Our dad was the coolest dad ever!  He wasn’t only cool, he had nerves of steel in raising his three young daughters.  This story might disturb dads in today’s world, but the 60’s were a different time where innocence still existed and stranger danger wasn’t in our vocabulary.  In 1964 The Beatles were new on the scene. One Sunday night we sat in our den and saw for the first time the boot-clad long-haired English group perform “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” on The Ed Sullivan Show.  I remember my first thoughts were not what they would later become.  I thought their boots were strange for boys and their haircuts…

At the time of this story, my cousin, Denise and I were age 12, and well-known in our family for our outrageous antics.  Our mothers called us *”Heckle and Jeckle” and often said, “what one of us didn’t think of the other one would”.  Many crazy stories can be told of the two of the two of us, but this is one of my personal favorites. One summer day stuck at my house and bored to tears, Denise and I went outside looking for something to get into – what we got into was the truck in the driveway belonging to my stepfather’s helper.  This guy must have known how…

When I was growing up I attended the local Baptist Church, and so did my two cousins, Johnny and Ginger.  During the church service we always sat together on the same pew and we’d often make plans to go to one of our houses after church and spend the afternoon; sometimes it took wearing our parents down until they would finally give in (I guess they had experienced too many times the trouble we’d get into when we were together (I began to fully understand this when I became a parent). It was on one of these Sundays that Johnny and Ginger begged their mom and dad for me to…