A lot of past, a little future.

Approaching 80 years of life on planet earth facilitates reminiscing. I tend to do that often. What else can I do. In abundance that is. Aches and pains for sure but I seldom had such menaces way back then.

A torn miniscus at age ten a sprained ankle at sixteen. Mumps at 14 which broke my perfect school attendance record. I was proud of that. It made me feel durable, dependable, devoted.

I just read a phrase from a college admissions officer to a borderline applicant: “you have a brain but you aren’t using it”.I can identify with that event. My freshman year in college was tarnished by low grades but I ended my first year as the best chess player around. I also could run. Physical-ed I did the 100 yard dash under 11 seconds. But even those two statistics did not prevent academic probation.

So I went to work in a dirty, filthy, dangerous foundry. It was an education not obtainable anywhere else. I learned what not to do for very long in the future. Temporary income. Buying my first car, a used dark green 1956 Chevy. Boy oh boy I was somebody. More independent than ever. Growing up with a lot more future than past.

But now it was the draft. The Draft. Eighteen year old male citizens were subject to the Selective Service Act. My Student Deferment was still on the records but I wanted to serve now. Maybe it was just “get it over with” now. So t contacted the local Draft Board an asked for a 1A classification. Ready now. They didn’t hesitate as the Viet Nam Was was in its ingloriously ascendency. Concerned but not really worried I was drafted 2 weeks later. Still with a little past and a long future.

Off I went “to war” or so I thought. I was sent to Military Police School and sent to fight the “ war” in France. Orleans. Home of Jean D’arc. Seventy miles south of Paris. With my 2 years of high school French I was ready for duty. With or without a uniform. Risky behavior aside, I excelled at “law enforcement” and accident investigation. The French and Americans collided with each other on and off the roadways often needing my services . The Gendarmes were something else to learn from. Often on what not to do. Slowly I was adding to my past but a future of expectations lie ahead.

On returning home I was accepted into the Michigan State Police. The best decision made so far in my life. My personality and intrinsic likings of fast cars, guns, and young ladies. It clarified my future greatly. I had an uncle who was a Sheriffs deputy in Minnesota who said a most profound and influential statement. “If you don’t want to help people at every opportunity you are in the wrong job”. I never forgot that and of this writing it persists.

But a formal education was still woefully short. I restarted by enrolling in a Community College and worked the classes around my sworn duty job as a State Trooper. Marriage came in stride and a bachelor degree soon followed. Three great kids and a promotion to Sergeant dominated the next five years. The past was filling up. The future was shrinking.

Another promotion and a move to Lansing , Michigan happened. My office was one block from Cooley Law School. Ever since my youth I was intrigued by the law. What’s it all about. Law enforcement gave me a big dose but there was so much more. I had to go. The clock was ticking. Three years later I was an attorney. Enough formal education for me my wife declared. Kids now in school it was her turn to hit the business world and she did with tenacity, cheer, and success like no other. Her time clock was running too. It was now or never. A robust decade of fun and challenges fulfilled her entrepreneurial spirit.

Ten years later the shortening horizon began to make its lonesome appearance. I say “lonesome” because it is fundamentally yours alone. Your past and future has only your limits to contemplate. So it’s looking like retirement options . Two new homes in the next year, one being here at Pelican Preserve. Nineteen years, five grand sons later here we are. Sue and I 51 years together enjoying sunsets and sunset years together. Measured in years our life’s horizons are shorter but the anticipation of family are almost unlimited as we watch and listen to the dreams of the kids and especially the grand kids. In that way the future might, once again be longer than the past.