Like Being Born-Again

"This is horseshit. We are moving to California." Thus spake my blunt Midwestern father. The winter was brutal. As a fourth grader studying South Dakota history, I had been tracking temperatures since fall. In January it ranged from -9 F. to -2 F. Snow drifts covered the windows. I guess Dad got tired of shoveling out of the house daily with frozen tools.

So, he quit his job at Montgomery Ward in Mitchell, and headed West. As spring rolled around, Mom sold extraneous household and personal items, found a new home for our dog, Misty, who was deemed unable to make the trip due to motion sickness, packed the few remaining belongings into a small uhaul trailer, loaded the rest into the Plymouth, and with my brother and me in tow, said good bye to the Corn Palace and left for California. That was the good news. The other news is that Dad had been hired by Montgomery Ward in Bakersfield.