I am about 10 yards behind them and behind me I hear someone say, “Come on Johnny, catch up!” and Johnny says, “I have to wait for the old lady to pass.”

The only time our lives we were truly in danger was when, like Nemo’s dad, we had that unexpected “swim with the jellies.”

I’m a pop out of the birthday cake kinda gal and I started young. I mean I was nine when I planned my first surprise party for my mother’s 30th.

I was moved by the revelations in the development of the pin-pricked image. That volunteer parent had no idea the little light they’d shined on my imagination.

By 2am and we were exhausted and decided that we needed a safer place to rest. That is when Cathy suggested we try the baggage car.

That date in center field? It was the bar no boy could ever reach. Not even my husband.

I am a flag-flying, intensely patriotic daughter of a US Navy veteran, former Girl Scout color guard-saluting, America the Beautiful-singing, 50 state quarter-collecting, 4 th of July apple pie-baking, BBQ sauce-basting, lower-middle to middle class-climbing, life better for my children-dreaming, proud to be an American middle age woman. At least I was proud. But that was when I believed to my core that this country aspired to the values declared in the Declaration of Inde

For me, this mission isn't about baseball at all, though I am learning more about the game. More importantly, I am learning more about my dad.

When I was in my early twenties, I moved into an apartment in Hollywood, conveniently located near Rock and Roll Ralph’s around Sunset and La Brea. My new roommate Shelley and I had met at Irvine Meadows, which my mother thought meant we both loved hiking in nature, but really, we met at a Guns N’ Roses concert. Shel was there for Sebastian Bach, the lead singer of the opening act, Skid Row. I was there because Jon Bon Jovi was the man of my dreams. I mean he was charismatic,

My mother was certain I’d lied about my request for an all-girl’s dorm when I landed in a building filled with BOYS.