Move to Tucson? Why not?

I’m not really sure where this blog is taking me but so far the ride has been good. It makes me happy to put my thoughts and memories to paper, well to the internet. I have a feeling my posts will be all over the page and bounce from memories with Al to my current life to feelings & emotions to who knows where. Last night I attended a Hospice Celebration of Life where they read the names of those who have died in Hospice over the past few months. It was very emotional for me and I think I need a day or two to process before writing about it so I'm going to go to a happy place, a place that brings me back many years to where my life was put on an amazing path. That path brought me to my husband.

My life with Al began just over 32 years ago. I was so young when we first met, just 18 years old. Our first meeting was when I applied for a waitressing job at a Sambo’s restaurant in Arcadia, CA directly across the street from the Santa Anita Race Track. Al was the assistant manager I interviewed with. He told me later that for him, it was love at first sight. For me, it was anything but. He was my boss and I was a little intimidated by him plus he was older than me; 11 years older. I was however, a bit of a wild child and within a week, my two friends/roommates that were hired alongside me & I were partying after hours in the Sambo’s parking lot with the closing crew. Of course Al was part of that crew. Wasn’t long before we were dating. A whirlwind courtship ensued and we both fell hard for each other. Soon we were planning a wedding.

Al got a lot of ribbing from his family about how young I was. It was all in good fun and we both laughed about it. You see, Al was married twice before me. The first time was to his high school girlfriend. That union was very short lived and a few years later Al married again. I think they may have lasted a few short years and then he was single for a while before meeting me. His history didn’t scare me off though, I knew what I was getting in to. I wasn’t exactly an innocent little18 year old either. Neither of us were perfect going in to this union but we jumped in with both feet on July 1, 1978 and the water was just fine.

About six months in to our first year of marriage, I got pregnant with our son Marshall. Just a few months in to my pregnancy we decided to pack up and move to Tucson when a good friend (Bob Sandberg) was going to open a new Sambo's here in Tucson and asked Al to be his assistant manager and help him open the store. You see, Al had spent a few years in Tucson before when his cousin Ed opened a Sambo's in town and Al was his assistant manager. In addition, we had actually vacationed in Tucson just after we got married and I had a blast. But Holy Culture Shock!! It was quite a different story to. actually live here. Not only did I move away from all my friends and family, but I was stuck at home after finding that no one wanted to hire a pregnant girl. On top of that…..it was hot as hell!!!! And such a different way of life from growing up in Southern California. It was a different pace and people were different. Different in a good way though.

We met some really great people during that time. Most of the people we associated with were employed by the restaurant. We hung out with Bob a lot and there was Greg Dorr and his buddy Grey (Former Tucson Mayor Lew Murphy's son). We went to a few parties at the home of one of the waitresses. She and her husband lived in a quonset hut - a corregated pre-fab metal home in the shape of a long tube cut in half. I'd never seen anything like it! Al hired Geri and Trish as waitresses - two young girls I really got along with. Al ended up hiring Trish's younger brother, a high school kid, as a dishwasher. There was something about him and an immediate bond developed between him and Al. That young high school kid was actually Brian Bradley, probably the very best friend Al ever had. But more about Brian later, he is such an important part of my life that he warrants his own entry. Those early years in Tucson were really fun. We explored the desert, did a lot of dove hunting, learned the hard way not to drink a glass of ice water at any restaurant in Nogales Mexico, and hung out & partied with some great people. One time Al went javelina hunting, brought his "kill" home and buried it in a big deep pit full of hot coals in our earthen carport in a little duplex we rented near Presidio & Palo Verde. That thing cooked all night and day and then we had an amazing party complete with a huge tub of jungle juice and a band. That jungle juice was potent because I don't think anyone remembered to uncover the pit and take the javelina out for quite a few hours. I'm guessing it was pretty good but truthfully, everyone was pretty wasted so who knows! Those were really some good times.



So that was my early indoctrination in to the world I came to love. My Tucson, the place my family continues to call home to this day.