I realized something as I went to write this today.  I love hearing other people's life stories.  I'm fascinated by where they've gone and what they've done.  I still get the printed newspaper every day and I enjoy reading the obituaries.  I discovered the other day that Debbie Reynold's brother just passed away.  Turns out he was a costumer for film and television.  Who knew?!  It's not just people in the entertainment industry who interest me but anyone.  On this day where we recognize our Veterans and the sacrifices they have made, I think about the many people I have read about who served in the various wars.

Anyway, back to my story.  As I mentioned before, my father wasn't real thrilled about starting back at square one with a new child.  And in those days they didn't have a test for the baby's gender.  My mom had a long and difficult labor.  I shifted during this time and they couldn't find my heartbeat.  This will sound strange but I think I remember being in her uterus, when I was first conscious   I remember a diffused red glow, like looking through tissue.  And I remember thinking, without the use of words of course, where am I and what is going on.  It was puzzling.  But back to outside her uterus.  Because they couldn't find my heartbeat they thought they had lost me.  But when I finally appeared, my heart was beating just fine.  Because of sharing my quarters with her fibroid tumors I was very small. 

​My father had shared with his pediatrician friend, Dr. Wilson, that he really didn't want this baby.  When my dad found out that he had a daughter and as he held me in the palm of his hand, because I was that small, he melted.  Dr. Wilson said to my dad, "Hink, if you don't want this little girl, I'll take her."  My dad responded with, "Like hell you will."  And that was that.  My life of being daddy's girl began at that moment.  There's more about this time period that I will share on Friday.  

Now for the odd twist.  My brother, John, is 15 years older than me.  This wasn't intentional on my parent's part.  They had tried to have another baby through those 15 years but it didn't happen.  I don't know what year the 50 bed San Bernardino Community Hospital was built, but it didn't have all the leaded walls, etc. for protection from radiation.  Not long after they built the new 350 bed hospital, my mom started feeling sick.  My mom had fibroid tumors and was scheduled for a hysterectomy.  They did the "rabbit test" (which was done at the time) twice to test her for pregnancy.  The tests showed negative.  About a week before surgery she insisted that they test again.  Sure enough, she was right.  She was pregnant at 39 years old!  If she hadn't insisted on them testing her again, I wouldn't be here today.  And regarding my dad, they thought that maybe the radiation had been sterilizing him all those years.  They weren't sure if I would be a healthy baby because of all his exposure to radiation.  They didn't know what to expect.  Because I was sharing quarters with the tumors in her uterus, my mom was bed ridden during her pregnancy.  My dad wasn't real thrilled because my brother was almost college age and he didn't really want to start over with raising another child.  But there they were.  Next week, the beginning of my life.  

Picking up where I left off last week.  My dad had come home from Iwo Jima and my parents were living on the beach in Carlsbad, CA.  I don't know why they moved and where my grandma went through this next time period, but my mom drove me by these little tiny houses in Carlsbad years later, and they had lived in one of them.  She said she could reach a shelf in the kitchen from the bed. 

My father was then hired as an X-Ray Technician at San Bernardino Community Hospital.  This resulted in our family settling down in the Inland Empire now know as the "IE".  I do know that my grandma lived across the street, Wall Street, from my family in San Bernardino.  The hospital where my dad worked was a small 50 bed hospital.  They had aspirations of building a much larger, 350 bed hospital.  In 1954, Sammy Davis, Jr. had a car accident that injured his eye which he lost.  He lived for years after with a glass eye.  He was  brought to my dad's place of work for treatment.  My dad had said that the hallways were lined with all the flowers that had been sent for Sammy.  Since the hospital was so small he got to know my dad and others who worked there.  When he found out that they wanted to build a new hospital, he offered to organize a benefit concert to raise funds.  A few years later, he did just that.  The concert featured Sammy, Judy Garland, Diahann Carroll and many other fabulous performers. In an odd twist, this resulted in my coming into this world.  I'll continue with that next week.

https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2010/10/05/a-hospital-celebrates-its-storied-past/​

I realized after my blog post last week that at this rate, it could take many years and years to get through my story.  But I think that's okay.  Maybe I'll speed it up at some point.  Continuing on, my parents were married at the beginning of WWII.  My father served in the Iwo Jima, 5th Marine Division.  The fact that he survived and came back uninjured is a miracle.  He was a medic.  Like most veterans, he never spoke of the war.  He passed away when I was only 15 years old and I wasn't really tuned in yet to what he had been through.  I wish I could ask him questions now.  But more on this later.  My mom got pregnant with my much older brother, John, just before dad was shipped out.  Her mother and my grandmother, Virginia, lived with her during this time.  While my father was away, my mom would show John a picture of dad, point to it and say, "daddy".  When my dad did return and walked through the white gate of the picket fence into the front yard, mom, grandma and John were sitting in the yard.  John was one year old.  He looked up at my dad and said, "daddy".  I can't even imagine the joy my father must have felt at that moment.  Also during this time they were renting a house on the beach in Carlsbad, CA with private beach property.  I'll elaborate on that next week.  I hope you keep reading these posts as I have so much to share!  We all do!

Photo from just after a memorial service for the men killed in Iwo Jima.  This was at Camp Tarawa in Hawaii, June, 1945,

Many people have asked me how an insecure, introverted girl from a small town ended up in Los Angeles.  They want to know specifically how this girl came to be a member of an Academy Award winning sound editorial team, how she came to interview over 200 recording artist for American Top 40 and other syndicated radio shows, and how she came to work on over 1,000 audiobooks.  Well, today and once a week after, I will begin to share my story.  Who knows, maybe someday I'll compile these posts into an autobiography.  I am certainly no writer but will tell you my story as honestly and personally as I can.  I do hope that my story encourages you to step outside the box and to consider what is possible for you!

My parents were from Oklahoma City.  They met at Oklahoma University where my mom, Dorlye, was studying to be an Registered Nurse and my dad, Armin, was studying Radiological Technology.  Needless to say, they were big OU football fans!  The first time my mom saw my dad he was leaning up against an ambulance smoking a cigar.  I can't remember what kind of hat she said he was wearing but she said he was the nerdiest man she had ever seen.  She did go on that first date with him.  He started to drive out into the countryside and she began to give him what for because she thought he was taking her out to "try and have his way with her".  Turns out there was a remote hamburger joint out that way and he intended to take her for a burger.  When she understood this, she settled down.  It wasn't too much longer until the two were married.  This kind of sets the stage for understanding my parents.  I was born late in their lives, so they were older.  They had endured the Great Depression and what came after.  Soon after they married, WWII started.  More on that next Friday.  I hope you check back.  I think I kind of like sharing all this with you!

People always ask me if I think they would be a good audiobook reader.  That question is really not as simple as it sounds.  They say that they read to their kids or grandchildren, that they enjoy reading and/or that people say they have a good voice.

Well, here are some other things to consider.  Do you read well?  Do you have the time to sit for long hours and record (often at your own pace)?  Would you like to make a little extra money or possibly turn recording audiobooks into a career?  Are you set up at home to create a small studio space?  What genres of books would you be interested in reading?

You'll want to ask yourself these questions and many more.  Maybe you should try my class and then ask yourself these questions to decide.  I promise that it will be an enjoyable experience either way!