In a few days I will be 66 years old. Yes, another birthday is approaching and it gives me time to look back over my life. Would I have done anything to change it? I think that everyone in their life would make changes if they had it to do over again.
However, I have so many things in my life to be thankful for. I grew up a country boy and had nature all around me. It was a tough childhood, but also in many ways rewarding. I got to spend much time in the forest and learned to love and respect animals and nature at an early age. That feeling has never left me. In my heart I will always be a country boy.
When I got our of high school I went to work in a factory that did much work for the government. It was the time during the Vietnam War. As many of my friends were getting drafted, I felt it was time to enlist in the military. The owner of the factory told me one day that since we did much government work he could get me out of the military. I told him no, it was my duty to serve. I would never be considered a draft dodger. I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and spent time in Texas, Florida, and the Philippines.
Here I sit at the computer now thinking what would have happened if I had listened to my boss. I would have never ended up in the Philippines and I never would have met a beautiful young woman that worked in the Airmen's Club on Clark AFB in the Philippines. I never would have got married and had a son and a daughter by my wife Lina. In December of this year we will celebrate 44 years of marriage.
When I got out of the Air Force I went to work for a short while for Ronson Corporation. My main job was to put flint tubes in cigarette lighters. I only worked for them a couple of months before I got a job working for General Electric. That factory made carbon brushes for motors and generators. It was dirty, extremely dirty but paid well. The downfall was that I worked many holidays including, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. The pay was great, but between the dirt and the hours I left after 4 1/2 years.
Through the following years I worked in other machine shops and and factories. It was often stressful work but paid well. Some of the things I worked on was gold drums that went in guidance systems for missiles, hoists for shrimp boats, parts for the space shuttle, parts for the stealth bomber, parts for missile launchers on nuclear submarines. I was proud of much I accomplished, it made me feel patriotic and proud.
When I first got out of the Air Force I had a chance to get my pilots license at the local airport. I turned it down because I was at that time working about 70 hours a week at GE. The government would have paid 90%. Not becoming a pilot has been the biggest regret of my life.
I look back over my life and I am thankful for what I have, a wife, two children, and five grand kids.
I have a little adopted dog that gives me smiles every day. A roof over my head. Food in my stomach. I have been a published author. Dreams that every day the world will get better.
Yes, I complain about politics, traffic, pollution, and many things other people complain about, but I am happy in my life and that is what counts. I have many friends in my personal life and on Facebook. In a few days I will be 66, and I look forward to getting up everyday. It is just another chapter in my life and I think I have quite a few chapters left until I reach that final chapter.
Copyright Larry W. Fish 2014
I enjoyed reading about what happened in your life after high school. You've had a productive and interesting life. That's the way it should be. Unfortunately, I have relatives and friends who never left their hometown their entire lives. I feel sorry for them because life was meant to be an adventure.
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