When I first got engaged with my wife Teresa we spent a lot of time trading stories about our parents. At one point I told her that my mom had had a strange knack for seeing the distant future. Teresa scoffed at that. I told her that as far back as I could recall, my mom always said that I would someday marry a girl with long black hair. I often scoffed at that too. After all I normally got involved with blonds, or girls with medium length brown hair. Then when I did get involved with a girl with long black hair, mom was sure that "this is the one!" Instead it turned out that this one was a disaster. Thus I went back to blonds and girls with shorter brown hair.
However, in late 1986, there I was engaged to an oriental woman with long black hair.
As most of you may know, both my wife and I are alumni of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. It is an important place that I spent a decade working my way through. Plus Teresa and I were married on that campus in 1988 and the university's co-founder J. Paul Riddle, who became a close friend of mine, attended our wedding. We've always stayed close to ERAU. When I was in school there and my folks would visit campus my dad would park his motor home on campus and we'd have friends come aboard for some of mom's cooking, and dad's stories about being a railroad engineer.
When it came time for our oldest daughter Akie to look for colleges, she was accepted at the University of Hawaii. As parents were were rubbing our hands thinking that we'd be spending Christmas in Hawaii for the next four years. Yet, she was also accepted at ERAU. Neither of us had pushed her in that direction. In fact I was pretty stoked at the fact that she was considering marine studies. When it came time to go and visit campuses she decided to visit ERAU.
When I mentioned that to my mom she gave me a very specific and direct order,
"I want a picture of her the moment she sets foot on that campus!"
So, we made a family 10-day trip to Disney World and took one day to stop by ERAU so Akie could get a tour. Additionally I took the photo.
One year later she was enrolled at ERAU. Just a few months alter her granny passed away, yet she has seen another of her premonitions come true. On April 5, 2026 Akie graduated and we all agreed to re-do that photo.
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