Childhood Memories: From Rattlesnakes to JFK

I lived in Austin Texas for part of my childhood, and had a run-in with a rattlesnake once. That was when I realized that I do not have a natural fear of snakes.
It was at night, at summer camp. I was walking down a path to the latrine using my flash light, when I heard the rattles under a bush right beside the path. The flash light revealed a big, coiled up rattler, about two feet from me. I just stood there looking at it and when someone else came by, to use the latrine, I asked them to tell a counselor that there was a rattlesnake by the path.

I don't know if the light from the flash light made any difference to the snake, but I just stayed there with it, and it didn't move. I was very unhappy that when the grown-ups got there they killed it; I naively thought they would just relocate it. It didn't seem like it wanted to hurt anyone.

I rode horses frequently in Texas, so I always felt safe if I saw tarantulas, snakes, scorpions, etc., while riding. By the way, the stings I got from Texas scorpions, hurt less than a bee sting.

When we were little we lived in Japan, and my brother would catch various big beetles with huge pinchers and put them in jars for us to marvel at. I've never seen any like them anywhere else.

Then, there was the time I walked up to a black bear in the Smokey Mts., to take his picture. I thought they were used to posing for pictures. Warning - they are not tame! Luckily, I made it back into the car before he had to get serious with me!

One last story.
On November 22nd, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated, I went to O'Henry Jr. High School, in Austin, Texas, the same school that Governor John Connally's daughter, Sharon, went to. I was getting out early that day to go to Bergstrom Air Force Base to greet The President on the tarmac when he arrived from Dallas (my dad was an officer in the Air Force). I had my permit to leave, and passed Sharon in the hall. She was crying and being comforted. There had been no announcement over the P.A. yet, so I didn't know why she was sad. When I got in the car, my mother told me what happened, so that explained Sharon's distress. Like everyone else, we spent the rest of the day glued to the TV.