Ice and Milk

On the morning of June 17th 2008, I celebrated the passing of my Dad, Ernie Shifflett by having a glass of milk and ice. When I was in the 11th and 12th grades, Dad and I would watch TV in the evenings, each with our glass of milk filled with ice. Once the milk was gone, ice crunching began. I think I’m the only other Shifflett that still does milk and ice.

During those years, my after school snack was a coffee cup of frozen chocolate milk. I would scrape the frozen chocolate milk with my spoon while watching reruns of Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

When I think about Dad, I remember the last 16 months, calling him 2-3 times per week just to speak. We both found a way to laugh at our, “glitches, surprises or bumps in the carpet.”
I’ll also remember forever these times:

In 1978 I had just returned from my first Western Pacific deployment and fell asleep at the wheel while driving my car from the storage garage back to base. I waited a few weeks before notifying Mom or Dad of the accident and 46 days of hospitalization. By the time I called them; I could walk and was moving fine. The next day, Dad showed up at the hospital unannounced. He just wanted to be sure I was doing well. We walked around Waikiki Hawaii and went to a new movie that was just released, “Cross of Iron” a great James Colburn movie.

When I graduated Marine Corps Drill Instructor School, I was the honor graduate and received a Marine NCO Sword from the General. Dad flew out to Beaufort, SC to see me graduate.

Dad liked the idea of doing it yourself. He really liked making homemade ice-cream and pizza. He liked building things, working with his hands and he really liked cooking. He liked the idea of being rustic. He had the coolest waffle iron and old fashioned recipe to go with it. It’s a waffle iron was just the mold without an attached heat source. So to turn out perfect waffles, you had to know your heat, iron and recipe. Like my Dad, I love to cook and have my own waffle iron just like his; he helped me purchased in Seattle. I too pride myself on making the best Belgium waffles and even make my own homemade blueberry syrup. I’ll be celebrating Dad this Saturday by making these waffles.

For the last few years he was a big advocate for green cars and humanity taking seriously the responsibility of caring for the environment. My next car will be a green car for sure.

Dad was very generous towards his kids, providing assistance with education, cars, travel and other expenses.

Dad was also very smart and an outstanding bridge player. In his last weeks, they would wheel him to the bridge table and he and his partner would win.

So at night I’ll have my ice and milk; remember the times I had with my Dad and the person he was.

Dad I will miss you very much.

Love,

Karl Shifflett
18 June 2008

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