An Adventure - That's for Sure

By Donna Wood

Donna’s goal from early on was to explore. It started when she set off on her trike at three years old and was found two blocks away singing and peddling. Donna’s childhood is a look at what it was like to grow up in a protected Catholic neighborhood in the ’50s and ’60s. Donna always thought opportunities presented should be opportunities taken. At twenty-one, she found herself in Europe for a month, and it changed her life. What else is there to see? she thought. But first things first, she had to finish college and get a job she could always fall back on. She found herself being in the right place at the right time many times in her life. Fear of change never held her back. Looking back, she is happy at a life explored.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635687514

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An Adventure,

That’s for Sure

Donna Wood

Copyright © 2017 Donna Wood

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2017

ISBN 978-1-63568-750-7 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63568-751-4 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Preface

People have been telling me since the seventh grade that I should do stand-up comedy. You are so funny, they say, but please, stand up? Walking out on a stage where the spotlight hits you in the eye and cigarette smoke floats by the microphone, not to mention you have to deal with the drunks who look you up and down and are thinking, She doesn’t look funny and Who picked out that outfit? and How old is she? So a book is easier and leaves the imagination to the reader.

The events in this book really did happen, folks. I’m not making anything up, except for changing a few names to protect the innocent, and believe me, they aren’t that innocent!

Introduction

Dad

My dad grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the third of three sons. He attended Catholic grade school, high school, and two years of Catholic college before, as he said, his friendly neighbors selected him for duty for WWII. Dad chose the navy because the line was shorter than the army line. He had no patience for lines. He was stationed in Minneapolis. At the time, the navy had a volunteer program where they introduced elderly women with GIs for dinner, board games, and talks, for a homey evening away from the base. My great-aunt’s cousin was assigned to Dad, and she introduced him to Mother at a dinner party. My parents wrote long letters and got married in 1947. My relationship with my dad was not the best one could hope for. I spent a lot of time trying to please Dad and stay out of his way. He had a short fuse and yelled a lot. A lot of fathers in the ’50s yelled a lot. They were young tough guys returning from the war and weren’t emotionally ready for kids. They were really strict with us. The best thing about Dad was his sense of humor, which thankfully, I inherited.

Mother

My mother grew up on the north side of Minneapolis in a small little house. She was the eldest of two, her brother being two years younger. My mother was very musically talented; she had a beautiful voice and took voice lessons for years. After high school, she auditioned for a singing job at the local Minneapolis radio station called WCCO. She was part of an early morning singing show and was later selected to sing the Hamms Beer commercial for TV, which went, From the land of sky-blue waters comes the beer refreshing … Hamms. So Mother was not only pretty, she could sing, and to a sailor from Cleveland, that was irresistible. She quit her job at the radio station after she was married but was in demand as the lead singer in the church choir and did weddings and funerals. Mother had a lot of faith and positive attitude, which thankfully, I inherited. Our house was always clean and organized, and we always ate well. We didn’t have a lot of extras, but we had what we needed.

Chapter 1

I was born on March 1, 1950. I don’t know what the weather was like in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that day. Weather change was probably in the air. My mother’s birthday was the next day, so you could say I was her birthday present. I’m sure my parents were