I cannot imagine a more idyllic childhood than growing up on the California Central Coast. Rolling hills filled with one-hundred-year-old oak trees, beaches wrapped in the hot rod and surfer cultures of the time, Beach Boys music in the background, and weather like no other place on earth. Childhood summers filled with adventures that sometimes involved running through green lawns and sprinklers. Adolescence was a real life "American Graffiti" existence. But as I approached my preteen year...