I wrote my first poem as a sophomore in high school during biology class. All I can remember of it is that it came out of nowhere and was about a cave. It just sort of fell off the end of my pencil. After that, I wrote a poem or two later on, but nothing serious. It was in 1980 when I returned to my writing with the encouragement from my friend, Mills. Mills was single and so was I. As neither of us had the education to secure high paying employment, we decided to pool our incomes and continue sharing housing, which worked out wonderfully well. A lot of my poetry was written during this period. Mills and I live on a small farm where we raise chickens and a garden and tend yard and flower beds and take care of our blue-eyed dog named Chance. We feed the squirrels and birds year around, and the deer in the winter. We hold open house at any given time of the year for our nine children, twenty-one grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. Since retirement, my thoughts have consistently returned to completing this book of poetry. I have added work, written and rewritten it more times than I can remember. After completion of this book, I truly believe, as my poem implies, that I have only been "Paying My Dues". J P Wilson