Like many young people I did not make the most of what was offered, but that was my fault. At that that time, nobody told me I should be ashamed of my whiteness or if I wanted to become a girl I could. We believed good and evil were objective categories. No one suggested that I deserved anything I had not worked for—well except for my birthday and Christmas, which were such special times. I was not told that my country was evil, and I learned that my happiness was not the first virtue in life.

The memories of my childhood in Nobleboro, Maine (mid coast) are a source of immeasurable delight. Life was not perfect, but it was good. My parents were part of what Tom Brokaw celebrated as “The Greatest Generation.” After World War II (my father fought in the Pacific), my parents settled in “the valley” when I was three years old and eventually started a small dairy farm where we worked alongside adults in the fields and in the barn. That provided the context for the next 15 years of my life. It was a wonderful life which I shared with my brother, who was three years my elder (a hero in the Vietnam war). When we were working on the farm, we spent hours playing outside using our imagination to make up worlds that allowed us to pretend to be adults. Spring and early summer evenings would find us playing baseball with neighborhood children until it was so dark you couldn’t see the ball. In the winter, wonderful hours were spent with the same children sliding down Reed hill where road conditions (early on it was a dirt road) and traffic volume were different in those days, so I do not suggest anyone try it today. It was a simple or should I say an uncomplicated life. Life was ordered according to the rhythms of nature where each season brought something different and enjoyable. Although I never liked weeding the garden, when the harvest was gathered in the fall it gave a wonderful sense of security. We were prepared for the winter. It is true we did not have all the electronic gadgets of today but as time has proven, all of that would not have made us better or happier.

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