THANKSGIVING

As another Thanksgiving Day is almost here, it makes me look back over my life. What do I have to be thankful for? I grew up a country boy in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Those early years were tough but they have some of my fondest memories. I walked many miles in the forest around me. It was so peaceful. I would often sit on a rock and watch a herd of deer or smile as some squirrels were playing nearby. I remember my dad's horse named, Sugar. I remember having a pet squirrel, a pet raccoon and a pet deer. Many people have no idea what it like to have those things.

I think back to my time in the military. I served in Texas, Florida, and the Philippines. Yes, I was a young man traveling half way around the world. What would it be like I wondered? I remember landing at Clark AFB in the Philippines in the middle of the night. It was so hot and I was taken to a barracks to get some sleep. I woke up and flew out of my bed as I saw I was sharing it with a lizard, hahahaha. It is funny now, but not then. Yes, the Philippines, I was far away from home. It was in the Airmen's Club on base that I met a beautiful young Filipino woman. Her name, Dominga, that I soon started calling her by her nickname. It was a love at first sight. I spent 27 months in the Philippines as a crew chief and a flight mechanic. I got to fly to many primitive places in the Philippines that other people dream about. It was in the country of over 7,000 islands that I married, Lina. In less than a month it will be 44 years we have been together through the good times and the bad times.

I am thankful for our two children, Thomas who was active in the school bands and was on the swimming team. Thomas decided to make the Marine Corps his career. He spent 20 years as a Marine and served 3 tours of duty in Iraq. He has now retired from the Marine Corps and works for the US government, living in Okinawa. Our other child, Leonor was into majorettes and the school band. She was drum major in her senior year. Ever since Leonor could pick up a crayon she knew art was her passion. She graduated from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. She has continued to make art a career as an artist and a graphic designer. Her paintings and sketches are truly fabulous. Two children in my life that my wife and I are very proud of and thankful to have in our lives.

I am thankful for my career working in manufacturing and building maintenance. I have worked on parts that have been for guidance systems of missiles, parts that have gone in the space shuttle, parts for patriot missile launchers, parts for  missile launchers on nuclear submarines. I developed a riveting process for a part that my company tried unsuccessfully to manufacture for 30 years. I am thankful that I developed a process to rivet that part. It made me feel proud to do something that many others failed to do. I also worked in a library as a maintenance supervisor. I always had a love for books, but working in the library was just amazing. It brought the writer out in me. I have been published in Our USA Magazine and I am now having my second novel published.

I am thankful that I am now retired and can take life a little easy. I write when I want, take walks with my dog, I go to bed when I want and get up when I want. Getting old seems bad to many people, but not to me. I love life and as long as I love life I am thankful. I have many friends in my life, I have my facebook friends that I will probably never meet in person, but I am thankful that they are a part of my life.

Memories, friends, a wife of almost 44 years, 2 great children, and 5 grand kids. I am thankful for a lot of things in my life and I will be thinking of all of them as I eat my Thanksgiving dinner.


Copyright   Larry W. Fish   2014

DID I MISS MY CALLING

I turned 66 not long ago and I continue to look back over my life. One of the things that I think of often is, did I choose the right career path? I ended up in manufacturing because that is the path that my father and
brother took. Was it the right choice? Now at this age I don't think it was where I wanted to go. I really wanted to be a forest ranger because my heart is and always will be with nature.

I think it was about half way through my life that after reading a book I would often wonder if I had the talent to do such a thing. It kept pressing more and more on my mind. I would write some short stories of my life just for the fun of it. I would read them over and over. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone else would be interested in reading them. In my late 50s I started to submit articles to magazines. When I reached fourteen rejections it hit me that maybe I just didn't have the talent to be a writer. I gave it one more try to a magazine titled, Our USA Magazine. Cher Valentino, the founder and editor of the magazine loved my story and published it in the magazine. I was now on cloud nine, seeing one of my stories in print made me feel like I could make it as a writer. Cher published several more of my stories. She has been an inspiration to me in continuing my writing.

Because of her I wrote my first novel, Golden Haze. In a way it was a tribute to my late dog Izzy that died in 2004. I loved that dog so much and was devastated when she died. When I wrote, Golden Haze, I made Izzy the main character and had a photo of her put on the front cover. In the book she was an angel that helps a family through the struggles of injury, disease, and paranormal activity in their home. In real life Izzy was my little angel.

That fiction novel set a fire under me like I have never felt in my life. I have now written two more novels and one is being published as I write this. Story telling is an art, a passion. I can't stand up in front of a crowd like many people can, but I can write the words. I love writing and I love telling a good story. Life is an adventure, each year is another chapter. I am up there in years now, but my mind and heart are of someone half my age.

Now as I look back over my life I realize it was a good one and I made a decent living. However, I have to wonder what would have happened had I started writing earlier in my life. At this point in my life, I think I did miss my calling. We can't go back in time and we have to be thankful for what we have. However, I really do wish I had started writing earlier in my life. I love it and people should do in their lives what they love.


Larry W. Fish   Copyright   2014