My dad was a sailor on the USS Yosemite. In 1958, he was 19. His ship was in Amsterdam, and (as part of some event perhaps?) his ship hosted a children’s party for kids from the local orphanage. The guns were wound with streamers to look like candy canes. At one point, he felt a tug on his sleeve - a little girl of four had come up to him. “You can pick her up,” the orphanage lady said. That little girl stuck with him like glue. My dad has always been a little-kid magnet. They were buddies the whole day.
The following day, he and a chaperone from the orphanage took the little girl on an outing to the zoo. I smiled when he told me that part, cause I remember when I was little, he’d take me out on “dad dates” too - a very nice thing when you’re littlest and it seems like your older siblings can do everything and you can’t! So I guess they had a fun day. “Maybe we’ll go again tomorrow,” he told her. But the next day his ship got word that they had to sail to Turkey. Within 6 hours of the news, they had set out to sea. He’s always felt bad, worrying that the little girl thought he’d forgot her that day. He wrote a letter to the newspaper in Amsterdam, asking could his message be taken to the orphanage, to the little girl? He knew how to get to the place, but not its address. He never knew if she got his message. She’s a grown lady now, and my dad is 68. “You want me to see if I can look her up online?” I asked him. He remembers her name but darned if I know how to spell it properly. He said sure, why not. Then he thought of a couple shipmates he’d like me to look up, too - those guys are easier by far. I wonder if the little girl in Amsterdam remembers him.
So I guess first I ought to figure out how to spell her name. Of course, if she’s married, it’s changed, but one has to start somewhere. I don’t know if it’s creepy to write the pronunciation here for spelling suggestions - if it was your name would you mind? Is it creepy to look her up at all? It’s not often I can do stuff for my dad, he already knows how to do most useful things on his own, and apart from new slippers every year he doesn’t tend to want stuff. Mostly I guess I flatter him by needing his advice a lot!
I’d welcome wisdom and opinions on if this is a dumb pursuit.