When I first entered the public school system in our area that would have made me graduate in S’69. I don’t remember much other than my mum was called for a conference and suddenly I was in a different class and now I was supposed to graduate in W’69.

Most of you probably don’t care what happened to me, but what became of that little extension of my life…your last sighting of me. So in continuing on from then until now, here is the saga you’ve all had that inquiring mind about:

By the spring of 1969, I had been turned into a "Home Economics" project! Jean Alexander and Gayle Humphrey decided that having a baby shower for me would earn them an "A+". Past and present graduates from both Verdugo Hills High and Crescenta Valley High were there. As of this writing, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a larger baby shower!

And so in April of ’69 baby Toby was born! Now my apartment was overflowing with all of you coming after school to visit and to see what it was like to have a small doll-child to take care of. Those were some definitely interesting evenings and the ultimate place to hang out.

The wanderlust struck me again. And in so doing, home soon became Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Fred Comer’s dad and step-mom had a trailer down there at Uncle Sam’s trailer park (Fred’s mom Joan was my witness at the wedding). I took up bartending at Renee’s and baby Toby sat in his infant chair on the bar top and amused all those that came in. In the later years (‘80’s) my husband and I went back for a "look-see". All we found were Tob’s football coaches down for the weekend to work on game plans! Can you imagine the surprise on everyone’s face? After all, I was the high school trainer at the time…who invited me?

And so the wanderlust struck again. But this was still the ‘60’s and weren’t we all searching for something?

The decade of the ‘70’s was a major learning experience. I soon discovered that I could support my son and myself cheaper than including a husband with a drug problem! Baby Toby and I struck out on our own.

Now becoming a single parent (when it was unacceptable) of a boy-child was soon to present it’s own unique problems. What do you do with a boy-child? So I learned to hunt and fish. Actually we learned together, but what does a small child know?

It was also a time to learn what the word cancer meant. Was this the ultimate or just a test? Little did I realize that every unpleasant step Toby and I were to take, would just be practice drills to the future.

Eventually it was time for Toby to learn his tools, like any boy-child should know about. What would be the best way to do that, ‘sez the unlearned mother? Saugus speedway had just been created…what do you think? Yep! I took the boy-child into the pits and let the experts teach him what was what.

Toby at the Santa Maria Racetrack.

We did the race car circuit for about 5 years…long enough for Toby to finally learn not only all his tools, but the proper pronunciation of them. Then the wanderlust struck us again.

Originally there were many of us who started undergoing weekly classes to learn the cultural experience we were about to undergo working for Bell Helicopter in Iran. Things started taking a turn for the strange over there and one by one our group started falling out. But the wanderlust was still there…where to go, where to go.

The situation soon presented itself. We were moving to Mexico! And that’s where we went. Toby did grade school and I learned medicine not that either of us could speak the language when we got there. It was a good time in our life and we probably would have stayed there indefinitely…enter "husband-daddy"! Who would have thought? And so, we were "imported" back to the United States! What a cultural shock for both of us. Things were radically different from what we had been used to. Taking out the trash had been a whole day’s excursion. Load the car with the trash, pack the picnic basket, throw on suits, bring towels and head for the mountains…what’s with the big trucks here in the U.S.?

TRASH DAY

I guess we’ll get used to this new life, but trash day just won’t ever be the same any more!