BOOMER by Tim Engel (smallest ebook reader txt) 📕

as we affectionately call her were a complete joy. As babies we fell in love with them. Tom and I helped babysit or watch the babies – whatever you want to call it. But we enjoyed spending time with the babies. They were the babies! Tom and I learned to change the babies, to work with ‘real’ cloth diapers, to do the laundry daily. Hey, this wasn’t so hard! The babies came to be known as “The Little O’s”. The little O’s were called that because they fixed their mouths in the cutest little ‘O’s’. It would have been cool to have video of them with their little O’s and have Pavarotti hitting a big high note in The Barber of Seville. He he he!!
Kyle was known as the ‘Founder of the little O’s’ and Sister was the ‘Assistant Founder of the Little O’s’. They were the cutest things you could ever want to see. I was 11 and I loved them from the beginning. Tom was 14 and he did as well. The babies were bundles of joy. Everyone was ecstatic with the babies – and having twins made it doubly wonderful.
When the babies were still young – about one year old – we embarked on a road trip across America. Well, half way across anyway – we were headed to Sioux City Iowa. We would be driving Mom’s big, beautiful 65 Cadillac with the 500ci engine. Pop did all the driving, Mom navigated, and the babies and I hung out in the backseat. There was plenty of room in the Caddy – in fact, we felt like royalty being chauffeured in the big Caddy. I remember keeping a diary of our trip and had a lot of fun doing that. The people we met, the ‘hardships’ we endured – (not really!). Po p taking advantage of the Caddy’s big motor and cruising along at 95 mph. Smile. As a young boy in America with a healthy interest in cars, this was so fun! I peeked over the seat and saw the big long needle tickling the 95 mark; I turned to my left and saw the babies stretched out on the cavernous back seat of Mom’s caddy. Mom was dozing as well. This is so cool!, I thought.
Well one of our first stops would be Las Vegas. We would spend the night there before continuing our trek. In these days we didn’t bother with reservations. Who needed reservations? You just stopped at a Hotel and got a room. Well at the first place they said ‘no vacancy’. Same with the second, third, and fouth. After the fourth try, we opted for sleeping in the car. OK, very good – no problema! After all, this was an adventure! So we pulled the big Blue Caddy into a darker spot of a Hotel parking lot and it was time for shut eye. But as a 12 year old in Vegas on a big adventure, I don’t think I slept more than about 30 minutes. If that. I was too amped up. Too excited about the trip. And didn’t someone need to ‘be on watch’? Funny me. I think I was running on adrenaline and maybe some candy. But I didn’t crash and burn. Too amped up. Vegas, baby! 500 cubes sittin under the hood, the vast highway built by Eisenhower’s team to ensure safe escape and civil defense for America lying out there ahead of us like some kind of challenge. Images of asphalt rolling out ahead of us for thousands of miles spun in my head. Let’s roll! But it was 3AM and everyone was asleep. I watched people come and go in the warm Vegas night. The hum of lights lulled me into unconsciousness.
At dawn’s light we were on our way. Heading out into the desert beyond Las Vegas. The adventure ahead would be exciting and wonderful. Pop had diabetes and at one juncture we ended up in a small town without insulin. When a waitress at a restaurant heard of our problem, she called her husband who brought supplies to the restaurant. This was the kind of people we met on the road. Another time a Hotel was full and they let us sleep in their ‘basement’ – it wasn’t a typical basement, but a nice room with beds – made up like a Hotel room. Very nice of them. I remember heading out across Wyoming and coming down a long gradual hill and looking ahead and could see what seemed like 100 miles of perfectly straight road.
The Caddy rode like a champ. No problems. Smooth. The perfect touring car. Cruising along for hundreds and hundreds of miles. We sang songs, ate at restaurants, had a great time. Oklahoma City – wow – an oil well on the capital lawn?! Oil has been very good to Oklahoma. We have family that came from OK. My great grandfather Benjamin Franklin Richards had a family in Oklahoma that consisted of among others, Mom’s Mom Marion and her younger Sister Eugenia who is still alive at 98. They lived in Woodward County, OK. And when Ben came to California, worked his way up to Police Chief of the City of Orange.
Pop’s family was wonderful. We met everyone there in So. Sioux City Nebraska and Sioux City Iowa. Pop’s Dad had been Mayor of So Sioux and there was a Park there named in his honor – Klasey Park – which survives to this day. They took us in and we stayed and played with everyone. I remember meeting one kid on a farm in Missouri named Buford. Being about the same age we found common ground to share – fireworks! He had firecrackers and cherry bombs which were readily available in Missouri. I won’t write here what …oh, what the heck – life on a farm is different that life in the city. Pure and simple. Animals are animals and if you live on a farm or ever did, you know what I mean. For most Americans, we understand that many animals such as sheep, cows, pigs, and the like are here for us to use. To eat, make clothing from, and the like. Well, Buford shared a story about what he had done with a cherry bomb. He and some friends. They put a pipe in a dogs butt and lit a cherry bomb – and well, you get the idea. I’m not condoning this and I’m also glad he didn’t suggest we repeat the offense. I could only imagine.
Being on a farm has benefits – you can shoot shot guns right there on your own farm. We got to do some trap shooting right there outside the house. How cool is that!? Nothing like that in Lakewood!
Kyle and Sister were about 3 when Grandma Warner bought them some cool, yellow Easter outfits. Way too cute!! Later when I had a Willys Jeep station wagon of my own – I remember taking the babies with me. Even if it was on a date. Kyle and Sister would ride along and play in the back of the Jeep with my bean bag animals. One day I was at my girlfriends house and she, the babies, and I were going somewhere and we were on my girlfriend’s street. It was a narrow street and you were only allowed to park on one side or two cars couldn’t pass ea other. Well, some kids were riding their bikes and one little girl was looking backwards while riding her bike so she started venturing out into the street. I slammed on my brakes, stopped, and she ran into my fender and fell off her bike. Police were called and she was taken to the doctor. She was OK, but the cops checked my jeep and found the brake pedal too low. All it needed was some fluid! A witness told Police that I had actually stopped and that the little girl had come out, but to no avail. I got a ticket for a low brake pedal and would have to pass a safety inspection. When they checked my brakes, they said I needed some new parts. Well, I was having trouble finding parts because the vehicle was over 20 years old. So I ended up eventually selling the Jeep. Wish I had it now!
Kyle and Sister were wonderful kids and grew up to be great adults as well. I always thought they had Hollywood good looks. They were very popular and had a lot of fun. On Lewis Road as I mentioned, we had some 50 kids. So Kevin and Sister had a sprinkling of friends that were close to them in age to hang out with and become close friends with.
VIETNAM
If you’re a baby boomer you have vivid memories and feelings about Vietnam. What was it in America to be a Baby Boomer and live during Vietnam? A time of Patriotism? A time of Protest? A time of great unrest and division in America. The theory was that if we let Vietnam fall to the Communists that other countries would fall like Dominos. The Domino theory.
Tom had a Deferral because he went to College. I was thankful for this. I didn’t want to see him have to go off and fight and possibly die in a war. I didn’t fully understand the war, but I knew that people were fighting and dying there. Were they dying for freedom? What is the cost of freedom?
In WWII Our Pop and Dad fought the evil axis and won! They were clearly evil and intent on world domination. The Germans had kicked it off by attacking country after country in Europe. The Japanese, their allies, followed suit on their side of the world. Dad would fight them in the Pacific on a Destroyer in the waning days when the Japs were using Kamikazes. Dad’s ship would be hit by a Kamikaze after shooting down 5 in 15 minutes. The Gwinn carved out their piece of fame by simply being there and doing their job. Pop was involved in equally famous battle of the bulge – when Germany in the waning days of the war gave it one last push to try to fight off the push to their border. They bulged and looked to break out, but Pop and his buddies did the job and pushed em back, ultimately Hitler would commit suicide as the Americans and Russians closed in. But Vietnam was different. It was highly political and torn by the difference of opinion at home.
Battles were seen on the nightly news. Soldiers would take a hill or a village and have to leave it. Instead of a clear mission, there was confusion. What is the ultimate goal? Who is the enemy and who is not? In Vietnam there were thick jungles full of enemy troops and booby traps. There was guerilla warfare. Something akin to what we used