Yes, I am a baby boomer. I was born in 1951. I came from a reasonably large family. We were Irish Catholics. My parents had six children. I have a twin sister. My mother had another set of twins after we were born, but they did not survive. They were twin boys.

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey called Maple Shade. It was a great time and a great place to grow up. Most of my neighbors were either Irish, Catholic, or Italian Catholic. I had a best friend who lived three houses away from us. So, there was never a shortage of kids to play with. Because there were many other children in Maple Shade, including the friends I made once I was old enough to attend school. I attended Catholic School from elementary through High School.

My parents were not strict as long as we came home from school on time and were home in time for dinner. We didn’t get in trouble. My parents never really questioned me about where I had been.

The house where I grew up. Male Shade, NJ

All the kids in the neighborhood had bikes, and we rode them to explore the area, even visiting nearby towns. And only by the luck of the Irish did I survive my childhood. Because I was all for doing somewhat dangerous things. For instance, I used to go swimming in my neighbor’s pool that was six feet deep, even though I didn’t know how to swim. If I got water over my head, I would grab onto whoever was nearest me to keep from drowning. And by some luck, they didn’t drown, and neither did I. But we sure got sunburned. Back then, there wasn’t any sunblock; there was only tanning lotion.

My Family when I was a baby.

One hot Summer day, I was in my neighbor’s swimming pool, and I went too far out and almost drowned. Luckily, my neighbor, Denny Pheiffer, swam close to me, and I grabbed onto him. And almost drowned both of us. That was the plan; we would go to a hotel on Route 73, park our bikes, and go swimming in the hotel pool. Luckily, there was a lifeguard there; fortunately, he didn’t have a clue that we weren’t staying at the hotel with our parents. We did that for many summers. My parents never had a clue. They just told me to be home in time to eat lunch. They never asked where I had been or what I had been doing. Anyway, I would say I was playing at a friend’s house.

We all had bikes to ride. Our parents never told us where we could or couldn’t go. They just warned us not to be late for lunch or dinner. And after dinner, we would go outside after it was dark and run all over the neighborhood. If it were summertime, we would follow the mosquito trucks that sprayed DDT to kill the mosquitoes. We didn’t know it was poison, and apparently neither did any of the kids. Since we all rode our bikes behind the trucks that were spraying DDT. I don’t know how, but we all survived, more or less intact.

All Summer long, I would say, “Let’s go to Strawbridge Lake.” This was a park two towns away. And we would either walk or ride our bikes there. Once we arrived, we would take off our sneakers and walk into the lake until the water reached up to our knees. This was a lake that contained fish. It wasn’t a lake where kids should have been swimming. But there weren’t any adults there, so who was going to say anything? In the winter, the big lake would freeze over, and we would take off our shoes and put on our ice skates to skate across the ice. It was only blind luck aht none of us broke through the ice and didn’t drown under it. And in the Summer, we used to walk across the waterfall and sometimes jump into the water. By some luck, none of us drowned, or came close to it. Somehow, regardless of the crazy things we used to do. We all survived; no doubt it was blind luck.

Sometimes I would talk my friends into walking to one of the larger stores outside of Maple Shade. And we would walk about three miles along the side of the road and head toward the part of the road that was an overpass above Route 73. We would get this: we used to throw things down onto the roofs of the cars passing underneath the overpass. And it was only by the luck of the Irish that we never broke a car’s windshield or caused an accident. I can’t recall what thought went through my mind at the time. But, apparently, common sense wasn’t one of the things residing there.

I also had a friend who lived near the CLAY PITS in Maple Shade. We had to cross the railroad tracks to get there, and we would wait until there was a train in the distance, and then we would run like hell and cross the railroad tracks as fast as we could. It was only because of dumb luck that none of us were run over by the train going sixty miles an hour. And somehow by some miracle we all survived “our childhoods, more or less intact.”

And then there was Halloween; we would plan our costumes for weeks leading up to the holiday. And get this, one year I made a costume that was supposed to look like I was a hot dog in a bun. And for some reason, that I could not comprehend, my mother thought I would like wearing it. I didn’t. Many of the kids made fun of me, but eventually, they got over it. And we continued going door to door all over town. How many of us have a tooth left in our mouths after years of eating Halloween Candy is a complete mystery. Even on a regular day, my mother had trouble getting me to brush my teeth. Add to that that this was back in the early 1950s, when you could buy penny candy. It really was a freaking miracle that I had any teeth left by the time I was a teenager.

By some miracle, I managed to graduate from Catholic Elementary School. And my parents decided to send my twin sister and me to St. Mary Of The Angels Academy in Haddonfield, NJ, which happened to be a private, All-girl school. I didn’t have a problem with that, since I had attended a Catholic elementary school for eight years. I wasn’t particularly fond of boys my age, so I thought, Why not? In fact, my twin sister and I applied to both Holy Cross High School in Riverside, NJ, and St.Mary of the Angels Academy in Haddonfield, NJ.

I have to admit I didn’t put a whole lot of effort into my school work, but somehow, by the grace of god, or just good luck, I passed out of twelfth grade. And it just so happened that I found employment immediately after graduating from high school. Because Dr. Wozniak’s wife had attended St. Mary of the Angels Academy when she was a kid, she inquired at St. Mary’s if a student was looking for a job after graduation who wasn’t going to attend college. And guess what, the dear nuns recommended me as a possible candidate, so they contacted me and asked if I was interested. My parents said I was, and voila, I had a full-time job right out of high school. And I worked there for six years. It turned out that I was highly organized and enjoyed talking to both child patients and adults.

And that, my friends, was the beginning of my working years. To be honest, it turned out that I really enjoyed working and earning money. And as it turned out, over the first year of my working life, I was able to save enough money to buy a 1970s yellow Volkswagen, which became the love of my life for many years. It took me all over New Jersey, eventually to Florida, and then to California.

You never know where your life will take you. But here I am, retired and living in North Carolina, living the good life. Take one day at a time and enjoy it; life goes by quickly.