An American Woman: Three Short Stories

By Theresa Migno

This trilogy captures the personal musings of the author who grew up as a military brat during the turbulent 60's. Both self-effacing and introspective, it presents the realities faced by many American women of this era. Strong, ever-hopeful and candid, it's a short, entertaining read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669846918

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Copyright © 2022 by Theresa Migno.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

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without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/29/2022

Xlibris

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846518

CONTENTS

THE MIDDLE CHILD

The Middle Child

THE COACH’S WIFE

Chapter 1 Young Love

Chapter 2 College Years

Chapter 3 Job Number One

Chapter 4 Job Number Two

Chapter 5 Job Number Three

Chapter 6 Job Number Four

Chapter 7 What’s Next?

Chapter 8 Restart

Epilogue

LATE BLOOMER

Chapter 1 Single Mother

Chapter 2 A Job

Chapter 3 Ralph

Chapter 4 Careers

Epilogue

THE MIDDLE CHILD

THE MIDDLE CHILD

I am a Marine Corps brat. That generally means the military child has had many homes. We were no exception.

Daddy was a lieutenant colonel who fought during WWII. He never talked about these critical, likely horrifying events with his family. However, after his death, my brother chronicled my dad’s many career accomplishments. These included the 1943 Invasion of Tarawa with 3,000 US casualties; the 1944 Battle of Peleliu with 9,500 US casualties; then lastly, he got severely wounded during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa with 68,000 US casualties. Postwar, he continued in various stateside military administrative positions.

My resultant homes included a mixture of both officer quarters and civilian residences in North Carolina, Virginia, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and four locations in California. Most contemporaries had the same culture and background, so this was nothing startling.

I am the middle of seven children. My mother, of course, was a saint! She somehow raised us all despite the huge personal demands of Daddy’s military career. This included many spells as a single parent fraught with worry about Dad’s survival and a meager income. Nevertheless, she absolutely adored my father. They had a terrific relationship based on love, respect, and fun. Both were firstborns from working-class East Coast families, both were high school valedictorians, both were college educated, and neither were risk-averse. Life was something to grab onto and appreciate!

The downside of this crazy couple’s love might be that, as offspring, we knew we were not the center of the universe. They had eyes for each other, and then there was us. I call us the motley crew.

My dad was a devout Catholic. My mother converted from Lutheranism in order to marry him. In any case,