Hi
Lanolin;
I was the first born in 1957 the eldest of my 7 siblings. Since you love to read you may get an idea of the times in the late 50s, 60s and 70s.
The privilege of being first born was first son, nephew and grandson. The downside was my parents were very young. Dad was 20 and served in the US Air Force, and Mom was 19 and a housewife. They made a lot of mistakes raising their first child so I was the guinea pig.
Bobinfaith
When my other siblings were born, 3 more brothers and 3 sisters, Dad and Mom got much better at parenting. They also gave me responsibility to watch over my siblings as their big brother.
My Dad was a navigator in the Air Force and in 1968 and 1972 he did two tours during the Viet Nam war, so back in the states my role was "man of the house" and had to take on more for my Mom. My siblings and I got along, I argued with my sisters, fought with my brothers but at the end of the day we all got along, watched alot of TV since we didn't have personal pcs or listen to record albums or tape cassettes in the 70s.
I played in a rock band, played a lot of baseball, then at the age of 17 I managed Little League baseball for 6 years.
We were a church going family and during my teens I played guitar during Sunday service and helped teach Youth Group to the Junior High kids on Mondays.
My parents and siblings were very supportive of my activities and in turn I attended their activities.
In many ways the responsibilities given led me to grow up as the eldest, had to get a grip as a young Christian trying to understand our world views, especially in the United States - America was divided over the war, drugs were becoming more social, young people were becoming more free thinking and as a society began to question why authority was still living in the 60s, and music became more creative, etc...
But what stands out was how inspired I was over the Jesus Movement amongst young adults in the 70s, in high school we had what was called Teen Challenge, Youth groups amongst Christians. Christian contemporary music was taking on form - Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, and Maranatha music like "Create In Me A Clean Heart".
It wasn't all rosy,
Lanolin, we had our devastating moments as a family and how I humiliated my parents and siblings with some bad years of sin and sampling young adulthood, but would rather focus this topic on the positive years.
I am very grateful to God for giving me those years, made a lot of mistakes and am thankful to be where I serve Him today so I can tell my story to others in hope that they will also grow in Christ Jesus.
God bless
you, Lanolin and your family.