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Hugo Isom's avatar

I know you meant to say, “Sorry Reb — and Sherwood, Bill, Bruce,” et al. 😎

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Amber Lanier Nagle's avatar

"We were spoon fed on chaos and change and that’s why we are best suited, in many ways, to resist the current catastrophes ..." Amen to that! Loved reading such a colorful account of your upbringing.

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A Little Bit of This and That's avatar

Thank you so much!

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Gill Gayle's avatar

I’ve been wondering lately how I survived but the wonderful thing about this piece is the feeling we all had that anything was possible, the world was ours to explore and things they “were a changing”. There is a book in this if your friends and family can take it. Hahaha

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A Little Bit of This and That's avatar

When my mom read this piece yesterday, she corrected me, telling me our car was red not orange. I’m not sure what my family can or cannot handle, but the book is already written. It was seven years in the making, which is typical of a memoir. It also encompasses the high school coach so it’s quite a tale to tell that includes our statute of limitation reform journey.

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Gill Gayle's avatar

I must read it. I’m sending you a screenplay today of a film I am working on with one of my oldest friends. We smoked weed in his carport on Weekend nights after we dropped off our dates and watched old monster movies, The Midnight Special and SNL. We made Super 8 monster movies in Jr High with our friends and we stayed away from our homes as long as it was light outside. It’s about outsider kids, the love of art, alcoholic parents, Frankenstein and the truest of friendships.

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A Little Bit of This and That's avatar

I love the sound of this!

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Elizabeth DeRamus's avatar

gill.. you know I don’t want to guess who so text me the reveal!!

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Lois S. Mash's avatar

I’m disappointed our pics weren’t at the 4th July pic. So much fun !!! We got our first dog at one of those parties. Wonderfully written !!

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A Little Bit of This and That's avatar

I have a picture with Eda in it I almost posted. I will text it to you!!!

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Lee Sumner Irwin's avatar

You have such a gift for taking us right into the scene, Lanier. I love your stories! Your mother and I would have been great friends & partners in crime.

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A Little Bit of This and That's avatar

I love that! When I asked her yesterday, how she would describe those parties, she said “raucous” which I found fitting. It’s hard to describe that sense of liberation in the air, even though things were challenging.

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Annette Duval's avatar

Completely absorbing and evocative!

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Erin's avatar

I loved this Lanier!

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Nancy Miller Heard's avatar

LOOOOOOOVED THIS

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A Little Bit of This and That's avatar

Thanks, Nancy!!

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Alison Bruhn's avatar

Love this- you captured our lives at that time in that place in the world perfectly.🙏🏻😎

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Bob Byrd's avatar

"budding business" I see what you did there. Loved this piece, Lanier. I didn't realize we were born two years apart. I love this essay and the nostalgia it evoked and the meanings ascribed to your feral childhood (love that phrase. Storyteller Donald Davis refers to his childhood as "free range")

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A Little Bit of This and That's avatar

“Free range” is a great description. There is something about the seventies that pulls on me to this day. Boy, have we lived through some times.

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A Little Bit of This and That's avatar

Yes, sorry to all of our good friends caught in the moment with us!

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