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Today's Featured Biography
Michael Cunningham
"What a long strange trip it's been!" - Grateful Dead
Most never knew I was born in Paducah, Ky. We moved to Glendale when I was 7 and La Mirada when I was 8. Dean Fera and I became close friends because we always were in the same class and sat next to each other every year. In high school we ran in different circles but started hanging out together again in college until Dean went off to Nam. I was shocked to learn that he has passed away. Now, my fairly complete bio..lol. During my senior year in high school I was dating a girl from another school, Monte Vista, and didn¿t realize for years how foolish I was to have not been more aware of the interest of many of the girls I saw at LMHS on a daily basis. In retrospect, it¿s amazing how shy I actually was and all the silly, crazy, acting out I did in school was likely a defense mechanism to over compensate for that shyness. This realization started to come to me in college when a female classmate from LMHS admitted to me that she had wanted to date me but she herself was to shy to mention and I was never aware of the interest she showed in me. A minor revelation, but a beginning. The girl I was dating in high school and I started growing apart and we finally split. It didn¿t help when after we decided to ¿date other people¿ that I dated her best friend. I ended up marrying that woman and it took us three years to admit that it was a mistake but we finally matured enough to know that the relationship was doomed. I had changed during that time and my ambition to be a wealthy business man had been supplanted by my new desire for excitement, so I became a Deputy for the Los Angeles County Sheriff¿s Dept. Perhaps I was too greatly influenced by episodes of ¿Starsky and Hutch.¿ Whatever the motivation, after five years I found that whatever excitement the job offered it was little consolation for the hours of boredom that accompanied those moments. My first divorce during those years was more psychologically devastating than I would acknowledge. Like most of us, I had come from a family of parents and grandparents who had married for eternity and when my first marriage failed I at a loss. In response, I fell into years of what I now acknowledge as acting out behavior. I became involved with a woman sixteen years older than me and very much into a partying lifestyle. She was not only older than me, she was also bisexual with many very attractive girlfriends who were all my age. I know it may be difficult for many to imagine the allure of a woman who would bring home other attractive women to share sexually, but I was young and easily influenced so I succumbed to the siren¿s call (Reference to Ulysses not the sheriff¿s dept.) She introduced me to many alternative lifestyles. Threesomes, nude beaches, swinger parties and drug and alcohol use and abuse to name a few. I lived this life of depravity for the better part of ten years. During which time, I left the sheriff¿s department and among other odd jobs that I did, I worked for three years as a ¿male exotic dancer.¿ Really? After ten years the age difference started to play into her psyche and rather than suffer the trauma of my leaving we decided the affair and marriage had run its course and I moved on. I started dating several women and over the next few months narrowed the field down to two. I chose the one who had a more financially sound family but that was a huge mistake. I likely chose her because she was into many of the same lifestyles as the relationship I had just left, but her drug abuse was too much and after a brief six month marriage she chose cocaine over me and I chose to move out and divorce her. I went to the other woman I had been dating and though to this day when the subject is broached, I¿m reminded of my poor decision making in not choosing her in the first place. She took me back and we soon moved in together. I was getting a little too old to be living back at home with Mom and Dad. We lived together in the Newport Beach area for about two years. I was doing process serving and some PI work. I had given up the dancing and started to mature, well, at least settle down a little. We both agreed that So. Cal. was not conducive to our idea of where to raise a family and she enticed me to move to Michigan where she was from. We moved to the Grand Rapids area(the west and nice side of the state). I did some more PI and process serving when we first moved there but eventually went to work for the Michigan prison system where I worked for fourteen years. Tina, who is eleven years younger than me, gave me my two and only (that I am aware of) children and then began her career in banking. The odd shifts at the prison left me ample time to spend with my kids as they grew and allowed me the luxury of being very involved in their activities. We lived in a 2500 sq. ft house that we built ourselves on eleven wooded acres in a little town, actually a village, called Saranac. Saranacs one claim to fame is that the inventor of Saran Wrap was from there and hence the name Saran coming from the name of the village. (A little trivia for those who enjoy it.) Life was simple and good but the future is always uncertain. Tina was given an opportunity to advance her career by taking a position in Evansville, Indiana. (About 90 miles from Paducah where I was born.) We moved here in 2001/2002 and have lived here since. The kids have enjoyed the suburban lifestyle but they also occasionally miss their roots. My daughter is, by others assessments, a talented artist who enjoys drawing Manga in particular. My son, who along with my daughter played soccer for ten years, has given up soccer for track and cross country. Imagine, my son a track athlete. He must take after his dad or something. So, we have been married for almost twenty-two years now. My wife has her career. My daughter is in college studying for her Art Degree and imagining where she wants to eventually work. My son is a junior and imagining winning state and getting a Track and Cross Country scholarship. I am doing this and that. I¿m thinking of getting either a security guard job or going to work for one of the two sheriff¿s departments here. I have gone through a series of different jobs since moving here but now it seems I should gravitate back to the stability of government employment. Not to mention they still have the best benefit packages. In 2006, while being a good over fifty male and getting my yearly medical tests, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I was presented with only one alternative for treatment and that was surgery. After hearing the description of conventional surgery I investigated and opted for minimally invasive surgery by a sugeon using the DaVinci robot. The surgeon sits at a console and uses robotic arms to perform the intricate surgery. I advocate this for anyone facing any surgery that can be performed by the machine. I was told that with conventional surgery I would be in the hospital for a week and then in bed at home for another six weeks. With the DaVinci procedure, I had a five hour surgery and went home the next day. Not to mention the surgeon was aware I had a three hour drive to get home. I was in bed but not confined to it for about a week but then was up and recuperating. So, quite a set back having cancer and surviving it, but psychologically traumatizing. The brain is interesting organ with a mind of it¿s own. Come on, laugh a little. After two years of thinking what else could be killing me that I¿m not aware of and not getting tested for. Not to mention adopting the attitude of if I am going to go I¿ll go happy by eating anything and everything I wanted¿mmm¿pizza, double cheeseburgers and curly fries, Breyer¿s ice cream. In October I had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass. So, now I eat none of the above. Carrots taste really good when you¿re not eating a ton of sugar and fats in the other food you eat. Really? They tell me I now have the heart of a twenty year old. I told them fine but I prefer older more experienced women. The twenty year olds are just irritating. They said we¿re talking about your heart. I¿m having a great time reconnecting withhold friends. I¿m really hoping to make it to the reunion but we will have to see. It¿s a long drive and who knows if there will still be an airline, at least an affordable one, flying by then. Though, traveling by train is very nice. It¿s been a long strange trip. I love you all. Peace. Michael
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