Robert was a precocious child, and was ready to attend the first grade of the local school at age 5. Preschool or kindergarten was not offered locally. He was told that they lived near the school so they could walk and not have to ride a school bus. This is a factor in the failure of Robert to attend Seneca Junior High's advanced class when the advanced class became available after the sixth grade. He recalled the tension and unrest in the air when his sisters had late-far away school events. The mood was not conducive to his believing that far-away school would be acceptable.

Robert frequently finished his class assignment before the other students, and frequently used short-cuts to finish math problems, which the teacher would sometimes point out as correct in result only. The short-cuts are called new math and are a standard now in primary schools. Robert used to occupy his time in grade school with art when he finished early, and was known to be creative in his class. Robert was invited to attend after-school art classes in the high school while in the sixth grade.

High numbers of baby-boomer students made double sessions mandatory, and he was required to attend late hours during some of his formative years, [One-thirty to seven o'clock]. He developing a taste for sleeping late and studying late. He later attended the first shift with very early hours [six-fifteen to one- thirty o'clock] and the resultant study change was very difficult, especially since he worked until after 11:pm. He still finds the use of the later hours of the day for work or studyies has remained a productive habit.

Robert used to spend hours sitting in the local drug store reading comic books from the rack. Comics gave way to more advanced reading, which he devoured in large stacks. He read thirteen years of the Reader's Digest during the summer of 1964. He was not physically mature enough to be talented on the ball field, and he warmed the bench. Spectator status is boring, and he was angry about being left out. He found reading to be more satisfying than watching someone else play a game.

Robert was frequently able to "find" useful items discarded from the local drug stores or other businesses. Catherine Hedges encouraged this recycling with small cash rewards for useful items, which were recorded in a ledger and paid out as required, frequently for the necessities of school. The habit of saving useful cast-off items is still ingrained in his thinking. (JB Hunt Trucking became rich from cast-off rice hulls)

While Robert was very young his folks told him that they wanted him to grow up to be a farmer. He had replied that he didn't want to be a farmer, which was true in the context of what he understood farming to be, based upon his limited exposure and understanding. He would have never started to modernize the farming operation if his perception had not changed, or if farming had not had scientific and industrialized agribusiness overtones.

Robert first business was at 4H summer camp. Robert took his comic collection to camp and sold comics. He left the two week camp with more cash than he had taken with him. Rather than spending money at camp, he made money.

Robert next business was not a long term business. The local Doctor's office discarded a supply of used hypodermic needles. These were useful to fill cartridge type ink pens. BIC pens had not been invented and had not replaced cartridge pens yet. The cost of a cartridge in the school book store was 25¢, whereas a bottle of ink and a needle to fill the pen many times was not much more than $1. The economics of the business of Robert is obvious
Kentucky's former Governor ("wiley Wally") Wallice Wilkinson has bragged that his first business was selling candy in school. He was not made to feel guilt and shame for the candy business, which was his taking advantage of an addiction by others to sweets, for which he got the customer/student's lunch money. Robert Hedges was caught selling these needles at school for 10¢ and was compelled to give refunds. Robert was helping the thrifty students save money on a class necessity/luxury, and was belittled and accused of near-criminal behavior. A parent believed that a child might inject another child with an air bubble, and thus cause a stroke, possibly leading to death.

Robert was too small and immature to play football, and too short to play basketball, but he thought he could be a wrestler, and he started to lift weights after school. A physically mature student caught a dropped bench press barbell when it was inches from his windpipe, and he lost interest in weights until years later. Now a usual workout (Oct 1995 and long after) may be 110 reps at 110 lbs. Robert was as physically (slow aging) retarded as he was mentally advanced. Other students grew up while he remained small and very young. The analogy of retardation fits this situation, because true retarded development is progressively slower, rather than being a late start, followed by equal acceleration. Robert was only 5 feet 5 inches tall and 135 lbs. when he finished the high-school classes required to attend college at age seventeen. He was only half-way to full bone growth, and he didn't need a razor for another two years. The Training Records of Robert Hedges, a 19 year old US Army Draftee, made two years later, records his height as only 5 ft 7 in tall and 150 lbs. Robert eventually reached 5 ft 11.6 in and 187 lbs. and he developed full bone density, which lacked after the sudden growth spurt in Army Basic Training.

The Dailey family, who lived on the farm, had a television set very early, and it played constantly. There was, however, no television in the Hedges household until 1962, and watching TV was not encouraged. Children learn what is normal from the TV today. There is a difference in the perception of what is normal between homes where the TV is available and homes where TV is not available. TV has replaced reading, communication, and verbal storytelling in many homes today. TV did not represent an opiate. His family would go downtown on jaunts to the library, or to the Blue Boar for lunch, and Walgreens for an ice cream. These Saturday treats occurred infrequently enough to be memorable.

Robert attended Jefferson Community College in Louisville, KY in January of 1974. That school is a part of the University of Kentucky college system. He was a serious student and remained on the Dean's List during all terms, for the years 1974 and 1975. He studied accounting, calculus, economics, business, creative writing, drafting, history, and business law. He studied calculus for the engineering programs and spent extra time on this difficult topic. He took advanced English, and the challenge of the new knowledge was beneficial and growth oriented stimulation.

Robert found himself most among his element with the Viet Nam era Veterans. He was a very vocal and involved student. He frequently participated in class discussions, and debated on the topics raised by the professors. He originally planned to be an Engineering major at the UnivLou Speed Engineering School, which was a five year master's program only. He intended to then spend a year on journalism. Last he planned to attend law school. He became an economics major after deciding that economics is interesting and a four-year BS Degree would make Law School and employment nearer.

He took the ACT in 1975, and scored a mediocre 27 [mediocre by the standard of Mensa, and mediocre based on past scores.

Robert's social life had suffered since going to work in the insurance business. He was not surrounded with suitable young ladies at that job. He hardly ever met available suitable girls to date. He was not a lounge-lizard, who frequented bars, and was inexperienced with the casual pick-up. He had not developed good dating skills, and he did not feel mature enough for the commitment of marriage. Jerry's Drive-In in Buechel, KY had been the hub of his social life and it closed. He looked forward with eagerness being surrounded by coeds in college. Robert worked after school, and of course JeffCommCollege was a commuter school, without dorms and constant after school activities. This made expanding his social horizons a bit more difficult. He felt left out of the social swing and felt a bit isolated. He began to try to develop mutual attachments with girls immediately after his arrival at college.

A---------------a was a pretty girl from (a country town), Ky, who moved to Louisville to attend the University of Louisville in August of 1976. She exhibited qualities of caring and old family values which attracted Robert to her even more than the initial chemical response he felt. She originally lived in a coed dorm, but she said that she was fed up with being watched while undressed, and she wanted more privacy. She got a room at o0o0o South 3rd, for $100. per month, and she moved out of the dorm. She commuted on weekends to (a country town), and she worked at the local hospital all night.

Robert met A---------------a on a warm autumn Thursday in the Humanities building soon after arriving at the University of Louisville. He was studying at the base of the stairs in the center of the building, and she was seated nearby. He asked her who she thought should win the beauty contest on campus which was advertised in the local newspaper. She said that she had entered several beauty contests, as if to say it were she who should win. He forgot to ask her for her name. He became aware very quickly that she was important to him. The following day he returned to the same spot hoping to see her there, and she returned also. He asked her name, and mispronounced it, [it rhymes with +++++++] which evoked an immediate reprimand from her. He also asked her out. He felt so many emotions, each a chemical response, most easily described as anger, fear, or anxiety, and he got jealous immediately. He called her the next Monday, and felt a sense of rejection. She was busy at the moment and couldn't talk. He failed to call again because he was afraid of rejection, and he failed to contact her again about meeting on Tuesday, instead letting "it" cool by avoiding her for two weeks.

She told him up front that she was engaged, but he hoped that they might grow in the same direction, and become close. He felt that she could charm his folks, and had the values which they would admire and respect. He didn't know how to charm her though, and he failed. She was a subconscious part of his life until he got over the good feeling she seemed to give him. He used her for a motivation to work long hours for the future, and he intended to have that specific future to share with "her" [whomever, for whom A----------a was a subconscious stand-in] Many students go to college intending to marry their high-school dates, but many grow in new directions after a few years of new and novel persons and experiences. The pursuit of a girl who planned marriage to another is unwise and potentially a set up for rejection from the inception, yet he had no choice about the chemical feelings he felt. She also told him in a provocative way that she was a "snuggler".

But he couldn't get her off his mind, and no one else came along who was more memorable, so he waited around after school and offered her a ride home in his Corvette after her classes. She was nervous, and anxious to get out of his car after he got her to her place, practically hugging the door all the way down the street, and almost climbing out while it was still rolling.

She told him that she didn't have time for something one day and he snarled at her to "make time" [for him] like an animal which is exactly what every aroused man is. She was effecting him to an extreme. She offered friendship . . but he ddin't think friends would work . . because phenylethylamine is a strong chemical.

He later visited her place and gave her a ride to her tennis practice in his Camaro. They walked to McDonalds after school one day, and she made the cutest embarrassed plea for him to pay the tab. The look in her eyes that day was so lovely and warm that he has used that memory several times since to cheer himself up when hurting emotionally.

He visited her apartment, and she showed him her room, her community bath upstairs, and her roof where she could lay out for a tan. One day while visiting her room, she placed herself next to him and she leaned all the way across him to reach for something insignificant, while he was seated, and he failed to use that best opportunity for a mutual grope, or a seduction scene.

She once suggested that they could study together, if he took the chemistry class she had enrolled in. He was stupid enough to fail to realize that this was the optimum way to be near her more often, and he declined to join that class.

One day she approached him for support of her latest adventure. She was in need of sponsors to be a contestant in a beauty contest which she felt a desire to enter. Naturally he contributed a sawbuck to her cause. She eventually did win the Miss C======== title for [I believe it was] o0o0.

He also assuaged his loneliness by driving to the University of Louisville at night occasionally, hoping to bump into her casually, like at the local grocery store or somewhere.

He found himself very lonesome several evenings, and he drove to (a country town) and visited the Hospital where she worked, and the Police Station to find her folk's address. She was not prepared to let him hold her hand in front of her work friends in her home-town, and his visit embarrassed her. He did not repeat that mistake again.

He visited school during Christmas break, and on a deserted campus bumped into her and her little sister +++++++++, who she had brought to Louisville that day. He had just borrowed a phone five minutes earlier to call her apartment, in an effort to find a way to spend time with her. He wondered after that if there were some more of her life which she kept secret. He used to have a dream about a girl with a child, and he wondered once if ++++++++ were her own rather than a sister. That was just a stupid thought we each can conjure when faced with no information.

Robert was the grocery-getter, since he could walk to Kroger's up the road, during Jan. of 1977 winter storm. School was closed school for two weeks, and he was climbing the walls thinking incessantly about A------ ---------a being stranded indoors elsewhere for every one of those dull uneventful days.

He later located an acquaintance from (country county), and had a few drinks with (country boy), who called A--------a. She was embarrassed again, and mentioned her plans to marry someone whose name eluded Robert's memory. She invited Robert. He declined because he was not a masochist, and felt no need to torment himself.

She and her mother visited the Ashley's Standard Station in Fern Creek one day, and he supposed they got the local gossip about him then and there. She told him about that visit later. Considering the sheer number of alternate places which were selling gasoline that day, she must have made a special trip to stop at that particular station.

She graduated, married, and has at least one son now. She has worked for the Commonwealth of KY. I wish her happiness. This is not intended to interfere with that happiness.

The statement " you don't want A---------------a, we all had her" was broadcasted on an FM radio station in late 1978, while Robert listened to a an unidentified station. Robert believed that it pertained to the A-------- -------a he had met. He wrote to her then. He called on the phone later.

82// = Robert called A---------------a on the phone one day and she said.." it's the fat girls...you're up against the fat girls...", and also indicated a willingness to allow a sexy rumor to circulate with her name, which Robert declined because of a desire to participate for real.

Such is the story of romance at UnivLou. during Robert's first attendance.