, in England.
Interests: Writing spiritual devotions to help edify lives in Christ, and also a participant in the Celebrate Recovery program.
Growing up is never an easy thing in life. There are a multitude of ups and downs to conquer, and many of times you just want to give up...nothing will happen overnight. Life takes time, and if I had an opportunity to retrace my steps, I would. My family went through alot together, and there was an unfortunate length of time where I was separated from my family to sort out differences...but in the long run it paid off and we beared our heads together. We've only got one life; and we have only one mother. Perhaps we have many dads ( steps, step to steps ).....reminisce in the good times, and forgive the less desirable within the understanding of love and care.
My name is Timothy, I was born in Framingham Massachusetts and had the opportunity to venture from state to state as a member of a military family. My mother and father have been a blessing to me over the years; and although sometimes I was a pain, I spent the most enjoyable years under their wings of love and care; and remain under their wings, even though I have flew from the comfort of the homely nest.
I had the choice growing up to enter into either the Catholic faith or the Protestant faith. I chose Catholic, and as the years progressed, had the opportuntiy to experience not only the Catholic belief and doctrines, but also the Protestant and Methodist. My father was Catholic, and my mother was Protestant. My grandfather enjoyed Methodist srvices; and so, I was blessed with the opportunity of religious diversity. As I grew, I shifted toward the non-denominational setting with a lean toward the charismatic faith, believing that we serve only one God...no matter what your class of religion is.
GROWING UP............
When I was growing up, if I had a quarter, I thought I was the richest guy in the solar system; and I wanted to be a priest when I got older so that I could help people, until I found out that priests can't marry. And so, I thought I'd help myself out and dream of another occupation. I still haven't come to terms with what I want to do with my life, but I figure whats the rush- they have eighty year olds graduating from college- there's nothing like living life to its fullest and thinking of each day as an adventure.
I was the only one in the family of mom and dad, which made it extremely hard to get away with things. I always knew when I was in the big mess...my name was always "Timmy"...but if the window was broken, and I couldn't blame it on the cat....my name was suddenly expanded to "Timothy Alexander Jason Buettner." That was the air raid siren to leg it across the city, and to battle up! I had a personal paddle at home that had my name on it, and my name was dearly imprinted upon the assets when I was in trouble.
Being the only one was sometimes lonesome; and I always wished that I would wake up one day and the philosophy of the "birds and the bees" would somehow be defeated, and have a surprise waiting under the Christmas tree. It was a cinch to infiltrate conversations my parents would have with their friends after supper, when I would be sent to smash my hotwheels and GI Joes. "Oh yes, he does real good in school! He's such a charm...and did we ever tell you about the time.........."
I outgrew the mysterious men and women and creatures that lurked under my bed at night, or that rode wingless sleighs and came down the chimney into the house when we had no chimney, but a high tech security alarm. The toothfairy was the last to go for me; I had lost a tooth one night and placed it under the bed. I had visions of ten grand stuffed under the pillow the next morning, and when I checked....there was a small, shiny and gleaming tooth! My father came in and told me to go back to bed because it was still too early. "Hmmm" , I wondered, "maybe the toothfairy got laid off or something? I suppose the alternate will be here tonight!" About fifteen minutes later, however, reality struck me clear out of my mattress....the toothfairy was the same guy who fed me, drove me to school, and played baseball with me...the one who silently strode into my room and carefully lifted my pillow as not to wake me- not that I was sleeping or anything.
My first job came when I was about sixteen, and my first tax return came soon thereafter...about the same time I realized that Uncle Sam wasn't a distant relative afterall, and I sure didn't want to meet him by chance through some family reunion! I wish he would write me more often and tell me more often where my money mysteriously goes!
I moved alot growing up, and had at least twenty home addresses by the time I finished with high school...the post office is still trying to track me down from my second address! Germany was the farthest I've ever travelled, and talk about the culture shock! Theatre movies take a while to reach that part of the woods from the great US of A; and when they do, they're then known in the USA as "oldies"...not new releases! Spuds McKenzie, remember, the Budweiser dog-visited the states from Germany in the late eighties and thought maybe he was the new presidential candidate! He was talked about so much then, but not in Germany!
Growing up has really been an adventure for me, and it continues to be as I encounter new obstacles and heights. I'm still a child inside...as I think we all are in our own ways...there's alot still to learn and enjoy...
RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME.....
The first time I ever ran away from home was at the age of twelve in all places, the former West Germany where I knew only "hi" and "bye" in the foreign tongue. My adventure lasted all of a few hours before I succumbed to the warmth of a complete strangers home at four in the morning-asking for a ride home. But as for the first time I ever ran away for real, it was toward the later teen years.
Tensions had slowly built within the family, mom and dad were preparing for another military move and I was yearning for independence. Independence doesn't always come easy, it takes time and comes in its own place and way; I was too quick for it, and impulsively made the decision to move out on my own. Boarding in a rooming house with less than desirable conditions, and I continued to attend my last year of high school career and began to lose a social life with extended hours I put into work. Stress built to the point that I had to get away from everything, and subsequently boarded a bus for Corpus Christi, texas.
My family became overwhelmingly worried in my absence as I had not demonstrated thr maturity to let them know of my plans; and after several weeks, I returned home. I had spent time both on the streets and in homeless shelters and the Christmas holiday was in the imminent future.
Almost as soon as I had returned home had I left once again. I had returned to school, but was failing in nearly all subjects and it seemed that I'd lost nearly all my friends. My mother and father were still due to move, and it worried me that I wouldn't get to see them again on top of the minimal physical contact that I had with my relatives two-thousand miles away over the course of my life.
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Of all the days, I chose my mothers birthday, January 15th, to catch a Greyhound bus northward from balmy Texas. I had all of forty dollars on my person and was about to embark into the unknown. I slept most of the three day bus trip in a wintery mix of weather, arriving in Boston Massachusetts with all of a light weight jacket on my back. I had family to contact, but didn't for fear of rejection at the time...having just ran away. I spent the first night under a railroad tressle.
Running away introduced me to the homeless for the first time in my life; and it's not a pleasant picture. Society treats the less fortunate with little dignity for the person that they are- but there is an inside to every man and woman I met in the shelters and food pantries. Service members who have returned from the Persian Gulf War were among the list of homeless, as were those who had life going for them at one point. I wish there were something to solve the poverty crisis, to solve the "who cares attitude" of some of society. Running away, it feels like your feelings and utmost worries are harboured from your immediate future- but they'll always be there. Not knowing where your next meal is coming from, being prone to violence and strife on the streets and leaving to stray the ones you love most is very terrorizing; it may not feel that way at first, but it comes....
Two weeks after I had landed in Massachusetts, two weeks after I had come short of making contact with my family- my aunt and uncle ironically volunteered to tend to the "Grace Church" shelter where I was boarding, and the following day after seeing my name on the rolls and seeing me asleep in the cot, made contact with me. Afterward, I stayed at my grandparents home, and found comfort that they weren't going to send me home or speak harsh- but were rather delighted to see their growing grandchild.
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It was the second birthday I remember spending with my grandmother, who had been struggling so long with multiple sclerosis and was for the most part, bed-ridden. Not only my grandmother, but to see my entire family brought a feeling so great, it's hard to describe. Being a military child, so often we were moving and we barely had an opportunity to spend quality time together; we may have spent a few holidays together at random, or times when we were called on emergency leave. This was difficult, growing up, but it was something I had no real choice in.
Finally, I felt content with making contact with my mother and father, and agreed to return home in Texas and take part in the impending move to England. Spending a few remaining days on the New England coast with my cousins, binds were made. I departed once aagin by bus on a bitter Monday morning, bidding my grandmother farewell-promising to see everybody soon and keeping in touch. I arrived withn a small climate shock back in Texas....and during the trip back to Texas, I also learned that my grandmother had been placed in the hospital. She passed away before we could return to see her the next week.
God works in mysterious ways, to teach and guide us through life. I can only figure that running away was part of the master plan. By running, parts of my family have come closer; and I had the opportunity to see both sides of society and life. Life that I can now convey to others in hopes that they can gain encouragement and light.
MY LIFE OF PETS......
I grew up around pets, from cats to dogs, to mice, to the frogs and grasshoppers I used to smuggle into the house- a dead giveaway to the cats.
Cats...we had at least one cat in every home we lived. Cats are quiet and peaceful animals, only whinning when they're hungry or want attnetion; they know when you're wearing white, or a very important uniform, however...they'd come darting up and rub themselves all over you! Their way of saying "Hahha Sucker!" We had one cat who thought he was a dog, throw a ball across the room and he'd chase it and bring it back. Most cast bring you presents, and although you don't think a dead bird on the pillow right before bed is the perfect present, you couldn't change their mind. Cats have a fair diet and will usually eat what you place before them...it's just what yuo don't place before them, such as the roast beef in the sink to thaw, that they find as the ultimate feast-unfortunately for one of our cats, it was the last in our household.
Dogs-we had two of them as I was growing up. The first and most interesting was the dog my father found at work on the Air Focr base, chasing airplanes down the runway! Aircraft approaching onehundred and fifty miles per hour. The last dog was Zeek, whom I'd named after an imaginary friend ( gulp ). I would write about him as a youngster, and then, presto-a dog named Zeek in our home. Dogs, they make their presence known in the household as well as the presence of a passing atom. They can be your best companion- and they make a darn good alarm clock....when they have to relieve themselves at four in the morning-in a driving rainstorm...they'll wake you!
Hamsters and mice I had while I took up residency in my own apartment. You never know they exist unless you smell them, or they start running their little metallic wheels at midnight. Hamsters multiply, by the way...first hamster I has was a female. Curiousity was getting to me after a while of having fed Fred- or who I thought was Fred! You see, Fred was getting bigger and bigger. I thought it was the great amount of food I fed him, and I felt pretty good that I was doing well with a hamster that I went out and got another hamster to keep Fred company. I named the second hamster George.....George and Fred......welll....George had little babies and so did Fred at the same time! I really didn't know how to tell them apart from male and female......just goes to show.....do your research when you purchase a pet!
Gold fish don't thrive in tap water! And the water must have a good supply of air via the air pump. Quick little lesson I learned with a gold fish. I thought they simply thrived well in regular water.....since I never saw a giant-sized jumbo airpump at the ocean!
Pets...what friends..I may try life with hamsters again some day...but now, I'll just sit back and enjoy nature at its finest!
WHAT I DID FOR WORK.........
I grew up working most of my jobs as a food service worker, between two chicken restraunts, an ice cream restraunt, and a burger bar. One of the most important customer service mottos we were taught was that "the customer is always right." Now there's a philosophy I've always wanted to bend a little....
"Alright sir, three taco supremes and a medium coke, your total comes to five-fifty!"
"Well" I would reply, "I would like it for free!"
"Sorry sir, it's five-fifty of no slop!"
"Do you believe that the customers always right?" I would then ask.
"Well, yes sir, very much!"
"And your motto is ""The customer is always right" I would ask.
"Yes it is sir."
"Then I would like three grease laden meaty taco supremes and one medium calorie filled coke for free-and I'd like it my way right away now!"
Interesting customers are the ones that order their food, eat three quarters of the meal, and then lodge a complaint that they found fifty onions on the burger and didn't want onions, and go further as to reuqest a new burger- or found their food too cold, yet eat everything but a few crumbs and demand the new meal! I'm at a loss to figure that out!
I used to have thoughts of going into the food service management with three years of experience I've had, but I had second thoughts. You see,k I like to eat, and well, in order to run a food service business, yuo have to have food to serve the customers!
There's nothing like working a gureling ten hour shift slapping chickens into flour, getting flour all over the floor...along with all the seasonings, hosing the floor down thereafter and having a giant doughy mess....then going home smelling like a chicken. Then mother calls out "DINNER TIME!"
"Gee mom" I would ask "Whats for diner?"
" CHICKEN!"
Working in the ice cream shop in south Texas, I was suprised by the dipped cones we used to serve...here you are with a cold soft ice cream cone, and you dip it into chocolate sauce heated to one hundred degrees...how does the ice cream manage to withstand another hundred degree rise from its surface temperature without falling off the cone into a mess?
No shirt, no shoes, no business....nothing about pants, underwear or dresses however.
MORE ABOUT ME.....
Looking through the papers, I see articles sometimes that I have a hard time following, not because I don't understand them..but for the reason that some of them can be so darn absurd and ludicrous. One of the most noteworthy that I saw was in a newspaper in Great Britian; about a young girl who pulls a prank by taking a fellow classmates pen. No harm done, you would think; we did the same thing at some point growing up. But what if the school called the police; and the police came to your house?
The school was quoted as saying that they have a high standard of conduct among the students...well, I'm sure every school has a high standard, because yuo're supposed to learn and they're supposed to teach you. You can't expect a student to learn if you don't expect them to behave...it simple as that.
What's the maximum penalty for snitching a pen from another student anyway, a couple years in maximum security, the guillotine? I mean, if stealing a pen was such a crime..then I'd be expecting the FBI and SWAT teams at my door anyday! There's been many of times I've gone into the store and had to fill out something, or had to sign a check at the bank...and inadvertently walked out with a pen. You know, the ones that say in white letters...."Property of the US Governemnt." There are many a culprit out there today...
Where do pens go anyway? All the pens and pencils I've lost growing up...some have shown up in the wash, with all the black and blue underwear streaked with white- and others in the bottom corner of the school locker for four months after recieving a D on my school test because I came unprepared. But where do all the pens go? I know...there must be a secret land of pens somewhere on the face of the earth, with pens and pencils stacked four miles high...the ones that I'm destined to find someday...and when I do, I'll be the richest man in the world, because I'll sell all the pens and pencils back to those who have lost their own.
APPLIANCES
Looking through gift catalogs, I've noticed a new style of watch which enables you to operate your television or VCR by way of the microscopic buttons on its face..nothing like making society into one giant couch potatoe! "Casio" is probably dreaming, along with their line of wristwatches that somehow transfer program the oven to start cooking, that speak with you and compute the math of your bills...and eventually ones that will make your bed and feed the animals.
When I was thought of and pushed into this world one day long ago-microwaves were just being introduced and if your family had one- they must've been a governor or president! Now, a microwave is as much a commodity as toilet paper-almost every household has one for less than a hundred dollars.
Ever look on the grocery store shelves and notice the vast quantity of toilet paper and paper towel-everything from ultra soft to ultra rough! From the scent of nasal discharge to the scent of roses? Save your money, folow our forefathers and recycle that newsprint! And medicines, makes you more sick and painful searching for that right drug to ride out the storm! De-Congestants Plus-Plus, Cold Remedy Excel, Cold Remedy Super Excell. "Wheres the generic aisle!"
Recently acquired a new camcorder, and talk about a change! Gone are the days when you had to be a super heavy-weight to carry a mammoth camera over your shoulder-pretty soon they'll be wallet sized!
Computers are growing and changing it seems almost daily! Operators of the Univacs centuries ago could only dream of laptops-going a step further, how about the recent development of the wrist top version of a computer! User-friendly is the quote of computers....and after hearing about those germs, uh, viruses and the way ATM's like to eat plastic-I find the abacus more user-friendly now and again.
Why don't they make all appliances with the same battery for once! I've got a radio with size AA; another radio with size C; a bicycle light with size D; and it really stinks if you just want one D sized battery and have to buy the whole pack of four! I've got batteries gorwing out my ears!
Well, I imagine tommorow will be a new era of something spectacular which will supposedly make our lives alot easier-nearly 80 percent of time not...maybe fold up size automobiles and houses, and maybe even a whole city block if you go on vacation!
God Bless you.
IN MEMORY OF MY GRANDFATHER
In putting the pages of this website together, especially the writing that I enjoy doing; I use the pen-name Timothy Alexander, with Alexander being my middle name. My middle name was given to me after my grandfather. My grandfather passed away in May 2006 with lymphoma, but his memory lives on, because in all of my works, and in those that I hope to publish, it will be in the pen-name Timothy Alexander, to not only identify myself ( Timothy ), but to reconoze him.
I wrote this following selection for my grandfathers memorial service in May 2006.
It's not easy being a Christian, as we face trials and challeneges of many kinds; some easier than others. In this regards, the book of James tells us within its chapters to "count it our joy when we face trials of many kinds"- also not an easy thing to do. We come together as family, as one body, to overcome a difficult time of loss; but we have learned more and gained more about life, never "losing" what we have learned by my grandfather, your father, your husband, and everyones friend. We find joy in the times we've spent with him, new found life and joy in lessons he's taught us, and this will carry on in us every day- finding joy that he will always be in our hearts and in spirit all around us in all that we do. As Christians, we are called to be Christ-like; lloking to and imitating Christ as best we can. We find examples of Christ-likeness as we seek Christian values both in Christ through scripture and in others who've followed in example of him. One of these examples we find is with Grampy as he sought to be of service to others, putting others first, even as he struggled with illness. Never giving up until finally one day Our Heavenly father said "well done good and faithful servant; it's time to come home." And home indeed he is, not simply in Heaven above, but at home in our hearts and around us, in all we do. Thankyou Grampy, thankyou Father, for showing us and teaching us how to live.
We find in scripture many references to death as merely "sleeping"...and so, if we're sleeping, we're dreaming. I am certian that Grampy had many dreams for us grandchildren, children, and friends alike to carry forth; that include acts of volunteerism and serving fellow men or women as he had demonstrated through oddfellows and police crossing guard, amongst others. In that light, we are to carry that dream on, because he is "sleeping" right now. He is still alive in each of our hearts, although physically he has passed on, now with the daddy of all up above; but also in and around us. As he finds rest in heaven, let us awaken that spirit of servanthood and peace that he taught us in many ways, so that he is also here and awake with us in every step we take.
Vision of Recovery
Recovery to me means “to take back” our wellness and wholeness of life. Recovery is to make positive changes forward in life from a certain point that we found ourself in before we consciously made the decision to move forward into recovery.
When I think of recovery, I am reminded of someone receiving a large income tax check; and how quickly they go to cash, to recover that money. When I think of recovery, I am reminded of someone who’s in the hospital sick; they don’t stay there forever, they do what it takes to regain ( or recover ) their health.
Recovery takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight; however, the effects of recovery are rewarding and well worth the effort down the path which may be more bumpier at times than others. Recovery to me is climbing a mountain, but realizing that there will be more mountains to cross that may be even higher; but as we cross each mountain, we become more and more equipped than the time before through our experience of recovery.
