Here are a few pictures that will flesh out the personalities in the book. I am hoping some people mentioned in the book will make contact and then I’ll add their pictures as well, but for now, this is all I have.

 

This was taken one week after I returned home, so it is much the same as I would have appeared in Dallas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my father receiving a commendation. He also could not wait to see the larger world. In 1943, at the age of 15, he entered the Merchant Marines. It wasn’t legal, but as he said, “They were desperate for people and the recruiters didn’t care how old you were. They knew I pulled a stranger off the street to sign as my father. Hell, they watched me do it.” The stranger’s signature affirmed he was 17. Then at age 16, with WWII coming to an end, he entered the Marine Corps.

 

 

This is my mother in 1961. She was sixteen in this photo and doing a bit of modeling. She has always been stunning to me. When I was very young, I was always proud of my mother because she was far more beautiful than any of my friend’s mothers. And then I got older and was thankful she had the good graces to never embarrass me. And then I got even older and realized there was more to be thankful for than my mother’s pretty face and pleasant manners. She is fiercely loyal, passionate, and generous. She is well worth knowing and I love her dearly.

 

 

 

 

This was taken right after my first return from Mexico. You’ll have to forgive me, it’s my first ever pistol and I might have been a little overly excited. And I don’t need anyone to bless me out for this picture because my father already did that.

 

Here are my father’s thoughts on guns: “Never pull out a gun unless you intend to use it. And when you use it, you shoot to kill. If things have gotten to the point you need to point a gun at someone, you don’t shoot to warn, and you don’t shoot to injure. You shoot to kill. Then there’s no one to dispute you in court.”

 

 

 

And here is Ed. This photo was taken right before he left the Marines, near to the time we met.

 

 

 

 

 

And this is Ed near the end of our relationship.

The photos show he was attractive, but he was even more appealing in person. He was so disarmingly charismatic, I would often threaten to start a cult of personality around him. It would have been great fun, but he was far too honest for such nonsense.