How were you raised?
Great thread, smallblock!
I am the youngest of 2, my sister is 13 years older. Born and raised in SoCal. Two-parent family in my early years. My dad died of his second heart attack at the age of 44,two months before I turned 8 years old. My dad was an engineer for Union Pacific Railroad up until his death. The heart attack was attributed to both his smoking (unfiltered Camels) and the heavy work stress of the railroad through the WWII years - his job was deemed to be too valuable for the war effort so he wasn't in the military during the war. I remember family vacations were always camping trips because my dad loved to fish. All tent camping with trout for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I remember one trip we took with my grandparents and my grandpa burned the potatoes at breakfast frying them over an open fire - he said they weren't burned, but just bruised because the fire had been so hot that he had to drop them into the frying pan from a few feet up. Took a lot of train trips to Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and western Wyoming to visit family.
My love of just about all things automotive and racing in particular came from my dad even though I only knew him for a few years. The only cars I remember my dad driving were Hudson Hornets. He bought a new one every two years and paid in cash. I remember his yardstick for mileage was if it could go all the way from SoCal to Las Vegas on one tank of gas. I remember many a car trip with me falling asleep laying on the package tray looking up through that big rear window at all the stars.
My mom had to go to work after he died and my sister came home from college. Money was tight but I never realized it back then. My grandparents lived in a little house next door and my aunt and 2 cousins lived next door to them so there was always a strong family unit. I remember my mom using a wooden hangar on my backside when she felt I needed it. I also remember her switching to wire hangars when she got tired of breaking the wooden ones.
We went to church without question every Sunday. I was taught American values from the very first day I remember. Both my dads and moms family originally emigrated to America from England in the 1830s for religious reasons. My dads family was driven out of Illinois by religious persecution and were part of the first wagon train across the plains into the Salt Lake valley. We went to church without question every Sunday.
We knew every family on both sides of the street for the entire block and if you did something wrong you knew somebody would let your parents know about it. I was raised to respect my elders, my teachers, and my friends parents, and that manners were everything. We said 'please' and 'thank you', and a male always walks on the street side to protect your girlfriend, sister, mother, aunt, grandmother, or whatever female you may be walking with from any potential danger from the street. Oh yeah, you also opened any door for any female no matter if you knew them or not. If an adult told you to do something, you better do it.
There was no question about going to school everyday and getting your schoolwork done before you went out to play or do something you wanted to do.
My mom went to work for the local school district when I was 10 so I knew I couldn't fool around at school because she'd find out about it before I even got home. In fact, she was working in the attendance office at my high school the entire time I was there.
My mom re-married when I was 11 and, of course, things changed a bit. My stepfather was from Orange County and we used to visit his dad at the old family home that had once been part of their orange ranch. I remember family BBQ's in the back yard there - all the kids would go running around playing in the orange groves.
Sure was a much better, simpler time back then. I wish my kids could have experienced what SoCal was like back then - I graduated from high school in '66, right in the middle of the best music ever and the beginning of the musclecar era. It was a great time to be young!!!
I guess that's why I've never grown up.