Marilyn Speed:  

I always wanted to be a stewardess. My family thought it was not a good idea. As it turns out, they were right!. I realized it was a glorified waitress job..but was too ignorant to realize the huge travel benefits it also provided! Oh well..what might have been :-) I also loved horses as a child and used to muck out the stables in Mission Valley to earn free rides in Jr. Hi. The biggest treat of my life at 12 was the privilege of currying the Clydesdales at the Del Mar Fair. When we moved to La Mesa just before my freshman year, I was very unhappy to leave my best friend, my boyfriend and my youth group. My freshman year was very traumatic and lonely..Being new in school and not able to stay around after school for extra curricular activities, it was difficult to make friends from the few girls in my freshman class. Girls who were smart were labeled nerds just like the guys and I wasnt thrilled to let people know I was part of "that group"...I foundered during my H.S. years but finally getting motivated as a Junior and earned my A's and B's to go to SDSU as a Home Economics major. Long story short, never finished(I have 3 yrs and 9 units)...chose to get married instead to John Speed in '63 while he was in the Army, stationed in Oberammergau, Germany. After we returned in '64, he got his degree at SDSU while I worked for the City of San Diego. After he graduated and became a Probation Officer with the Co. of San Diego, I became a stay at home Mom with our 1st born son in 1969 and a daughter in 1971. . We also bought our first new car and new home that year..It was a very high stress year for change but we were young and didnt realize all of that at the time..We just enjoyed it all..:-) We loved to go to Yosemite every year; before kids, with kids and after kids left home. Our 3rd house in San Carlos was where we raised the 2 kids, Doug and Kim and where I still live after 40 yrs! We spent our life working with teens in volunteer work and John in Probation work. It was a wonderful life. After the kids were grown and gone, we were planning to retire early and move to Big Bear which we loved and where we learned to ski. . Unfortunately the stress/strai...Expand for more