I was too young to remember the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, or the assassination of President Kennedy.

I’ve often wondered what my young parents were thinking as the United States teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war, and then watched as our nation’s leader was killed just a little over a year later.

I’ve pondered if they considered whether bringing me into the world had been a good idea. Pictures taken at the time in my grandparents’ front yard show my mom, ...

At 11:25 a.m. with the ring of a bell, the entire high school student body divided itself into three distinct groups. Those who brought their lunch, those who left campus, and those who ate in the cafeteria.

At least, this was the information I received as a junior high student.

The most intriguing group to me was the pack of young adults I’d heard about who allegedly roamed the town freely, grazing at every restaurant in town.

I’d also heard that the kids ...

There wasn’t much else that was worse than being assigned to sort the bottle room in back of the Piggly Wiggly. If someone could fit an object in an empty Coke bottle, they’d put it in there.

I called them all Coke bottles, whether they were a Coke product or not. Pepsi, 7up, Dr. Pepper, Grapette – they were all Coke bottles to me and they were all worth money. When I left my career in the grocery business Coke bottles ...