Opening paragraphs........................

Between the ages of six and nine, I was a native son of the marine bases of Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune in the eastern coastal regions of North Carolina.  My father flew in squadrons of slant-winged Corsairs, which I still think of as the most beautiful warplanes that ever took to the sky.  For a year Dad flew with the great Boston hitter and left fielder, Ted Williams, and family lore has it that my mother and Mrs. Williams used to bathe my sister and me along with Ted Williams's daughter.  That still remains the most distinguished moment of my commonplace career as an athlete.  I followed Ted Williams's pursuit of greatness, reveling in my father's insider knowledge that "Ted [has] the best reflexes of any marine pilot who ever flew Corsairs."  I read every book about baseball in the library of each base and town we entered, hoping for any information about "the Kid" or "the Splendid Splinter."  When the movie of The Great Santini came out starring Robert Duvall,  Ted Williams told a sportswriter that he'd once flown with Santini.  My whole writing career was affirmed with that single, transcendent moment.
-Pat Conroy,  My Reading Life