Flashback!

September 24th, 1986

My brother Matt was 14 the day this was taken, which makes me 6. That’s my grandpa to the left. Anyway, this is the only pic I have here of childhood. I’ll give you a quick recap of what happened next: My brother eventually grew into his enormous teeth and married his high-school sweetheart, Elizabeth. They now have three kids. I made it through high school, college, and working for an ad agency.  Then, I moved 3,000 miles away to go to grad school, live up the spinster life in New York and talk about it on a blog. The end.

Almost.....let me finish childhood/pre-college. Pretty much every weekend for my family was spent in Lake Havasu (Arizona). My parents bought a condo there when I was about 7. I tried to convince them not to buy it, mainly because it meant we wouldn’t be staying at the "Nautical Inn" anymore which featured a fantastic beach for my sand castles. I was very upset. As I got older I realized, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. The sunset you see above is probably my dad’s favorite thing in the whole world.

Hours not spent in Lake Havasu (or school!) were spent either at, or talking about Bedard Automotive. This is my Dad’s automotive repair business. It’s been open since 1976, and since I can remember we’ve been talking about transmissions, engines,etc. at all our family meals. I’ve washed cars, worked the front office, and even crushed oil filters in the back. Countless family members and even some of my high school friends have worked there. My brother still works there, and will eventually take over. By the way...here’s a pic of the whole family from uh....1998:

Starting from the left, that's my oldest brother Mike, Elizabeth (Matt's wife), brother Matt, Me, my Mom, Pam and my Dad, Chuck (who my friends often refer to as "chuckit" and "pamnit"). So anyway- Lake Havasu and Bedard Automotive-- if I'm going to really nutshell the collective family experience, that would be it. Moving on....

And then there was college. College was a time for new experiences, like skydiving....

...drinking in hot tubs in the mountains (this is my 21st bday in Lake Tahoe, CA)...

...And living with 11 girls in a house on the beach. This is the view off our lower balcony senior year in college. For anyone who knows UCSB or Isla Vista - this is a typical view from a ocean-side house on "DP." Pretty rad right??? I knew I should have been a fith year senior. (BTW- are those sharks or surfers in the bottom right???) Oh yeah- there was studying too...

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