Let's Stay Together #14 cont'd from FB

On the day he came home from Seattle, where he had been a full year with the USS Stark while it was being built, it was freezing  in Jacksonville.  It was 19 degrees and we stood outside shivering as the ship pulled into port.  Jimmy scooped his little girls up into his arms and cried tears of joy to be back with us again!

Soon after he left that ship many fellow sailors were killed when the USS Stark was hit when in the Persian Gulf.  Such a sad day in the Mayport, FL community and the US as a whole.

I bought a waterbed once as a surprise back in the 80's when they were so popular.  One of the limited motion ones.  Is there such a thing?  He wasn't very happy about that after having to strap himself down at times aboard the ship in rough seas.

He was a good sport though and put up with the bed as long as I was in it!

Jimmy enjoyed his girls.  He would throw them up in the air in the pool.

We loved grilling out with our neighbors George and Donna.  Laughing at ourselves and playing with the kids.  The absolute best times ever!  

He built the girls a gym out in our back yard to practice their gymnastics. It was complete with a balance beam, horizontal bar and mini trampoline.  They loved it and him even more.

He took the girls to the pet store one day and came home with the cutest beagle puppy!  White body with large markings in brown and black and floppy ears.

She looked like a piece of nugget candy!  We named her "Tootsie Roll Pop!"

Dumb as a rock!  All she ever wanted to do was dig

out and go explore.  She got out of our yard one day before we moved from Virginia.  I tried in vain to find her with signs and trips and calls to the Humane Society.  I think someone just thought she was so cute they would keep her.

The girls cried all the way from Virginia to Florida when we left.