I was young once...
I was young once...
And I liked Watermelon on the beach...
I absolutely loved ice cream as a
kid. Who didn't? Anyway, here I am at my grandfather Zeibel's place in
Salisbury, Maryland. The two of us are quite a pair, right down to the
matched shirts.
Here I am with grandpa Zeibel again. This
time we are on the back of the Army truck that dad brought back from
Ethiopia. Were at Assateague island having a meaningful conversation.
I lived down in St. Thomas when I was young. It was a hard life.
I liked to go boating with my dad....(I'm the short blond one)
I liked to go snorkelling and occasionally brought my camera with me.
Say hi to the fish of the Carribean Sea!
Of course, there were some slightly larger
fish in the Carribean Sea as well...
However, I eventually had to leave my island paradise. Here is the
sunset from the plane as we flew back to the states.
Back in the states, one of the first things
that we did was to get a cat. Her name was Marie and she was with us from
second grade through high school graduation. Here she is trying to deal
with the snow.
One of my hobbies back in Charlotte was rock
collecting. I joined the Charlotte Gem and Mineral Club with mom. Here I
am at about 11 with my collection. Mom built the display case. This is
one of the few pictures of my room that exists. There just wasn't room to
toke pictures! Anyway, I still have my rock collection and enjoy rocks to
this day.
One of my main interests growing up was the
Boy Scouts. I went to two National Jamborees as a scout and I have been
to one more as a member of the staff. Here I am at 13 getting ready to
leave for the 1989 National Scout Jamboree. Don't I look young! I got my
Eagle scout the following year. Boy Scouts was one of the best and most
influential parts of my life prior to college.
By the time that I hit high school, I
decided that girls maybe weren't that icky. Anyway, I went to my junior
prom with Heather Fowler. Heather and I played tenor sax together for
many years. It was an ongoing competition. The prom wasn't
the best prom of my life, but
nevertheless, I still consider her a friend to this day and we catch up
whenever she comes home from Marine Geology graduate school at the
University of Alabama.
Marie passed on during my senior year of
high school. It was a very sad day. However, we were soon graced (well
sort of) with the presence of another cute kitty. Her name is Molly
and she is a hellraiser. See for yourself.
She likes to watch the birds
getting a drink from the bird bath. Here she decided to do a bit more
than just watch the bird bath. For some strange reason, the birds all
went away.
My senior year in high school also brought
about my first serious long term relationship. (Gasp!) The young lady
that was the lucky victim was Elizabeth Baker. She was the first in a
series of band relationships as she played the trumpet in the Independence
Senior High School Marching Band. An organization that was primarily
responsible for me gaining some social skills. She was a freshman when
I was a senior, but that's ok. It still worked out well. Here we are at
Christmas time out at my grandparents house on Lake Wylie. Note Tiffany
and Wesley, my cousins, in the foreground. They have grown quite a bit
since.
Here Elizabeth and I are getting ready for
my senior prom. That prom was quite fun. High school may have started
quite rocky, but by the end it wasn't so bad. Elizabeth looked very
pretty that night. (And I was quite handsome and charming as well!)
Ahhh... finally outta here. Yep. I
graduated high school. June 4, 1993. Here I am in my green cap and gown
with my newly awarded diploma. The state of North Carolina evidently
thought that I knew something. Here I am with mom and dad as well.
With the graduation from high school meant
that college was coming. I was going to Duke University. That however
meant that I was leaving the past behind. Here Elizabeth and I are at
Sunset Beach, North Carolina on a last trip before I left for college. We
broke up when I went away, but I really enjoyed our time together.
Here is a sunset picture that I took from
the Chesapeke Bay Bridge Tunnel on Thanksgiving break 1993. Dad, Lory,
and I were on our way up to visit my granddad and we were in a dense fog
in Norfolk, Virginia. But when we got out over the water the fog lifted
and we saw this view.