Just how intelligent are you, anyway?

Iris and I used to travel around quite a bit on vacation. We went to Australia on our honeymoon, drove through England a couple of years later, spent time in Yosemite and St. Thomas, and made a couple of trips to Hawaii. We didn’t intend on going to Hawaii twice; we were supposed to go to St. Martin, but a small event named Hurricane Andrew in 1992 made that part of the Caribbean somewhat uninhabitable for a while.

So, we ended up going to the big island of Hawaii and it was a blast. It’s a quiet island, really, not having nearly as much tourist appeal as Oahu. What it does have is Volcanoes National Park, macadamia nut plantations, green and black beaches, and an active volcano. Yeah. Flowing lava and everything. It also has the Ellison Onizuka Space Center, which is just outside the airport on the west side of the island.

We got a rental car and drove everywhere we wanted to go. They call Hawaii “the big island” for a reason. It’s huge! You can’t drive through the middle of the island because of the old volcanoes Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, so you have to drive around and that makes it a much longer drive to anywhere you want to visit.

There are a couple of areas of interest with regards to the volcanoes. There is the main park, which is inside the old caldera of one of the volcanoes. It’s an amazing place. It looks quite like the surface of the moon, so it’s no surprise that NASA trained the Apollo astronauts there. Then there is the active lava field way down on the south side of the island near the ocean. You drive along this little one and a half lane road that follows the coast until you come up to this black wall, maybe four or five feet high, that cuts right across the road. That’s the lava field. It flowed down the volcano and across the island until it emptied into the ocean and then cooled.

We knew the National Park Service had set up shop here and had planned for it. We came prepared with hiking boots, hats, and backpacks with plenty of water. The rangers had some wooden steps set up so you can climb up onto the field and had laid out a scenic path for people to follow. They also had installed a couple of portable toilets and such, just in case. The field itself is tricky to walk on. It’s volcanic glass, very slippery in spots and very sharp everywhere. Remember the hiking boots? Very important. It’s also jet black, which made it that much hotter when you’re out in the middle of it.

Taking our time, we hiked along the trail, stopping to talk to the rangers that were stationed along the way. They seemed as surprised to see how prepared we were as we were to see the other people out there in bathing suits and sandals. Eventually, we got to the end of the trail where there were a couple of spots of lava oozing up out of the field. It wasn’t difficult to find; from fifty feet away it felt like you were standing next to an oven on high with an open door. We were allowed to get as close as maybe twenty feet to it and that was about as close as you wanted to be. Despite the small size of the flow (maybe a foot or two across), it was still quite impressive.

As we were standing there, admiring the lava, a thought occurred to me. A very simple thought to be sure, but somewhat disturbing all the same. That thought was “WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE WE DOING?”

Here’s the situation: we’re standing in the middle of an active lava field. Active. Lava. Field. Got it? We just spent the last 30 or 45 minutes hiking across a field of razor sharp volcanic glass to get to this point. Was this a smart thing to do? I don’t really know.

It was fun, though.

Dad’s stories, Chapter 5

EBS, Memories

Following the birth of Steven, things settled down somewhat. Work was scarce, times were hard. Martie and I decided that two children were about all we could handle and we should stop the child thing. Also we felt that another child would be a boy and we had two of them. Enough already. We were both 35 years old and based on age alone it was time to stop. Martie had always wanted a girl. We hadn’t had one. We would just have to live with that. In my heart I wished for a girl for her. I felt I knew how important it was for her to have a girl to love and watch grow up. But it was over – no more children.

A little over a year later while we were on our way to Bundy Lake, Martie informed me that she was pregnant again. She asked if I realized we would be a hundred years old by the time the children were grown. I said that I hadn’t thought about that part. She said that I ought to think about it – that all this was my fault anyway.  I decided I had better play my trump card about now as it was getting kind of warm in the car. I said, “Hey this is great. This baby will be the little girl you always wanted”.  She said, “Big deal, I know you Sheppards; All you ever have is boys”.  From that point forward, I said that this new child was a girl.

Martie was an old hand at having children by this time. She knew all about it. How to do everything. This time she had a better plan for the hospital trip. She prepared her best dress, best underwear, best shoes and stockings. The plan was that when she got the call, she would shower and dress. We would casually drive to the hospital. We would walk in, check in, then stroll casually to the delivery room. Sounded like a good plan but it didn’t work out that way.

Martie continued to be cooperative until the end. She had called Granny to come and be on hand to care for Andy and Steven. The stage was set. Shortly after supper she informed me it was time. OK now, in the shower, underwear, stockings, best dress, best shoes. Then on our way. She did make it to the shower. About two minutes later she called me and said, “This isn’t going to work, let’s go. So, bath robe, bedroom slippers, out the door, in the car. On the way to the hospital she complained about her legs.  Kept saying, “Something is wrong with my legs.  I can’t get them together”.  This worried me. She had nice legs and I didn’t want anything to happen to them. I drove faster. Hurried to the hospital.

By now I knew the quick way to the delivery room. I got her there in record time. The doctor was waiting. I handed her to the doctor, took off downstairs to check her in. This took about 20 minutes. I hurried back to the delivery room. Still worried about her legs. When I arrived I met the doctor outside the delivery room door. I asked, “How is my wife?”. Doctor said, “She is fine and so is the baby”. I asked about her legs. The doctor said, “If you had been about 10 minutes longer in arriving at the hospital, you would have found out a lot of things about her legs and other things too. The baby would have been born in the car”. He told me that our little girl had arrived about the time I arrived at the check-in desk.

Now you see I had an overall plan about this baby. I figured if Anne had been another boy, my options would have been to not tell anyone, leave home and never return. Thankfully, Anne not only arrived on time, she was a girl and I got to keep my happy home. I felt good about that.

I went in to see Martie as soon as I could. I was anxious to tell her about our new girl baby. She was in recovery and less than half awake. Once when she opened her eyes, I said, “Honey, we have our little girl”. She said, “That’s fine. Come back later and we will discuss it”. When she finally awakened, she did not remember my visit.

The next day, Martie was fully awake and was telling the world about our daughter. She was happy. Granny was happy. Andy and Steven were happy. I was happy also. Especially happy about my wife finally getting a baby girl. Time passed, we took our daughter home. The thing about girls is that they are not boys. I knew that. I could tell by looking they were different. Anyway girls were supposed to have long hair. As you will remember I was the youngest of five boys. I knew about boys. Most of my girl experience was with Martie. And I had enjoyed every minute of it. Now however I had to learn about little tiny girls. That proved to be different, much different.

I loved Anne. Played with her. But didn’t like to change her. I always played rough with the boys. I couldn’t play rough with her. I was afraid of hurting her. In the beginning I would bathe all three children together. When Anne was about three I could no longer continue that practice. I felt it was Martie’s responsibility to bathe and care for her. I think Martie thought I was strange. However she took the responsibility. Anne probably felt that I didn’t care for her as much as I did the boys. That was not the case. I really love my little blonde girl.

Anne did a lot of growing up on Longboat Key. She enjoyed the beach, sun and sand as much as Steven did. She was happy and content. About this time, she must have been about four, she was beginning to be quiet and a young lady. These were my first years with IDS. And I was spending most of my time working. I had learned how to make money. My office was in our home and the entire family was behind my efforts. Because of the above, Martie had taken charge of most paperwork and was training the children to help. All incoming phone calls were important because all prospects and customers called my home phone. As a result of this Martie had instructed the children on correct telephone procedures and saw to its’ perfection. Martie did most of the phone work. Occasionally Andy or Steven would catch a call but never Anne. She was just too young to do it, at least that is what we thought.

The phone rang. She answered it. We came back in the house a little later. Anne very proudly told me that some lady had called. She didn’t remember her name but she had the phone number and I was to call immediately. Now I was working on a large case, about $3,000.00 commission large. I had this feeling that these were the people who called and knew I was in trouble. I grabbed the phone, dialed the number. Lady answered, I said, “This is Shep Sheppard. How may I help you?”. She gave her name and I wilted. She went on to say that they were ready to invest but first she wanted to know who the darling little girl was who answered the phone. I quickly revived and said, “That was my 4-year-old daughter, Anne. She said, “Let me tell you about that call”.

This lady says, “The phone rang and I knew I was talking to a small child. This child says, “This is the Sheppard residence. My Daddy can’t come to the phone now. May I take a message?”. I gave her my name and asked her if she thought she could remember it. She said she probably couldn’t but that she could write numbers. She asked me to wait for her to find her purple crayon and some paper. She said she would write down the number and have her daddy call. I said all right. She found her materials and wrote down the number. She thanked me for the call and hung up”.

Anne proudly presented me with the sheet of notebook paper with all the correct numbers and probably was the reason I made the sale. This lady always remembered Anne.

Anne continued to grow and learn on Longboat Key. She survived our sojourn in Jacksonville, Fla. and the move back to Orlando. She continued to develop. But the trouble was, she was developing the Sheppard personality. You know, the personality like mine. I want to do what I want to do. Nothing else will do. Anne, like Steven, led with her head. Got hurt and wondered why. Quit school in the eleventh grade and was married soon thereafter. She has since acquired a GED diploma as I did. It took me a little longer to get mine. I was in my fifties.

Anne’s marriage simply didn’t work out. She eventually divorced and came home to live. One of the better things that Anne did for me was to have two fine grandsons, Daniel and Jeremy. They are very close to us and bring much joy to our lives.

The thing about Anne was she had a very high IQ. For some reason, she didn’t seem proud of it. She is highly intelligent, a quick study, can learn and do anything she want to do. For the next few years, she continued to cast around for something she wanted to do. She could sing, had acting ability and seemed to have a desire for the film industry. She decided to become a script supervisor. We didn’t know what that was. Anyway she studied up on it. Worked for a theater group for a year free. Got experience. Anne was now ready for the world. The world was not ready for Anne. At least the world didn’t think it was.

Anne went to Hollywood, CA. Was invited to spend a couple of days as understudy to the script supervisor on the current tv series, SeaQuest. The SeaQuest series moved to Orlando, Fla. for production. She was called to be script supervisor for the second unit. Makes $300.00 a day. Has unlimited future work. She is the only Florida born and bred script supervisor in the world. She has found her place in life. I am proud of her.