The Third Era

Eras

So I kinda view my life in five eras of connections: High School, the brief soap opera just after High School, the Navy, my first years adjusting to life in Misery (aka Missouri), and the Marvin’s years. (Marvin’s essentially representing the connections I’ve created purely online… long story, I’ll elaborate later). I don’t doubt there will be more eras… though I’m not sure when or where they will take place.

Memory Lane Part III

The third era was, of course, the Navy. My distorted view of sex and men was in full throttle, but I think those few years were also the turning point for the rest of my life… cultivating maturity, responsibility, self respect and a sense of value. The military can have a tendency to do that. As with all else, my connections there were a mixture of good and bad… but the good were awesome. I’m still in touch with a lot of them, also.

One of whom is Boomer… another one of those I lost touch with, then found again after dreaming about him. Well, actually, HE found me… small technicality. This was at least 2 or 3 years ago. Since then, we’ve pretty much picked up where our connection left off… with a small (okay, huge) divergence into… well, something else. But it wasn’t really a healthy divergence… at least not for me, so I’ve done my best to steer it back on course.

Admiral Me

Amway, we were part of a great group of peeps back then… not quite as intensely important to me as the last group, but still we had a lotta fun, a lotta laughs, a very easy going working and personal relationship, and they made their own special imprint on my heart. One day, as we were standing around laughing (instead of working) in the hangar, we started a one-up game over who could boss who around. By the luck of the draw, I ended up the 5-Star Admiral… who, consequently, trumps EVERYONE.

To this day, Boomer still calls me Admiral. It’s very endearing and a reminder of great days that can never really be duplicated, but endure through the evolution of friendship. I’m not sure what triggered the nostalgia this particular week… I mean, we chat regularly and he ALWAYS calls me Admiral each time we do. Perhaps it was my concern for his safety during Wilma, and a reminder of how much I value him and what he represents in my life.

A Not-so-Subtle Reminder

Amway, that’s pretty much it for my trips down Memory Lane this week. Kind of a strange onslaught… I mean, one can live quite contentedly without thinking about the past at all, and then they sometimes seem to hit ya with a kind of cascade effect, feeling as if they happened just yesterday. I suppose it’s a reminder that I should never become complacent… should always strive to improve myself. Remember my mistakes and lessons of the past, and set them to good use in the present and for the future.

Now don’t get me wrong… I am happy with the person I am today. I’m happy with my life. But I also know that I’ve gained this happiness by slowly fixing what’s broken… and I can’t stop now just cuz I’ve found a place in which I’m content living with something half healed.