Ok my first adult purchase wasn’t as impressive as a car but to me at the time it was HUGE!!

I was a waitress right out of college and I purchase a beautiful and looooong couch. Each end of the couch had a built in footstool (recliner)….I was so tickled and proud!

Funny when I waitressed and made next to nothing I always had money in my pocket and more money on me than when I had a really good job in later years! I didn’t even waitress at a nice restaurant, it was a restaurant in a Mall!

I bought a 1970 Ford Maverick in 1979 from my half-sister, Bonni. You could start the car without a key, as something was wrong with the ignition switch.

In the summer of 1982, I was transferring from Ferris State to Central Michigan University, because I’d completed the associate’s program at FSU and wanted to go into a 4-year journalism and broadcasting programs at CMU.

There was a mandatory orientation in June ‘82 at CMU for students enrolling for the fall semester. I was staying at The Towers residence halls for three days. On the first night, I left the residence hall to visit a friend of mine who wrote for CM LIFE. When I got out to the parking lot, the car was gone. I phoned police. They confirmed the car was stolen and filled out a report.

I went back into the dorm in a rage. I anguished for about two hours, and finally said to myself, "Mount Pleasant’s a small town, maybe if I walk around town, I’ll see someone tooling around in my buggy." So, I walked out of the dorm, and right there at the front of the parking lot was my Maverick. I put my hand on the hood, and it was warm. I dared not go back inside to phone police, for fear the joy-riders might take it again.

So, I drove over to my friend’s apartment (Roger Hitts) and hung out there for a couple hours. I phoned police to let them know I’d found the vehicle. That night, I made sure to park far away from The Towers when I returned to the dorm, because I didn’t want the car ripped off again.

The next day, orientation ended, and I visited an old friend (Mary) in Big Rapids, about 40 miles away. Then, I got into the car and was going to head back home to Grand Rapids. As I was driving through downtown Big Rapids (a very tiny town), a police officer pulled me over. He approached the vehicle with a hand on his holster, and told me in a real nervous and demanding voice, "Get out!".

For a second, I thought, "this cop’s crazy. He might shoot me. What should I do? I’d better do what he says."

When I got out, he ordered me to walk towards the back of the car. "What’s wrong, officer?", I asked. "Do you know this car is stolen?", he replied. I didn’t know what to say. I looked at him, then the car, then him again.

Then it hit me. "Ohhhh. I know what happened," I said. "Last night at orientation at CMU, someone took my car for a joyride." The officer asked whether I’d reported it recovered, and to which police agency. "The Department of Public Safety at CMU," I said.

He got it all straightened out, and politely apologized for the confusion and his initial behavior. I was just relieved. "It’s okay," I said. "I understand where you were coming from. It appeared to be a stolen car."

Yeah, I remember that car well. I had one other interesting experience with it in March 1982 driving back from a Black Sabbath concert in Saginaw. I was actually on M-20 between Mt. Pleasant and Big Rapids in 15-degree, snowy weather when it ran out of gas. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere, around 1 a.m. I thought we (Kelly, Rich and myself) were going to freeze to death. I stood in the middle of the road to flag down the driver of a pickup, who darn near hit me. But it got us a ride back to FSU. I got the car towed back to campus the next day.

I couldn’t figure out why it had run out of gas, as I’d filled it up before the trip back to campus after the concert. Later, I discovered that it had a fuel leak. Believe it or not, the fuel line was visible running through the trunk of the car! That’s the way they actually made those Mavericks. The sleeve on it had worked loose, and simply needed to be tightened by hand.

I have a thing for jewelry and have always loved diamonds. When I was a girl I saw the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s and became obsessed with jewels. While my girlfriends were oohing and aahing over the latest fashions, I was always wishing and hoping for diamonds. A big aspiration I’ll have you to know, given I was the daughter of a preacher and lived in a middle class community.

My first big splurge was on a pair of diamond earrings that I still have to this day. Little diamond dust stud earrings that you have to squint to see. But oh how I remember how I felt when I brought them…..I was in heaven!

Mine was a mink coat, my uncle who came here from Greece after the war, he was in concentration camp and survived, he made it for me, he worked in the fur district in NY.  I got a real good price.