My father labeled this photo with the name "Megan" and the former Megan Shaffer and I don't know for sure if it is her or not. She was the only Megan at the Shaffer Nursery and a daughter of the owners. I believe she was one of my classmates at the Shaffer Nursery School, owned by Joe and Valerie Shaffer in Gulfport across the street from the Gulfport beach. She came to Pass-a-Grille Beach with my dad and me occasionally.

I was really tan back then and through my teen years and that sun damage combined with getting burned while spring snow skiing in Colorado several times has led me to come down with squamous cell skin cancer five times. My latest episode involved a cyst under my right sideburn area that was attached to my Parotid gland and I had a seven-hour operation on August 21, 2012, at the University of Miami Hospital. The Sylvester Cancer Center surgeon removed the cyst, the Parotid gland, part of my Thyroid gland, and numerous lymph cells and nerves. Fortunately only the cyst contained cancer cells and I'm receiving radiation treatments for thirty days to make sure the cancer doesn't come back.