My dad met my mom in either middle school or high school. He arrived in town with his dad (he was the youngest child) after his dad and mom were divorced. They were totally living the bachelor life but moved to town to start a new business. My dad drove a nice car (important for attracting girls back then), my mother was attractive, and her mother was a great cook having grown up in as family of ten on a farm with her being two of the ten children responsible for all the meals. My grandmother was a child of the depression and her family also had a hotel. It is my understanding that her family never refused food to anyone who came by asking for food. They would just ask for them to do a chore in exchange. My grandmother was a great cook so my father ate many meals at my mom's house while they were dating.

My mom and dad married while my dad was attending the University that my siblings and I also graduated from. She did not finish her University degree but worked in a jewelry store instead. She was very good at sales and even though my dad had a degree in business, she was better at business than him in the sense that she was better about not being taken advantage of and driving a tough bargain. My dad worked at his dad's (he owned 10%) company for a while then worked for a corporation for 10 years. After that, we moved to our cabin in the mountains where they started a variety of businesses. My dad had a great educational background for it and my mom had the common sense that was also needed to be successful.

Anyways, my mom was the one who did all the disciplining and organizing. She deserves a lot of credit for it. Being the enforcer is a thankless but important job. Sometimes she prescribed to the children should be seen and not heard POV--something I had a hard time with. My mom made sure we went to church and that we kept a schedule--breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime, etc. In the evening, we would watch shows together like the Carol Burnett Show, Donny and Marie, the Brady Bunch, etc then go to bed at 7 or 8 PM. When we first moved to the mountains, there was no TV reception so I would read in the evening. My dad tried to spend quality time with us by reading to me every night when I was little then driving me to the library weekly, playing sports, taking us woodcutting, fishing, etc. My mom's parent's always lived in the same town as my mom and dad so we ate many meals at my grandmother's house. My grandmother also spent a lot of quality time with me including cooking together and listening to music together like Elvis and the Carpenters.

I feel very lucky about my upbringing. One of my best memories about it is how beautiful the mountains were where we lived and I loved the desert sunsets where I went to college. My mom and dad loved driving to a variety places with beautiful scenery. I have always loved being outdoors and still do whenever the weather is nice.