"February 18, 1969 - Tuesday - last wrestling match of the season. I didn’t go though, because I had cholera & smallpox shots."

 Remember those cholera shots? How they made your arm ache for days? "February 20, 1969 - My arm is so sore!" Now I REALLY knew why my mother always used to say, "Watch out for Daddy's arm, he had a cholera shot today!"

"February 25, 1969 - I got a typhoid shot."
"February 26, 1969 - Typhoid doesn’t hurt at all."
"March 4, 1969 - Got passport pictures & typhus shot."
"March 18, 1969 - I got the 2nd cholera shot. Oh, my arm."
"March 19, 1969 - It doesn’t hurt anymore, only when someone hits me in the arm."

 Meanwhile, life went on. I finished 9th grade at Roger B. Taney Junior High School, and Daddy left for the Philippines in June. Mama and I drove out with him to California, and then we flew home after visiting relatives. We spent the rest of the summer getting the house ready to sell.
"August 3, 1969 - Man & woman came out to appraise our house."
"August 5, 1969 - Man & woman brought their manager to see the house."

 In August, I started school at Crossland Senior High School, where my brother Bob had been a member of the first ever graduating class in 1966. At this time, Bob was in the Army, and shortly would be going to Viet Nam.

 I don't remember too much about my final days living in Maryland. However, I do recall that I had a report due in my World History class, and since I was leaving didn't do it. My LAST day of school, I had to go around and get teachers' signatures so I would be officially transfered out.. I finished in enough time to go to World History... but didn't want to take a chance on having to give a report I didn't do... so I hid out in the bathroom!

 And then... time to leave! Mama and I drove to Michigan to say goodbye to my Anderson grandparents (and leave our Camaro with them for the duration), then flew to California. October in Michigan and San Francisco is a little nippy, so I was wearing a wool skirt and sweater. At Travis AFB, we had to wait and wait and wait for our airplane, which apparently was experiencing some trouble. Finally, we got to board, at about midnight.

 On the flight, I sat with a girl I just met, Jan Ward, who was a senior. I'm still surprised to this day that my mother didn't make me sit with her! (And I still don't know who my mother was sitting with... maybe Jan's mother?) At about 3 AM local time, we landed in Honolulu. We were allowed to deplane and wander around the mostly deserted airport.

 At Wake Island, we greeted the dawn! We deplaned once again for a short time. I was amazed that anyone could find this tiny speck of land in the vastness of the ocean! Next stop, the Philippines!

 "October 4, 1969 - Arrived here in the P.I. Boy is it hot. Sure good to see Daddy again. Went to club." What understatements these are! Hot doesn't begin to describe what I was feeling, wearing a wool skirt and sweater. And it had been almost four months since we had seen my dad. It seems like it took forever for us to clear customs, but FINALLY we were allowed to leave.

 On the way to our home off-base, we stopped just inside the main gate to fill up our HUGE water jugs from something that looked like a gas pump. These things were unbelievable! Daddy told us that we couldn't drink the water off-base (guess that's why we had those cholera shots!), and we would have to lug all our drinking water to our house.

 The countryside was so strange to my eyes. Driving off-base was truly an adventure, with colorful vehicles and apparently non-existent traffic laws. As we got closer to our house, Daddy pointed out the chickens on the side of the road. Woe to the poor driver who accidentally hits one!