Mom went away to Fresno for nurses’ training, then worked at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. My father worked part-time as an orderly. He told me with some amusement that he would go to Mom’s ward and ask for an aspirin. Nurses were not to date orderlies, but Dad eventually won Mom over. Not long after they were married, he was called off to war and served as a medic in the European theater. He was in the third wave into Normandy and fought in Germany during the final days of World War II.

My parents enjoyed camping and wanted my brother and me to see as much of our country as possible. Every year, they saved vacation time and took us off on a trip to visit as many national parks as they could squeeze into two weeks. They often invited Grandma Wulff to come along. When my brother and I would doze in the backseat, Grandma or Mom would prod us. “Wake up, sleepyhead. Look out the window! You may never see this part of the country again.” Every few years, we made the trip from Pleasanton, California, back to Colorado Springs, my father’s hometown, to visit Grandma and Grandpa King. The photo below is one of the rare pictures of my family with both of my grandmothers. Unfortunately, Grandma King died when I was six.