Yup. I had mononucleosis when I was a kid – 6th grade, I believe. No I did not get the kissing disease from smooching. That much I am sure of. How I caught this particular creeping crud remains a mystery. I wasn’t feeling well on a Friday – I had a sore throat. But since…
My first job-job was at a fat lady clothing store called Nancy’s Place. I say, my first “job-job” because before that I had made some TV commercials for Nancy’s Place, but I was paid in clothing, not $$$. Which was fine with me, because I wanted clothes more than I wanted $$$. When Nancy’s Place…
One thing many people in Michigan grow up doing is playing games – in particular card games. Maybe it’s the long cold winters that has instilled this love of sitting down with a deck of cards. That’s as good of an excuse as any, I suppose. Fuck if I know. My Grandma taught me Canasta,…
Our high school (John Glenn HS) put on a variety show (Kaleidoscope) in the Spring of each year. I participated every year; sometimes a lot, sometimes not so much. And, of course, my senior year, I was very involved. Our school benefitted from a school board that was very pro-theater and music; so this year,…
We all have those moments where we have a choice to make, and looking back, you realize how impactful it was on where your life ended up. One of mine was a job I got through the Michigan unemployment office. I had been laid off (because I took off a summer to do the Fischer…
Everyone should have a person in their life who loves them no matter what and is always there for them. For me, that was my Grandma Harris. God I loved her, and I still do to this day. My Grandma Cotter died when I was about 7 or so, and she was very ill before…
Growing up, my step-father always chose my (used) cars. He’d tell me how much, I’d pay, and I’d have a new-to-me car to drive. This was not always a successful endeavor – one car had the engine blow up about a week after I got it. But Charlie went back and got me a different…
My first car was an early 1960s, AMC Rambler. God I loved that car. My parents bought it for $100. They bought it because I had a broken leg, and all of our vehicles were manuals, so I couldn’t drive them, and the AMC had an automatic transmission. I was involved in many extracurricular activities.…
If you lived in the Bay City area and you did musical theater, eventually, you would work with Patricia Ankney – also known as Miss Pat. Miss Pat was short and fat, was a good, but demanding, director, and had a nasty temper if you got on her wrong side. In her later years, she…
I went to my senior prom with Mike (Hairy Butt) Doriean. I have a feeling he was pressured into asking me by mutual friends, but hey, I got to go to the prom. (His middle moniker was due to information I was given by Pat Gray, who shared a few theatrical dressing rooms with Mr.…
Thoughts from a Fat Old Lady 