Week 11 of 2016 - Early Bird or Night Owl - Your Internal Clock

Are you an early riser or a night owl ?

Better late than never.... ...Geoffery Chaucer - 1386

Early Bird catches the worm... John Ray - 1670

4AM ...If I am ever up that early, its because I'm up that late.... Janet Smith - 2016

Early to bed, early to rise, make a man happy, healthy and wise.... Benjamin Franklin - 1735

I am a night owl better known as an “owl” by researchers. A morning person or early bird is known as a “lark”. With a little research today, I have found that they indeed believe that “our personal biological clocks are already wound at birth. Genetics establishes a persons “chronotype” which is what determines when your body is awake, when you perform at your best and when you need to sleep.

I am sure that you have probably noticed the “chronotypes” of your family members and how these habits translate into their daytime and nighttime habits. My Mom was a owl. She would always stayed up to watch Johnny Carson. She was the one who was up when I came home at 5 minutes passed eleven when my curfew was at eleven. She was the free spirit. Her schedule was mandated by her 6 children. When we were kids, Dad (the “lark” of our family) would get up early on Sunday and take the 4 oldest girls to Sunday school. Since we only had one car, a Ford Falcon station wagon, he would return to get Mom and the boys. Invariably Mom would have one more thing to do or get one more thing before heading out the door for church. We always sat in the back of the church so she could slip into the pew as she arrived in the 3^rd or 4^th verse of the first hymn.

Dad on the other hand was precise, on time and had a busy schedule. He was always ready and early for work whether he was working for Bill Mitzelfield or when he was his own boss. He open the doors of the store at 9:00 and locked the door after the last customer at closing time. When he ran the Ben Franklin in Imlay City, he would come home for lunch and as Mom scurried around to make him a sandwich, he would take a 20 minute cat nap. Precisely 20 minutes later, he would be awake eating his sandwich feeling refreshed and alert. I was always amazed. In the evening after dinner, if he had no meetings, he would find an odd job to do to keep himself busy. If he sat in the Lazyboy too long he would be out for the night.

When I was a teenager, I preferred to do my homework late. Often I worked after school at the store for Dad. In the evening, I wanted to be with my friends or my boy friend. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning with my alarm blaring, fully dressed in yesterdays clothes and realize I had fallen asleep again while studying. I hated alarm clocks and still do!

Years later as a new young mother, I often had my sewing machine running until the wee hours of the morning making baby clothes for my sons. Later when I decided it was time to go to work, I went to school to become a Computer Technician. Sounded like a good idea to me. You worked when things were broken. No kidding...The bad thing was the training program was from 5 AM until Noon in Southfield. It was tough making this Owl go to bed at the same time as my kids in order to get up at 3:45 AM to drive to Southfield. I thought I could do it because the course was only 9 months long. I completed it in 6 months...thinking maybe I could get thru it sooner only to find out I had to be in school a precise number of hours, 1440 hours in order to get my certificate. So I took every additional course that were available and I tutored other students so I got my hours in!

Early in my career, it really was “you only worked when a piece of equipment was broken”. I was amazed by that. You did your preventative maintenance and you completed your service calls and then it was up to you to find something to do. One day I wandered into my bosses office, and told him (Willard Zerbe) that I was bored...He shock his head and said, “ I tell employees once, go find something to do or I'll make some work for you... “ so I went to the mall and never felt guilty after that.

1986 Printer Class in Louisville, Colorado

As a FE or Field Service Engineer for StorageTek, there were no time clock. You never had a place that you HAD to be at a certain time. I visited my account after I got my kids to school, usually around 8:30 or 9 AM. I planned my work day, I knew what needed to be done and I did it. Some days you worked all day, some days you worked into the night, some days you were done by noon and at the pool or the mall!

STK Field Service Organization in Phoenix, Arizona

When my primary account was Uhaul Corporation in Phoenix in the early 1980's my best friend, Ivy Grabowski, lived about 2 miles away in an apartment complex. We would go there everyday for lunch. We would put on our bathing suits and bake in the sun by the pool. If needed , we would go back to work. One day the Operations manager at Uhaul, Ted Demskey, asked me what I did for lunch each day. I thought, that is an odd question but I evaded it, thinking I was pretty smart. Then he went on to say, “well, Jan you come in to work in the morning with your hair done and your make up on and after lunch you come back with no makeup and wet hair so I just wondered...” Ops I got caught so after that I tried to do a little less swimming not that I was doing anything wrong as far as my boss was concerned. …but I had not thought about how it must have looked to my customers.

StorageTek Booth at the 1986 Technical Conference in Las Vegas

This job fit nicely with my Owl personality. On a regular basis I would have to take an “on call” weekly shift. This would mean the possibility of working second shift hours and third shift hours when needed which I usually found easy to do. When I was “on call”, if I got a call after I had already fallen asleep, it was sometimes hard to get me fully awake. I always told the dispatchers that called me, that I would call them back from the other room so as not to wake my husband. Most often I did called them right back. There were a few occasions that I returned to sleep not knowing that I had answered the phone. Eventually the dispatchers could tell when I was having trouble getting awake and would talk to me for a few minutes to wake me up.  This process worked pretty well because by the time I went to the other room and called them back, I was awake enough to take down any information I needed accurately and out the door I went.

Jan Tietz/Smith striking a pose and the Tech Convention in Vegas

Throughout my career with all of my employers in the computer industry, I never punch a time clock. I got to work when I got there and I left work when my day was done usually 8 or 9 hours later. In the later years, I could log back into work from home and work if needed. I could on occasion work the whole day from home if needed. My “on call” became support work that I could usually do remotely from home if it was after hours. While the computer systems that I supported were very reliable, on occasion in the middle of the night a process or system would fail and I had to make sure that it was fixed and running the next morning when day shift started at the manufacturing plant in Genoa.

Today as a retiree, I am still an Owl. My husband is the Lark. He naps on and off throughout the evening and about 11 PM goes off to bed after he turns down the heat. He says, “see you in a couple of hours...” I say, “No, I'll be right along...” And before I know it, it has been a couple of hours. He says that if he did not turn down the heat, I would stay up all night and he is probably right...When I get cool then I go upstairs looking for a warm bed.

So what are you, an Owl or a Lark?

Enjoy,

Jan

Week 10 - Family Birthdays

My parents did a pretty good job with our birthdays...No parties like the parents of today. ...Our parties were always a family affairs....our family....  If they happen to coincide with a holiday then the Grandparents were likely involved but mostly it was just our family. I remember one year we had  a breakfast birthday for Mom in the morning in her bed!  That was fun.  The only reason I can think of why we would have done that is it must have been a Friday and Dad knew he would be working late so we had a breakfast Birthday party...

Mom's 40th Birthday

All these years later I have become the keeper of the family photos.  I have scanned them in and we all have copies of them but I have the originals. I learned something from these photos that I did not remember from my childhood...The Birthday boy or girl did not get to blow out their own candles... Most of us helped!  In almost every photo of a birthday gathering,  WE were blowing out the candles...Isn't that funny and I never realized it.

Looks like Pam's 13th Birthday

 On your birthday, the birthday person did not have to do dishes...for the girls this was kinda a big thing.  No fighting with your sister over who gets to wash or has to rinse or dry.   No getting wet because your sister got mad and splashed you on purpose and them swore to Mom it was a mistake..."really Mom it was" !  No one to push you off the stool that you had to stand on to reach into the sink if you were the washer or to the counter if you were the dryer.  You just sit back at the table and watch as the other two or three hashed it out.  Gee, maybe I'll have another piece of cake to dirty just one more plate and fork so they will have ONE more dish to wash...a cup of milk maybe...By then they are yelling to Mom..."Jan's making more dishes for us to wash!"  The boys did not do dishes so no big deal for them...Wonder if they did not have to take out the trash or something else...I honestly don't remember.  This is where it would be really nice if Matt or Mark would chime in on these Memories.....

Jan's Birthday 1964 - Ballerina Candle holders

 
You got to pick what you  wanted Mom to make for dinner.  With six kids, you did not "go out" for dinner ever....Now that I am older, I wonder who really won here...Mom or the Birthday person...Now that I know how hard it is to come up with something for dinner each day and a variety at that, I am thinking that Mom was the winner almost every month we had a birthday so that was one meal that she did not have to plan!!!

Oh the cake, we got to pick the kind of cake that we wanted....I picked German Chocolate for quite a number of years and I got German Chocolate for the rest of my life.....even after it wasn't my favorite any more... This is where I would LOVE Sharon to pipe up and talk about her Birthday cakes!!

Sharon's 7th Birthday

 When we were little she did buy those little hard sugar decorations to put on our cakes.  They usually spelled Happy Birthday and if you were lucky maybe your first name.  I remember as a little kid trying to bite into those decorations and nearly broke a tooth. They did not even taste good...  Oh and then there were the candle holder candies ones too....You would put them on the cake and put the candle in it to help it stand up.  It was quite and operation to get all the candles standing and then get them lite with a whole table of people anguish to blow them out.  Sometimes one of us was a little too eager and she would have to lite them all again because someone caused a false start! ..Mom did make good Birthday cakes...they came out of the box and so did the frosting...Just like everyone else did in the 1960's and 1970's...

Matt's 3rd Birthday

 Eventually, Mom just stuck the candles in the frosting and lite them as quick as she could...Then it was her job to take the candles out after we blew them out.  She would carefully lick all the frosting off the candles  as we not so patiently waited for our cake and ice cream. Some times in an effort to expedite this process, we would help take out the candles and lick the frosting for her...I think I got reprimanded a time or two for it.  We have pictures of her licking the ice cream scoop too...

I just realized that we did an awful lot of Birthday celebrations at night when were were already for bed!  Birthdays!!!  They are the best.  Give a family an excuse to celebrate one persons uniqueness. Even today we all spend a great deal of thought and time searching for that perfect card or special small gift....and we all do it in our own unique way!

Happy Birthday Sharon!!!

Hope you enjoy,

Jan

Week 9 of 2016 - 10th Grade Forensic Team

I wasn't much into sporting teams.  Basketball, softball...none of that really interest me. Not really the physical type I guess. I was involved with Band until I quit in 9th grade.  (That is for a different blog.) We had lived in Imlay City for two years and I had developed my new group of friends. Friends whom I had shared classes with since the move to Imlay City. The school district grouped kids together based on academic level. We were in the college prep group.

For tenth grade English, we had Mrs. Wilson.  She was a typical English teacher.  Middle aged, a little portly, she sometimes wore glasses except when she got her picture taken and at the time I thought she was pretty old and about ready to retire.  But in all actuality she was probably in her mid to late 40's. In the mind of a 10th grader, that is old. She did not always have control of the class.   She was sometimes taken advantage of by some of the students.

She was  the Speech / Forensics coach. I did not even know what the Forensic team was but was convinced to participate soon after the beginning of my Sophomore year. In case you do not know what the forensic team is, it is Debate, Speeches and Dramatic readings...You know English type things and of course there are district, regional and state competitions  that we would be participating in.

I have my whole life been a talker...but then YOU all know that .  Many times during school I would get in trouble because I could not keep my mouth shut.  Almost all my report cards said "She talks too much!"  So what better way to harness this issue than to join the speech club!   There were five sophomore girls who joined......  We would get extra credit, we could do much of the prep work for the competition during English class as long as we kept up with our regular school work.  And through our remaining years of high school, there would be continuing benefits to us that we would find out later.  The brownie points for being involved  were great and what else did we have to do. I was too young to date as far as my parents were concerned but old enough to work in my Dad's Dime store if I did not have a school activity I needed to attend, like Forensic practice. 

Forensic / Debate Team 1970-1971

Mrs Wilson recruited us for the category that she called, " Multiple Reading".  SO what is a "Multiple Reading" you ask??  It is like voice overs used in animated movies without the movie! A group of people tell a story, each person becomes the character or characters that they are assigned  to play.  You might even call it storytelling but it must be a team effort. As I recall, we were given the option to pick a piece of known children's literature. I can not remember if the category was provided for us by the region or district or if  Mrs Wilson picked it for us.   There were three groups in our team, one from the Senior class, Junior Class and then us, the Sophomores. The Senior group did a Charlie Brown reading.  I can not remember what the Juniors did. We did "Pooh Meets the Heffalump".  Our team consisted of Jean Brinker, Diane Rankin, Carol Schmucker, Laraine Crake and me.  I was assign the role of Piglet, Loraine was Eeyore,  Jean was the Narrator, Diane was Pooh and Carol was the Christoper Robin.....

Jean Brinker

Diane Rankin

Carol Schmucker

Laraine Crake

Jan Smith

We memorized all our lines and practiced for weeks and weeks.  I can remember practicing at our house in the living room and at Diane's house in the basement as the competition drew near.   I had a particularly difficult set of lines toward the end of the reading that was a real tongue twister...When Piglet thought he had discovered the Heffalump.  I messed it up so many times...I did not know whether I could ever get it right. We worked so hard at it.

When it came time for the nine school Blue Water League Competition, our Imlay City Team  was ready.  I had never participated in a live event. We took the bus to a big school auditorium in Flint.  You sat watching as all the other school / groups performed. The longer you sat there the more nervous you got.  While I was a talker in school,  I did not like speaking by myself or with a group in front of an audience.  We were all very scared.  Our turn was near the end of the event.  Our reading, by nature, had a bit of a rhythm to it,  it started off slow just like Pooh who just ambles along and builds up to this frenzied pace as Piglet believes he has discovered the elusive, never seen before, Heffalump! After  a few seconds of jitters, we all settled into our roles and gave our best performance ever.  Over all, Imlay City took the 3rd place trophy in the competition,  The team trophy is for the school and all its forensic teams combined scores...Debate, Speeches, Dramatic reading, Humorous reading, Multiple reading, Oratory.

Our Sophomore team took first place in the Multiple reading category and advanced to the fourth round of the March 1970 Blue Water Competition beating our Senior team who came in at third place.  We moved on to the District level where we won Second place in the 10 school Blue Water District level which took place in fall of 1971.   

I included the year book page for the Speech / Forensic  team.  I found it interesting that they talked about the Senior and Junior teams before they talked about the first place winning Sophomore team.  They have my name spelled wrong in part of the article but right in the second part.  They list Kathy Irish as a team member for the second half of the year which I do not remember and then added Jean Brinker back in as if there were six of us. Not sure who supplied the facts for this page.  I wish I had a recording of one of our practice sessions. It would be fun to listen to all these years later...

So there you have it...I guess that the years of "talking too much" did pay off in the end.. Hope you enjoyed this high school shared memory..

Jan





 

Week 8 of 2016 - Singing Sweetly and OffKey

Singing was always an important activity in our family. My Dad was often the instigator. We would sing in the car during long car rides and short jaunts. We would sing “Clementine, Coming round the Mountain, Row your Boat, 100 Bottle of Pop on the Wall, (it had to be pop, not beer because he would not let us sing about beer!), Three Blind Mice, Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves me”...I know there were others but I can't remember right now. Anyway, it was Dad's way of helping to past the time when we got antsy in the car.

Lapeer Church Choir

 Mom and Dad were both in the choir at church. They had really nice voices and so do we... I can not really remember how old I was when our traditional birthday song got started. I was just a kid. My Dad would lead us in the most off key version of Happy Birthday. Through the years Mom would plead with Dad to sing it nicely and we sang it worse and worse. As each of us found our spouses, and married, there was always that first “birthday song event” when we would wonder what would they think?  Mind you, we really did not care, after all this is our family tradition but at that vulnerable time in a budding relationship, we did wonder if this new person would think we were crazy... They all seemed to jump on the band wagon if not right away...then eventually when they realized it was just the way we did it. The grandchildren came along and they never heard the “nice” version so.... .It is just the way we do it....

After Dad died, Mom stopped asking about singing nicely... Even though she sang it nicely, I think when she heard us singing out off key it brought Dad right into the celebration again. For Mom's 80^th Birthday celebration at the church...those attending sang her a nice Birthday song...and after the nice version was done. I announced that it was time for the Birthday song the “Smith way”...and all the Smith's including, Mom, belted out the Birthday song in the best off key version yet with many of those attending joining in!

About two weeks ago, Greg and I were sitting in the Stone Lodge in Port Sanilac eating dinner. There were two rather loud and large parties going on at other tables in the big dining room. It was obvious that they were Birthday Parties. Shortly after we ordered, a waitress went to one of the tables with a small cake with candles and all of a sudden the group began to sing the Smith Birthday song...I was so surprised to hear another family with at least 4 generations singing the Smith Birthday song! I felt this over whelming urge to join in...and I did! It was so much fun! I had never known another family who sang Happy Birthday offkey. (except our cousins who followed Dad's lead..) . And in public no less!!! They sang it just as exuberantly as we do!
 
After we had eaten, I could not resist the temptations to go visit them to tell them that we, “the Smith's”, do the same thing with the Birthday song. Like our family, the Father started the tradition with the mother begging him to stop!...We laughed...

Sweet singing memories...

Love, Jan

Week 7 of 2016 - (Been way too long) First remodeling project.

It has been way to long since I have posted here and I really did love it when I regularly recalled memories from my childhood and shared them. In the spring of 2014, we sold our house in Illinois, packed our belongings and moved to Harbor Beach....and through the business of it all I left this project behind. I am ready to start again..It is overdue...

It is week 7 of 2016, I am 60 years old and can hardly believe where the time has gone...in my mind...I certainly can not be 60, must be a mistake...I must be only 30. My mind says I am 30 but my body confirms otherwise.  I am in the middle of a remodel project that while I was 30, it would have been done in a week but...I will be lucky to have in completed in a month...It all started with an unusual Christmas present that I gave my husband...a new toilet...(that is for a different blog.

Romeo House that we moved from in summer 1968

Which brings me to a great idea for a post... Our first remodel project.  In 1968, we moved from a tiny three bedroom house in Romeo to Imlay City where my Dad purchased a house that used to be Dr. Brab's Office and residence with an handy in-law suite for his mother...We went from four girls all sleeping in one room which was always in utter chaos, to all having our own rooms!  Talk about heaven!

Imlay City House that we moved to in 1968

The window right underneath the eves...that was my room.  My room was on the south west corner of the house.  My windows were barely off the floor so I had a great view looking down at Almont Ave and into the parsonage window to the south. If I sat on the floor by the south window I could look down Almont Ave to the south and see the trains on the railroad tracks as they passed.
It was a pretty big room and soon after we moved in I asked Dad if we could paint it. "Sure," he said, "but I need you to help me too."  The room was a old drab yellow with an open clothing rod hanging on the east wall of the room...no closet...as most old homes lack but I did not care because this space was all mine!!! I picked pink, of course, which at the time was my favorite color.

Dad had bought this monster of a house for $18,000.00 which in 1968 was pretty cheap for a house this size but it needed a lot of work.  We did not see the "lot of work"...we saw the big house nor did we realize that "we" were apart of the "lot of work " plan until after we moved in. Dad decided to make an apartment and a master suite on the first floor out of the doctor's Office.  So he spent most evenings, Tuesdays (his day off) and Sunday afternoons with his wrecking crew (his kids), busting down walls, replacing windows and doors, running wiring and plumbing. At first, it was rather fun using a hammer to break up plaster and lathe. We did find some drugs and things in a closet size room that was Dr Brab had used as a small drug dispensary.   Dad promptly disposed of it ....down the toilet as I recall... those were the days long before we realized that we should not do that. 

We broke down most of the walls from the 6 or 7 small exam rooms and made a pretty large apartment out of it. The waiting room became the living room, 2 examining rooms became a bedroom, 2 became a kitchen and then a bathroom/laundry and finally the large back bedroom which had been the Master on the first floor.  Dad took the drug dispensing room and parts of hallways and the front desk area and that became their bedroom downstairs in the main house.

 My Dad would just love all the HGTV/ DYI shows on TV today.  He was an early example of buying some that needs work and fixing it up.  He did it with every house he every lived in!


After we complete it the following fall we rented it to a wonderful couple who came to Imlay City from Minnesota.  Gregg and Sharon Jewett.  Gregg got his first teaching job in Imlay City fresh out of college.They did not rent from us for long but we have remained friends with them ever since.  The apartment was always rented. I think it was a two bedroom but it might have been three...one being very small.

Enjoying memories....

Love, Jan

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Week 24 of 2014

It's a great day...and one that is appreciated far more now that I'm in "senior" status.  While I, too, think about Dad on a regular basis, my admiration grows with each day.  We Smith kids are so very blessed with the love and dedication of our parents and the ability to pass it on to our children and grandchildren.   Thanks, Dad, for your guidance, your love of life approach that included making almost anything fun, sincerely loving people for who they are, and for teaching us about the love of God through his son, Jesus. We didn't always appreciate the Sunday mornings of worship and Sunday School or the return trip to town on Sunday evening for MYF.  Oh, it was fine, once we got there.  But I know I didn't always want to be there.  Today I understand the part about rearing a child in the way they should go.  Thank you, thank you for your love of God and the importance of sharing it with your children.

I think I can answer a couple of questions from Jan's Father's Day post...

It was Pickerel Lake at Vanderbilt.  I sure don't remember it being a State Park at that time.  I'm sure it was a state forest campground, but our most favorite spot to camp, including the nightly trek to the "power line" road to watch for elk.  Pajamas, treats and some patience along with alot of "Shhhhhh's" occasionally resulted in a spotting of the large animals. How Mom and Dad hauled a bunch of kids to a clearing and got us to sit reasonably quiet is beyond me!

I remember the Orchard Beach State Park (Ludington), camping in an orchard, a beautiful pavilion that had a Saturday night dance, Janet getting lost and hearing all the adults talking about the death of Marilyn Monroe (August 5, 1962) on Sunday morning.  Suddenly, the Saturday hunt for Jan was old news...and everyone was buying the Detroit Free Press for the details of the glamorous movie star's demise.

I also remember the camping spot south of Saugatuck for very different reasons.  It was actually the Allegan State Game Area.  It turned out to be the only time Dad and Mom resolved never to return and actually called in a complaint and followed that with a written letter.  It had the stinkiest, most foul outhouses of anywhere...ever.  Mom and Dad often laughed about how bad it was and in all their years of camping, there was never a situation that was anything close to it.  We had the tent all set up and it was just too much to move....and we had made reservations there, so we stayed.  But we left early the next morning and went to breakfast at Kellogg's in Battle Creek, MI.  It was only a short drive, it smelled much better and we were thrilled to get ice cream sundaes with cocoa krispies on top for a treat.

SO...thanks again, Dad, for all the good times and for the not so good ones, too.  All of it makes us what we are today...very blessed to have you for our Father!  Love you!

Week 24 of 2014 - Dad and my fondest memories....

Memories like racing home on Tuesday to help him with what ever was his project of the day. One day it was getting on the roof and fixing a leak. My job was to hold the bucket of tar as he slapped tar on all the cracks and holes he could find.  I did not think they looked like holes but he did.  I was just glad I could climb on the roof with him.  While I was up there I could not help but marvel at the view from so high up in the air. You could see the whole neighborhood from the roof.

Then there's the Sunday that we got snowed in and could not go to church.  So he took us sledding instead. He lugged the toboggan a couple of miles out into the woods to our favorite sledding hill. We rode the toboggan down the hill for several hours before we trouped  back home wet, tired and totally happy after spending the day with Dad! I'm sure that Mom got hot chocolate ready for us while Dad got to have his Sunday nap.

Camping...my Dad introduced it to us and we all have fondly kept going almost every year since our first trip in 1962. I think that it became our  annual vacation because it was affordable back then. When you have a growing family, vacations can be expensive.  Dad needed a break from work and where do you take 4, 5 or 6 kids where everyone can have fun.  I think he would be happy to know that it still remains important to all of us.  We all like a nice vacation to an exotic place but our annual camping trip keeps us really tuned in to what is important in life....Family! Precious moments in time that we experience together!

Our first trip we drove around the lower penisula of Michigan camping all along the way.  Our first stop was Oscoda where we visited family friends, the Dievers.

Next up...Roger City, Michigan, PH Hoeft State park. 

There is a beautiful beach and we loved playing in the water even though it was cold. 

Our next stop was near Mackinaw Bridge. I am wondering if it was Mill Creek Campground but I am not sure.  I recently read that Mackinaw Bridge opened in 1957.  Our camping trip would have been 5 years after it opened!  I was amazed when I read that.

Our next stop was a few days at Vanderbilt, Michigan.  I went to the internet to look up the name of the park expecting it to be Vanderbilt State Park or something...but it is not.  I find a park called Pickerel Lake.  It must be it. It is the only park listed in Vanderbilt, Michigan...It is a state park and still has no flush toilets!

The lake at Vanderbilt was awesome and shallow.  A great place for small kids to play in the water. 

Then on to Orchard Beach State Park.  I have a story about this park.  I got playing with a new friend at the playground at this park.  I wandered off with her and went to her campsite to play with out telling anyone.  Low and behold, I got lost.   I did not think I was but everyone else did!  I guess I gave them quite a scare but I knew where I was all the time!  Mom would later reminisce about Orchard Beach and she always said  " Oh yeah...Orchard Beach, that is where Jan got lost!"

Our next stop was a park south of Saugatuck, Michigan. Wish I could ask Dad where it was...No picture to remind me.   On our way home we stopped in Battle Creek and toured the Kellogg factory.  I will never forget a factory where they made my breakfast cereal! At that age I did not really think about where my breakfast cereal came from but I surely did not think it was a factory!
  
I have so many fond memories of my Dad.  He taught me so many things but probably the most important thing he taught me was how important your family is.  He focused on us.  It was all about us!

Love you Dad...miss you every day!


Jan