I was born in the early part of 1946 (an original baby boomer--my dad sure knew how to celebrate the end of World War II) at University Hospital on the campus of Ohio State University. Rumor has it that my Grandfather delivered me....he was a Doctor don't you know...rumor also has it that his back up was my uncle...another Doctor don't you know...I think my mom was trying to keep up with her older sister because my cousin Tom was born just 6 months before me....the first grandchild and the first BOY child on my mothers side. I was brought home in swaddling clothes (and as one of my later girl friends has suggested...."a silver spoon stuck up my ass"..but that's a story for another day!). This was in Columbus Ohio...not sure if it was Upper Arlington or The Hilltop. Not long after being born, I was moved to Ashland Ohio..then on to Dayton Ohio. Not sure about these moves but it had to do with my dad's budding career. We then moved to Huntington West Virginia ....from Huntington....it was on to Richmond Virginia (the home of my parents second blessed event!!...that's where my sister was born...I'll have more on her later!). Sorry folks, I really don't remember anything about these places except we lived in nice houses that had lots of trees.
From Richmond Virginia we moved to Washington DC....actually it was Chevy Chase Maryland....very close to Rock Creek Park and the Bethesda Navel Hospital. This is where my childhood memories start (all the memories were good for me but as for others...maybe not so good)..It's pretty cool to live in a neighborhood full of foreign ambassadors...The German Ambassador lived next door and the Swedish Ambassador lived across the street (his son Stephen was my best friend)....I'm really not sure why they didn't live in the Embassies, but it was fun for us kids!! I will do individual blogs about each place I lived and my memories of those places at a later time. Washington is where I started school and yes, of course it was a private school. I stayed in private schools until the next move and that was to Wilmington Delaware. This is where the memories really come flooding back. Wilmington is also the place we stayed the longest (almost 6 years) so I do have some roots there. Boy, do I have great stories...my times on Bandstand, my bus trips to South Philadelphia to watch the Phillies baseball team (un-beknownest to my mother), learning about girlie parts from my first real girlfriend (we were both 12) but she had an older brother who was made to take us along on his dates, fishing with the "Negros" in the Delaware River against my mother's wishes.. .the schools I attended, my trips to Atlantic City and Ocean City and Wildwood New Jersey and meeting my grandmother in New York City where she would spoil the hell out of me. Living in Stonehaven...a Catholic neighborhood in Wilmington....there is nothing better than to be non-Catholic living in a Catholic neighborhood....hundreds of kids to play with....back then it was part of the Catholic religion to have as many kids as possible!! Now it's on to Baltimore Maryland...we weren't there very long but I do have some interesting memories of that place. We lived in a great house next to a huge wooded area that led to Loch Raven Reservoir. Baltimore is where I learned to drive and where I got my drivers licence...at last, I was FREE to roam!! We had a summer place on the Severn River and I use to sail in front of Annapolis where the Severn River dumps into the Chesapeake Bay. I have lots of sailor stories while I was living in Baltimore. Johnny Unitas and other Baltimore Colts were friends of my parents. Don Shula bought our house when it was time to move on...yes, Baltimore was an interesting place. Did I mention my dad worked for one of the DuPont daughters and yes, he got lots of perks!! From Baltimore, we moved to San Antonio Texas....what a friggin' culture shock that was...all my friends back East told me tales of Indians that would scalp you if you looked at them wrong and cowboys who rode horses instead of cars and had gunfights in front of this old place called the Alamo. Well, of course that wasn't exactly true. Here is where my memories really come into focus (OR NOT)....my stint in San Antonio was from the spring of 1963 to the winter of 1971...so yes, I did my real growing up in the 60's in San Antonio Texas. My friends...this was where I really learned about life...I will write extensively about my memories of this place....and yes, the Statue of Limitations has been up for a very long time. I graduated High School and attended college in San Antonio..I lived the Summer (more than one) of Love in San Antonio..I learned more about life than I really wanted to know in San Antonio...Hemisfair was in 1968...my best friend's father was Commander of Fort Sam Houston...my hair was long...hippy chicks were everywhere....I attended a snooty private University in San Antonio where my friends had more money than sense...and a desire to do everything BUT get a college education...I dated a girl named Claire...yes, Claire....my other best friend's grandparents owned a huge ranch (25,000+ acres) north of San Antonio in Comfort Texas and boy did we learn a lot spending our time on that ranch (did I mention that he could fly and had his own plane)...Canyon Dam and lake was built and my dad had memberships to all kinds of private golf courses including Canyon Lake Country Club...yes, life couldn't have been much better....that is before we almost died but again, that's a story (or two) for another time. After San Antonio, we moved to Oklahoma City and that where I finished college, got my first real job, got married (it was love at first sight), had a son, my greatest accomplishment by the way and generally got down to living a normal (well, maybe not to normal) life. I then moved to Tulsa Oklahoma, then Enid Oklahoma, then back to Oklahoma City, then to Dallas and now I'm back again in Oklahoma City....ALL THIS IN 65 YEARS. I do have stories to tell but my fingers are tired and I'm ready to go get lunch but as promised I will start blogging about my life and the crazy ride I have been on since birth..goodbye for now...see you on the flip side!!
This is amazing how can you possibility remember all these things, I have problems remembering much past my "partying" days LOL...again this is great and you do tell a great story!
ReplyDeleteVery good stories --don't know how you are able to piece it all together so well!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharingM