I grew up in San Diego
Actually, it was San Ysidro. My parents rented a house on the Kuebler Ranch up past Brown Field in an area called Otay Mesa. The Kuebler Ranch was used to raise cattle. A man named Mr. Dallett was the ranch manager and at one time Jimmy Durante owned a part of the place.
Besides cattle those leasing the land planted grains, tomatoes and celery. We watched branding and horn cutting and “leap frog” amonst the cattle.
I attended Sunset and Beyer Elementary schools in San Ysidro. I was in love with a boy named Richard and Ramon. My favorite teacher was Miss Wildman in 4th grade.
My mom used to drop my brother and I off at the San Diego Zoo at 9 am some Saturdays and then pick us up at 5 pm. We loved the zoo.
We loved La Jolla Cove and Mission Beach. I raised sheep in 4-H: showed and sold a couple at the San Diego County fair in Del Mar.
My mom worked as a nurse at the doctor’s office where football great Lance Alworth was a client.
My parents arrived in San Diego when I was six months old. Oregon became my home by the time I morphed into a teen.
Last year my brother treated my daughter and I to a trip to San Diego. My daughter and his wife ran in the Rock and Roll Marathon a year ago. We visited our old home. It’s true what they say…it’s hard to go home again.
I attended a Padres game in 1988 with friends (season ticket holders) when the team played at Jack Murphy Stadium. I attended a game in Petco with these same friends three years ago.
But you can go home again. I went home last week when Hiram became a San Diego Padre.
I am a San Diego Padre fan.