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An American Youth — Part 22
A letter to my sons
I am an American who lived and worked in Bahrain for twenty-five years and both of my sons were born there. I sent the eldest to boarding school in the UK when he was eleven. The younger spent two years in Edinburgh from twelve to fourteen and then was back in Bahrain until he left for Los Angeles when he was sixteen. Since neither of them grew up in the United States I wrote them this extended letter so they might have some idea as to what it was like to grow up in the US.
In the summer of 1970 we went to Albuquerque, New Mexico for two months. It was a great trip and a fantastic summer. My father had gone on ahead and my mother drove me, my brother and sister across the country. We stopped off at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky which my brother and I loved. You’ve got to go sometime as they are spectacular. We had a great evening together in a place overlooking the Green River. My brother and I sat on the porch hyperventilating in the warm evening air and felt properly fraternal and close.
One night we spent in a motel, and I went swimming in the pool. There were two local girls there about 15 or 16. One of them was pregnant. I hung around the pool with them for a while and heard the tale of how this came to pass. I couldn’t imagine how stupid you had to be to get pregnant at that age.
