My mother ran the family like a well-oiled machine. She would organize those frequent trips to Nimitz Beach, coordinated with my father's duty requirements, always ensuring inclusion of food and beverages, e.g., Cokes on ice and freshly fried chicken; she double checked her extensive list of beach necessities. Our mother would have made a great Battalion S-4, (supply and logistics).
Denise was quite the young architect with her sand castles; I will always remember Diamond Head looming on the horizon, located due east of Nimitz Beach. I fondly recall a 'live-on-TV oops!' my five year old sister provided: There was a popular afterschool live TV program, The Skipper Al Show; they encouraged young viewers to correspond to the show - you know, "snail mail".
Recently promoted to the fifth grade, I was an emboldened young man who was about to address my first letter containing my tribute to my favorite afterschool TV program. The show featured great cartoons, a sharply dressed ship's captain, and live guests, local elementary school kids. Again, one of those strong memories I have of my incredible mother was when she and I sat down at the kitchen table (where she also, a few months later, taught me how to calculate square roots - before the calculator), where she had a properly addressed sample envelope. She watched like a mother hen as I carefully printed the smaller, requiring more precision, return address; surely, I was impressing my mother. Successfully completing that part of the mission, my confidence soaring, I performed a flawless addressing of the envelope containing my admiration of this seafaring TV show.
Much to my surprise, my probably hyperbolic and obsequious correspondence contained within a well executed addressed envelope stirred them to invite me, as well as Denise and a friend, to appear live on his show. Wow!
As an anecdote: my lofty impression of how events transpired were lowered a bit when the return address on my invitation reflected "The Skipper Al Show", not "Skipper Owl", as I had addressed the envelope. As I was doing my homework, interspersed between cartoons, I honestly thought he was "Skipper Owl"; I had never seen his logo on the screen. Oh well, my printing was good.
My father was unable to be there, as he was deep in the jungles of Hawaii, another sacrifice for him. As a proud father, he would have loved to have been in the studios watching his beautiful 5 year old daughter and knucklehead 10 year old son.
My mother, again the sole parent, drove the three of us: Denise, myself and a fellow fifth grader, Eddie (in our brand new 1964 Chevy Impala) to downtown Honolulu. That was the first elevator ride I remember ever taking, looking through a full length glass window and marvelling at the beauty of a sprawling Honolulu beneath me. Skipper Al (I made sure I didn't slip and call him Skipper Owl...) was a most gracious host, making us all comfortable and at ease. The kids were seated with the Captain, each of us on a stool, as he introduced the next cartoon or chatted with the TV audience; there was no in-studio audience.
I distinctly remember his introduction of a Felix the Cat episode, rather abruptly, after one of his on-air commercials. The particular commercial was for a Chocks multivitamin, a tasty way to get the kids to take their vitamins. After Skipper Al demonstrated the delicious taste of Chocks with a live munching of one, Denise offered her experience with the multivitamin as being quite the opposite. In fact, I remember something on the order of "...it tasted terrible...". Noting the look on the Skipper's face, I quickly pointed out she was conflating her experience with a One A Day tablet. She was right: I also chewed the One A Day tablet; I don't recommend it.
I believe I recall the Skipper's eyes watering from his laughter...