210921 Sentinel, Letter #4 to Joyce

Dear Joyce,

I was thinking about you last night. We got married and your uprooting began. The navy kept us moving over the near 11 years we were in service, several times at each duty station we moved from one spot to another. I remember when I was stationed at North Island for the last year in service, on my last day I mustered out and came home to you. The first thing I said was, “they actually let me leave.” We celebrated that day and then it was time to move back to Missouri again.

That is as you know, not the end of the story. 3 years later it was back to San Diego for just over 10 years. In those 10 years we lived in 4 different places, including your favorite, your “Wow Home” the one place you picked and bought. I was in Chicago for training and all I did was sign the papers, never having seen what I was buying half of. It was a beautiful place, but 4 years later it was back to Missouri again.

In the last 34 years here we lived in 4 places and now you are gone from me. I think about this and realize no matter what, you never complained. You always supported every endeavor, kept silent when you knew things would not go well. You made a home for us no matter where we were. You were the glue that kept things together, no matter what crazy shit I went and did. I always had good intentions with everything, but I should have had you make the decisions. You were always smarter than me.

All my love,

Bill