Jenn happened to notice the twinkle in my eyes and my need for speed. She asked if my mom had her hands full. Boy did she! When I was born she had a 8, 7 and 5 year old (two miscarriages) and then me. During our Canada time which was back and forth because of My California mom and my Canadian dad. We lived on Grand Ben (an Island in Lake Ontario) and in London on Queens Ave. My Canadian grandparents lived in Leamington. We also, during those five years, lived in Pacoma CA. When I was five, that was our last back to California move. And we lived all over So Cal. Hollywood, Culver City, Hermosa beach, Inglewood and Hawthorn and Santa Monica. We stayed in Santa Monica the longest. My American grandparents lived by Griffith park in Hollywood. My Granddaddy always took me there to ride the ponies.

I was 8 when we moved to Hermosa Beach. We lived 8 blocks from the beach. Every weekend and all summer we would be at the beach by 9am and home by 6pm. My mom worked at Hostess Bakery and brought home boxes of pastries every week which we took to the beach! My dad worked in the motion picture industry so often he would be gone on location filming one thing or another.

We also went to the movies a lot growning up. Saturday matinees were spectacular affairs. There was always a double feature and during intermission there was a magic act, a clown or a contest of some sort. You hung on to your ticket stub because they always had door prizes. You should have seen the look on my mom's face when I came home with a pair of live painted turtles! Oh and I always bought a box of DOTS. When I was 11, my eldest sister and her husband took me to the Priemer of Jungle Book at Grauman's Chinese Theatre!

I am told I was always into everything and I probably kept my sisters busier than my mom. They were old enough to keep me safe (but probably not out of trouble). I was also a tattletale and very spoiled.

It was a different time, a safer time. You could send your kids alone to a movie , to a store and to the beach. In small towns life is still somewhat like this. But even as an adult I am not certain I would feel safe alone in any of the places I had once lived.

And then there is Bobbie the Teen....She was trouble with a capital "T" and only survived it by God's grace. I mean who was the intelligent developer / city manager that decided it was smart to build a High School three blocks from the beach? Really??? Perfect waves, sunshine or desks??? I should have been homeschooled!