Indications of having been sexually molested as a child. — At the line “…Maybe that would somehow make me appear more alluring,” in Chapter One of Big Daddy Syndrome, my editor wrote, “Why did you want to be alluring? I don’t understand your motivations here at all.” For those of you extremely fortunate men and women who were never the…

1968. Edie’s attempts to support her husband fail miserably. — October 1968. About mid-way through the fall semester, Paul began to feel the pressure of being in the Big Leagues. I was still euphoric, always up in time to see him off to early classes, singing and dancing around the trailer. One morning, instead of our usual kiss, Paul walked…

1968. Paul transfers to Purdue; they buy a (Southern) mobile home in Memphis, ship it to Indiana (the North), and have a disastrous trip to West Lafayette. — May 1968. “Memphis State.” My father had said it with such disgust one would have thought it was a reform school. He had been pleased with Paul’s decision to go to college and study engineering, but he was not at all happy with Paul’s choice of schools. He knew —…

1967. Edie is in La-La Land while Paul stresses about school, finances, and their literally flea-bitten existence. Paul’s best friend is gay; Edie unintentionally destroys their friendship. — August 1967. By August, we’d had all we could take of the sweltering Memphis heat. Paul decided we could afford another ten dollars a month for rent and scanned the Sunday classifieds for a place with air conditioning. …

1967. Edie filters reality to maintain her naïveté and “happy housewife” self-image… but begins having disturbing nightmares about her father. — January 1967. My friends at work in the bank were an interesting bunch. The supervisor, a substantial bleached blonde of about thirty-five had a harsh, raspy voice and used to be a sergeant in the Women’s Army Corps. Velma always sounded gruff, but she didn’t really scare anyone. She was…

A Miserable Wedding; a Meaningless Consummation — December 1966. The worst snowstorm Virginia had seen in ten years began the morning of my wedding, December 28, 1966. By noon, the minister had called to say he would be unable to perform the ceremony because a member of the church had fallen seriously ill, and he was in…

1966. A chauvinistic father takes his daughter on dates to deliver Puritanical directives on sex and ladylike behavior. — September 1966. Breakfast was over, and I was about to leave for work when my mother called out, “Edie, your father would like to take you out tonight. Are you free? …

Before the days of cell phones — By late summer of 1981, I had enough money to buy something I’d always wanted: a brand-new Eureka lightweight four-person tent (on end-of-season sale) to replace both the heavy, leaky, smelly old canvas tent our family had when I was in high school and the dilapidated camper I was given…

The June wedding Edie had planned is rescheduled for December by her controlling mother. — June 1966. The minute I saw Paul, I knew postponing the wedding had been a mistake. Once we were together again, it was as if we had never been apart. He hadn’t changed at all. I wanted to marry him right away, as originally planned. Paul had registered for classes…