Summers with our Mothers, 1957

My fondest memories of growing up are the times I spent at the beach with my mother Dorothy, and her best friend Marlowe. Every summer my mother, my sister Chris and I drove from Modesto to San Jose to pick up Marlowe and her daughters, Kathie and Jill. Just “the girls” for a vacation at the beach. The summer of 1957 I was 10 years old and it was the first time we made the trek. We came every year after that until 1965. So many memories: the Haunted House, the first time on the Giant Dipper, the Carousel (I still have a token) riding the waves in the ocean on my mothers back, salt water taffy, playing skee ball, taking our pictures in the booths. Walking out to the wharf to eat shrimp cocktail. Once we became teenagers, the boys, boys, boys. Surfers. Dances at the Coconut Grove. Seeing the Beach Boys and Sha Na Na. Laying on the beach in front of the Giant Dipper playing cards in the sand. Driving out E. Cliff and parking to look back at the Boardwalk at night. What a beautiful sight. Our mothers in their silly shorts and halter tops. I still love to come to Santa Cruz to see my dear friend Kathie who works at the Boardwalk now. Our mothers are gone, but what a great gift they gave us. I can still hear their laughter and remember their love of life at the beach. It just doesn’t get any better than that.