Straight, As In Time

I am what some would call an, “expert,” in only two things. When I claim that title it comes with the caveat that both subjects of my expertise were a while ago. Some would call it a long time but memories and a little re-familiarization and I would be back up to speed.

One of them is electronic counter measures (ECM). I learned and practiced that in the service and what I did was highly classified. The result of my expertise was saving the lives of pilots over Vietnam.

The other is cutting and installing glass of any size, thickness and shape. Again, that was a while ago but with a little practice and my back not what it is today I could be back up to speed in a week, maybe less.

There is a third thing that I am an expert at and that is time. Time is the only straight line on this planet. It is birth to death and it matters not which directions you take in life. Some directions will make that line shorter and some will make it longer and, oh yeah, then there is chance. As there is no accounting for chance, some call this “circumstance,” making each of our lives subject to whim. I hate whim, don’t you?

I got here alive and I don’t know how. Here, is a nice little home on some decent sized property on a creek that flows year round. We are fairly high on a straight stretch of that creek so we don’t get any flooding here. Circumstance or being aware of danger brought us to this little spot amongst the oak forest. Far enough from the creek that floods will likely never get up this high. I was aware of what was available all those years ago. That allowed me to control circumstance.

It’s hard to say what exactly woke me into awareness but an abundance of caution is what my life has been after combat. This makes me the opposite of my wife who never was in the military. Straight line of time. We each have a different path and some are better at life than others. Silly thing is, most of us don’t have to screw up our lives and being aware of this starts with blaming nobody but yourself for the chances you take which put you into the circumstance you find yourself. Round and round we go, eh?

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