I suppose I should go back and fill in a few holes before I continue on any further. For example, the time when I hit that boat while riding Eric's bike or the whole first marriage thing. Well, the boat story is pretty simple. Purely by reflex, after I landed on my back in front of the trailer's wheel, I put my foot up. By some miracle, it landed on some solid, non-rotating part of the trailer and I was pushed down the street, on my back, under the trailer, in front of the wheel, for about 20 feet until the driver stopped. My shirt was trashed, but I am proud to say that that was the ONLY skid marks created that day. And, of course, once I stopped shaking, I continued on to the Hilltop. Hey, I took my dancing seriously back then. And not just country dancing. I also did ballroom dancing, Regency dancing and, later on, square dancing. In fact, it was at a square dance in Hawaii that I met my first wife, Vicki.

It all started when I returned to Great Lakes in '87 for Electronics Security Systems school. While I was stationed there, I discovered a wonderful little town just outside of Chicago that had an old-time town square and a soda fountain that served genuine phosphates (the predecessor to modern-day colas). One Saturday they were having a country jamboree downtown (they had a trailer band-stand and straw bales all around to sit on) and one of the scheduled events was a square dance demonstration. The "Demo Dance" consisted of several squares of dancers and a caller giving direction. The direction was delivered in the form of "patter" (kinda reminded me of an auctioneer) for the first dance and singing calls for the second dance. After the demo dance, all of us spectators were told to get up and form a large circle, boy-girl-boy-girl, and hold hands. We were then given basic instructions and the next thing you know, we were square dancing... in a circle. I mean, it was just a bunch of turns and allamands and do-see-dos, but it was FUN! Of course, afterwards, they told everyone that they just happen to have a new beginner's class starting up that week. So, I signed up. I gotta tell ya, it wasn't what I expected, and it sure wasn't what I remembered from junior high gym class! Yeah, there were some older folks, but there were also some younger ones, and even some kids. And, it was great exercise, and fun, and I met a bunch of nice, friendly folks, and had fun... Did I mention how much fun it was? Sadly, I only had a few weeks left before I was leaving for Hawaii. But here's the best part (next to being so much fun) - Square Dance clubs are all members of the Square and Round Dance Federation, and before I left Great Lakes, I knew the name, location, and dance schedule of the Square Dance club closest to my next base: the Cane Stompers at the Waipahu Rec Center, 2nd floor, Tuesday nights at 7:00pm.

Well, you already know that I ended up at a different base than originally ordered. That was ok, though, because my new base was at Westloch - right next to Waipahu. So, I became a member of the Cane Stompers Square Dance club. And that was where I met Frank and Vicki. Frank was in the Air Force and Vicki was a computer programmer at Pearl Harbor. Vicki had 2 daughters from a previous marriage: Meredith (15, living with them) and Michelle (18, away in the military). Frank had just recently returned from a 2-year overseas tour (originally scheduled to be 6-months but kept getting extended). During those 2 years, Vicki and Meredith had grown very close, having only each other to depend on. Unfortunately, they also got used to not having Frank around. When Frank returned, his impulse was to cling to them (due to not seeing them for 2 years), while Vicki and Meredith tended to push him away, protecting their space (due to their new independence). The result was a conflict between them all that ended in divorce and Meredith moving back to Pennsylvania to live with her real father.

Up until that time, I had not had a steady Square Dance partner. There were a lot of singles and I danced with whoever was available that night. I even danced with Meredith a few times. Vicki and I started dancing together while she and Frank were separated (but not yet divorced). We even went out 2-stepping a couple of times. Even though I had been told the reasons they were divorcing, I had to wonder if that was the whole reason, since she seemed to enjoy my company, and I KNOW I can tend to be a bit clingy at times. Still, we were just friends. At that time, neither of us had any idea we would soon be married. In fact, technically, I was already engaged to my "girl back home", Christy.

When I first arrived at Westloch, my barracks roommate smoked, drank, listened to loud rock music, and hosted all-night poker games. I was miserably. So, as soon as I could, I found a room-for-rent out in town. John E. Walker was something else! He rode a moter scooter. That was the most normal thing about him. He was a gun dealer who had dozens of guns, from .22 purse pistols to Uzis, laying all around his house and a reloader on a desk in front of the TV. He had a regular job, but I had no idea what it was. All I remember was, whenever he was home, he was sitting at his reloader, in his underware, building bullets and watching porn. Hey, believe it or not, it beat the hell out of my room in the barracks! John actually had 2 rooms he wanted to rent. I got one. Vicki ended up getting the other. One day, after she and Frank were divorced, Vicki and I were talking. Living off-base was expensive, and I was only an E-3 then (actually, I was an E-3 AGAIN, but I don't talk about that). I was worried that I would have to move back into the barracks. That was when Vicki casually mentioned that the Navy pays married service members an extra $600 each month for living and housing expenses, and even gives them an entire HOUSE (on base housing) to live in, for free! It was while I was soaking all of that in that she proposed to me. Actually, she simply said "we should get married".

From the start, we agreed that it would only be a "convenience marriage" and that once I left Hawaii, we would divorce. In the mean time, we were both free to see other people, go out with other people, date other people, sleep with other people. That was the plan. So, we got married. We were married by a Hawaiian priest wearing a Koa nut lei. The ceremony took place between Square Dancing sets at the Cane Stompers Square Dance Club, Waipahu Rec Center, 2nd floor, Tuesday night. We were married for about 3 years, and the whole time we were together, neither one of us saw other people, went out with other people, dated other people, or slept with other people.

I was 25 when we got married; Vicki was... older. When I married her, her girls were already grown, so I really couldn't "claim" them. I never even really thought of myself as their stepfather. However, while we were married, Meredith had 2 children (Tiffany and Rachael), and those I would claim! I used to joke that I had "a wife and 2 grandkids". Except to me, it really wasn't a joke. Meredith had dropped out of high school when she had Tiffany. About that same time, Meredith's dad moved out, leaving her alone with no way to take care of herself AND a new-born baby. So, to help her out, we flew them out to Hawaii to stay with us for a few weeks. While there, Vicki talked Meredith into leaving Tiffany with us while she went back and made a stable home for them. Meredith's friend Dan Schneider (NOT the father of Tiffany) took her into his home and immediately started making room for Tiffany as well. Meredith spent the next 6 months or so establishing a new home for her and her baby, finding work, etc. In the mean time, Vicki, Tiffany, and I were a family. At first, Tiff was so tiny that I could hold her on my arm with her head in the palm of my hand and her feet dangling at my elbow. I would hold her like that to feed her, dress her, even swing her. She was such a wonderful, beautiful baby. And she sure loved her grandpa! There were many times that she would be crying and all Vicki had to do was hand her to me and she would stop. Six months later, she had grown so much, she would no longer fit on my arm. And then Vicki took her back to Meredith. Well, I won't bother you with all of that, other than to say that there is and will always be an emptiness in my heart. Tiffany was not only my first baby, she was my only baby. Remember, later in life, when I remarried, it was to a woman with 3 children, and the youngest one was already 8 years old. By the way, in 1993 Meredith got her GED and, three years after that, a college degree.

Well, I guess that brings us back to where I left off, helping Fred & Sonyia move in next door. Actually, we were helping Sonyia and Rachelle and Jeff move in, since Fred was out looking for his friend and co-worker Todd to come and help them. ACTUALLY, Rachelle probably didn't do much unloading either, since she was about 15-months pregnant with Dariyen. So Sonyia and little Jeffy and Kathy & I ended up getting the entire truck unloaded by the time Fred & Todd got there. Well, we did leave them one thing: the slate for the pool table. That sucker was heavy!

The Bickhams soon became very good friends. In fact, we consider ourselves family. Actually, we ARE family, since Rachelle asked Kathy and me to be Godparents to her 2 children, Dariyen and Rami. Since we have known each other, hardly a week has passed that didn't have us together at least once to eat, drink, play games, travel, or simply visit. Also, between us, we have enough drama to keep an average soap opera running for at least a dozen seasons! Lets start with jobs. I haven't been able to keep a job for more than 3 or 4 years at a time. Lately, it's been more like 3 or 4 weeks! Sonyia works 2 jobs, and one of them (her full-time one) may be ending soon. Fred hasn't worked more than a few months since we've known him. Don't take that the wrong way. He keeps himself busier than any man I know. Nothing ever breaks at their house, because Fred fixes or replaces it before it has a chance to! His car wouldn't start one day. I would have towed it to a garage and paid hundreds of dollars. He soldered in a new diode on the control board inside his alternator. It probably cost him less than a dollar. He has landscaped their entire yard at least twice, installed new flooring in every room, built an extra bedroom in their garage, painted every wall who knows how many times, painted half the walls in OUR house, and keeps his garage neat enough to park TWO cars in it! He does all of the house work, including meals, and watches Rachelle's kids so she doesn't have to pay for daycare. He also has Huntington's Chorea and may not be with us much longer.

Rachelle married Rodney, had Dariyen, and got divorced. She then married Michael, had Rami, and is getting divorced. Dariyen is very athletic and plays baseball, basketball, football, and probably several others as well. Rami is a princess and talks to Evan on her toy cell phone ("Emon, come HOME!").

Jeff moved to Albuquerque and married Jamie. Jamie already had 2 beautiful girls: Kayla and Riley. This summer they're all moving back here.

That just leaves the 5 of us. Except for a few short-term jobs, I've been unemployed since Februay 2009. However, I now have a tentative start date for a short-term assignment at City Center which may go perm. Kathy is an analyst at the City of Henderson and has been there for 11 years. This is the first time since graduating high school that she hasn't had the word "legal" in her title (Legal Assistant, Legal Secretary, Paralegal, etc). She is also a 1/3 partner in a catering company. Andrew is a manager at Aaron Brothers' Art & Framing and attends classes at UNLV. He lives with his girlfriend Kelly and his friend Jay and plays Beer Pong on the weekends. Travis is a Henderson Police Officer and leads a very private life. Ricky is engaged to Sarah. They live just outside Seattle and have 2 beautiful boys (Evan & Austin). He works at Home Depot. Evan is engaged to Rami, but just doesn't know it yet. Austin can now crawl forwards.

Oh, there is one more thing. Last week, after 21 years, I found Meredith on Facebook and have chatted with her a few times. She told me that Vicki died a few years ago. That is sad, but I did not cry. This morning, I heard from Tiffany. She told me it made her feel really good that I still thought of her and that she would love to be a part of my life. That time I cried.