Where should I start? The beginning is usually the best. I was born in Maryland at Fort Meade where my father was in the military. I was the oldest of six children, two boys, a girl and three more boys.
We moved several places before I was able to remember any of them and then we moved to California. I started kindergarten when I was four and then we moved to Utah. At age 5 we settled in Salt Lake City and I started kindergarten all over again.
As a child I loved to read. Of course, at that time television was not a large part of our day. I spent hours reading fairy tales, biographies, and many other interesting books that a child of that age would enjoy. I settled more into fairy tales. I loved using my imagination. My mind was so much better at conjuring up scenes in a book than a television or movie could ever produce.
We spent our summers hunting lizards and snakes. We were particularly good at catching lizards and I suppose that I have caught several hundred of them. We made tree forts, dug tunnels, played in Willow creek (without my mother’s permission) rode bikes, and explored anything and everything.
As a child, every piece of cardboard or log or piece of wood or rock or anything that could be turned upside down for that matter, presented an interesting learning experience. I learned that all kinds of critters lived under all those things mentioned above. Sometimes we would encounter a snake. Other times we would find stink bugs doing what they did best.
We spent time studying the world of insects and enjoyed digging up red ant hills. We discovered that if we took red ants from one nest and put them in another nest, there would be a big fight. I never could figure out how they could tell the difference between each other until I was much older.
As a young man and teenager, I entered the world of scouting. I loved every bit of it. I had many friends in my neighborhood. There were about fourteen of us that did everything together, with practical jokes being one of our greatest desires. We never passed up an opportunity to have a little fun. Most of us received our Eagle scout awards by the time we were 14 years old. We loved camping and anything to do with the outdoors.
In my high school years, I remember that my brother Allen and I always slept in our backyard under the stars in the summer. It was extremely hot in our home and we had no air conditioning or swamp cooler. It was cool at night on our backyard lawn.
In jr high I made the eighth-grade basketball team but should have been cut. The one thing that I seemed to have over the others was an overwhelming desire to never quit. I worked so hard at practice the coach felt bad for me. I never played in any games until the end of the year. Somehow at the last two games I made the starting five. I was rewarded for effort and not talent.
The Queen has a special message just for you.
She’s here to teach, share, and make learning magical.
We’re working hard behind the scenes to bring something fun and exciting!
Stay tuned, young explorer!
