Many Moons

In 1988, Shauna was three, and we were living on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Her mother was a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines, and was gone much of the time. Since I was working nights in the Casino show, Shauna needed a baby sitter. Luckily, the family of some of the other acts could fill the bill.

I doubt if Shauna remembers, but just outside her baby sitter's residence were cages for the lions, tigers and a black jaguar used in the show. We often watched as the animals were loaded or unloaded into the truck that took them to and from the show room.

They lived on the golf course, and the road had many twists and turns through tall trees. As I was taking her to the sitters one night, I looked up and saw the beautiful full moon peeking through the trees. I commented, "Shauna, look at that beautiful moon!"

She agreed that it was very beautiful. After a couple of more turns left us pointed in a different direction, Shauna said, "DAD, look at that beautiful moon over there!"

By the time we had arrived, she had spotted three more beautiful moons.

Listen Up, Flower!

Our yard had several nice hibiscus trees, and the blooms were very large and colorful. One afternoon I was carrying Shauna around the yard and she said, "FLOWERS!"

I replied that they were very pretty flowers and that they were HIBISCUS. I asked, "Can you say hibiscus?"

She quickly replied to the flower, "HI BISCUS!"

That Cold Thing:

Refrigerator was a "refligelator"

Poor Crushed Animals

Shauna went with me on many, many cruises, even when she was still in diapers! On many of the "out islands" that we went to, hammocks were in abundance, and we would stake one out as quickly as possible. She loved taking naps in them.

As soon as we hit the Island, she would exclaim, "Let's go sleep on the HAMSTERS!"

Whose AMI is it anyway?

When we returned to Boca Raton, we hired an au pair from Ireland. She had a boy friend in Miami and when she had time off she was always saying, "I've got to go to Miami to see my boy friend."

I had to catch a cruise ship out of that port so I told her that I had to go to Miami. The au pair was with her, and Shauna looked at her, then looked at me as though I were trying to put one over on her.

She said, "Dad, It's not YOUR AMI, It's HER AMI!"

She was a real doll, and kept me laughing most of the time. Those years were the greatest, and happiest of my life!

Jimmy Wallis, March 30, 2008