I remember my grandmother well. She died when I was 14, but she was a great influence in my life, and I will never forget her. Every summer, we would go to my grandparents’ summer home in Maine for vacation. It was such a great place – right on the ocean and lots of land […]

I’m currently 47, and when I was a teenager in the 1970s, it was the height of fashion to have long, shaggy hair – or so I thought. My misconception was corrected the summer that I left my liberal Southern California home to spend my vacation at my Aunt Julie’s dude ranch in West Virginia. […]

As a child growing up in the 70s, I was spanked by my mother and my baby-sitters. I grew up in a small beach town. One day, when I was 10, my mom caught me on the beach with fire crackers. She immediately led me by the arm back to our house – I knew […]

This event happened when I was about four. I was being watched by Becky – she was an average size woman in her mid 20s. On this particular occasion, I had been a terror all day. It started early on when I destroyed one of Becky’s books. I had torn it apart bad and she […]

About two weeks after my 17th birthday, I went to visit with my Aunt Joyce in Alabama. I was to stay with her for one month and she was instructed to handle all discipline in any way she saw fit. I had just been there about three hours and I wanted to run to the […]

Nanny was very concerned with sharing. She felt that this was an extremely important part of growing up, and she stressed it with Jeff and me throughout her time with us. This story took place when I was about three, for Jeff was still just out of a stroller, so he must have been a […]

When my sister Donna died I became guardian of her daughter, Joanne. My own mother had given very strict punishment with a belt, leaving bruises for days, and bad memories of those spankings meant Donna had never spanked Jo, even mildly. I had no plans to do so either – but things don’t always go […]

I remember staying at my aunt’s summer house when I was younger. One day, me and my cousin Kathy (who was about the same age as me) chased her six-year-old brother out of the swimming pool, with us using foul words. We continued playing with our two friends – both girls of the same age […]

At grandmother’s summer home in Maine, we were by the ocean. At the foot of the hill, down from the house, were five small beaches where we all learned to swim and where we spent many happy hours building sandcastles. There was also a long pier with a runway and float, for my grandparents had […]

My mother took me to visit the daughter of one of her friends. We were the same age. Sarah and I liked each other right away and her mother suggested that since it was a lovely day, Sarah might like to take me outside to play in the garden. Sarah showed me some outside toys, […]