230203 Some Good Memories

I’m sitting here listening to songs from the fifties, sixties and seventies . They take me back to some of the best times in my life. I met Joyce and married her. I met some guys while in training that all went to Guam with me. We were all in aircrews there. One was on the same crew as I was. We flew all over the Pacific, went to the Philippines and Japan, Wake island, Midway island, Vietnam and tracked typhoons over the ocean. Most of us went from Guam to the North Island naval air station in Coronado, California and had some great times partying at Joyce's and my apartment in San Diego.

Later in the sixties and seventies I went to advanced aviation electronics school in Millington, Tennessee and after finishing that I stayed on as an instructor at the aviation electronics school there, where we met a whole new set of friends and the parties continued, bigger than before. We went camping in Mississippi and in northern Arkansas. It was non-stop fun. I enjoyed teaching and I discovered that teaching was a great way to learn a subject, beyond what I already knew about the subject.

Later in the seventies I left the navy and we moved back to Missouri. That didn’t work out well, so we ended up heading back to the San Diego area. I landed a job at Burroughs Computer corporation, where we met another set of good friends and as usual, the parties never stopped all the way into the eighties.

Now I live alone in my small town since Joyce passed away. I have some new and good friends, but the parties have ended. I pretty much live like a monk in a monastery, except for my drinking and smoking which is better than not drinking and smoking. I've lost so much in my life, but I still have a life and it is worth living. I have my daughter, granddaughter, great son in law, my nephew and his lovely female partner, my friends here and my daily correspondents that we stay in touch with online. That makes my life worth living.