The First Chapter (draft)

This is a rough draft of the first chapter. The first page or so, that is. Putting all these things down on paper is definately a little challenging. I am trying to make sure to not name names, and put nothing nasty into this book. I can explain all of my life without doing that, it just takes a little more time and challenge to put it delicately!  I hope this gives you a little peek...





GROWING UP

I was one of the lucky ones growing up at the time I did. I was born in 1956 to parents who met in their senior year in high school. Both of my parents were born back East and moved to Anaheim, California, and graduated in 1955. They married in October of 1955.

 

I am the oldest of 6 children born to my mom and dad. My mom lost the sixth child, which was a son, shortly after birth. I grew up with 3 younger sisters, and one younger brother.

 

We grew up in a time when you could ride your bike outside until after dark. We used to ride our bikes for miles down to the local A & W, then call mom and dad to tell them we could not possibly ride all the way back up the hill to home! They would always come and pick us up. I am sure they were not always pleased with us but, nevertheless, they picked us up. We rode skate boards, and mini bikes, horses, and everything in between. We grew up in a rural area. At least it was rural back in the day when I grew up there. We could walk all over the place, swing on swings hung on huge eucalyptus trees, overlooking huge gullies. We played outside every day, all day, usually until dinner. All the neighborhood kids either played with each other or fought with each other. Definitely not in the way that kids fight and bully each other today.

 

The beach was only 30 minutes away, where we could swim and body surf any day in the summer when we could get a ride down to the coast. We would BBQ on the beach and spend hours with family and friends. Everything was really ‘family oriented’ back then, something I miss today. I see my children and grandchildren quite a bit, but the rest of my family is about 500 miles away. It makes it difficult to get together as often as we would like.

 

My father would take us on summer vacations almost every year. We would explore different parts of California and the Southwest. We saw American Indian Ruins that people can no longer even get close to, much less walk around in them. I saw Mesa Verde when you could climb up the ladders to see the homes that were built there. I didn’t know then how much of an impact it would make on my life. We were able to go to Indian Reservations in the 60s and 70s in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. We would buy the coolest beads. I think I was about 11 years old when I first started stringing my own beads, and I still do to this day. Eventually I would go to college and study Sociology and Anthropology. It definitely made an impact on me, in a really good way. I thank my dad for those vacations, they were really special. Not always perfect, but how can you have perfect when you are traveling with 5 kids. I am surprised my parents kept on doing it almost every year while I was growing up. In between vacations, we also had a trailer in Bullhead City, Arizona. This is where we kept the boat and would travel to water ski quite a bit. It was really fun. I remember times when I was getting older and did not want to go, but would always have fun once we got to the river. My grandparent’s on my dad’s side retired there, so we would continue to visit for many years. My children were able to visit there also before my grandparents passed away.

 

It was great fun as a child in Bullhead City. At that time there was only three casinos in Laughlin, which was across the Colorado River. We would take the Ferry Boat over to the casinos and eat. My children were able to experience this also before the Ferry stopped. Now there are at least a dozen casinos on that side of the river. We would pack a lunch, and go to Lake Catherine which was about a half hour away. We would start our vacations at the river, and travel throughout the southwest. We saw Monument Valley, the Painted Desert, Lake Powell, Zion, and Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, and many other places. It was a great time to grow up.