Coming of Age

Coming of age is difficult at any time but for young men in the late '60's it was particularly stressful. The military draft was going to be implemented by President Nixon while the Vietnam War raged on. The country had been in turmoil the past few years with events occurring that impacted the direction the country, and its youth, would take. Dan Horning had been a star athlete in high school and hoped for an athletic scholarship to college. He was battling a strained relationship with his father, who wanted him to join the military, while he worked in a foundry. But a chance meeting at a local college would soon set him on a new path. Diane Rosen knew she wanted to attend the University of Miami since she was a little girl. She was bright, determined and focused. Just the opposite of Dan who would transfer to the same school. The two would meet by accident under less than ideal circumstances. Dan hoped to get to know Diane after their encounter but she felt very differently about him. When a series of events occurred at the university, out of Dan's control, that made playing basketball impossible, he changed his major, much to the frustration of his father, and his college career took off. Success in school didn't help Dan at home but things were changing with Diane. But things still bothered Dan so he took up surfing and bought a motorcycle to replace the basketball fiasco. A serious medical event would happen affecting both Dan and Diane, as they neared graduation, and would change their lives forever. Interspersed with numerous current events of that tumultuous era, Coming of Age tells the story of two college students trying to find their way, and the challenges they faced individually, and together, wanting to succeed. But tragedy would ultimately strike and one of them would never be the same.