1.1 Stone Age
When I was born in 1996, Clinton's Whitewater buddies had just been convicted of fraud while OJ was discussing his "not guilty" verdict on talk shows; the Trappist Martyrs of Atlas were executed, "mad cow" disease was terrorizing the UK, Resolution 986 and the Chechnya Peace Treaty were both signed; no one was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame but Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens got his 200th win after beating the Yankees; Space Shuttle STS 77 had just landed from its orbit, the FBI was investigating the Unabomber, also Alicia Machado of Venezuela was crowned the 45th Miss Universe; Steelers had lost the Super Bowl, Guatemala was beginning to recover from 35 years of civil war, and 'Twister' was showing in the theaters. But to Yvonne and Joseph Parker all that mattered was the birth of their daughter, Rebecca. ---- I was brought into the world on June 1st and taken home the next day to a small house in Rochester, Minnesota. My father was a marine in med school and my mother was more or less a social worker with a psych degree. Like a lot of doctors, my dad didn't manage money very well which was the source of just some of the problems my parents had in their marriage (to their credit though they held it together until I was two). As a baby, I accompanied them on their makeshift honeymoon to Australia and on the move from Minnesota to Arkansas after my dad graduated from the Mayo Medical School. Once in Little Rock, their marriage disintegrated pretty quickly. I was too young to recall it but my older sister was unfortunate enough to be in high school at the time and has since hinted that it was not a good era for her. ---- My dad wasn't around much after the divorce but it wasn't to his fault so I try not to hold it against him. My mom became a saleswoman with an elevator company that would later screw her over and stepped back into the dating scene (all while caring for infant me and her teenage stepdaughter). ---- She met Arkansas native Jim Phillips and he soon became a father figure to me... with a few bumps in the road here and there. The big bump came in the form of my little brother. Jim and my mom got married and have spent the last near fourteen years together happy as husband and wife. And that bump has become my best friend. I don't hate him like most siblings and have no reserve to tell him anything. My older siblings are a bit more distant but I love them and both have been a positive influence on my life: my brother's always seemed so responsible and my sister so strong. I've admired them all my life but despite having three siblings, I've been raised basically as an only child and I'd say I've been raised pretty well. Maybe, I shouldn't be the judge of that though.