RAIN, RAIN, RAIN.......during the night with the accompaniment of nature's orchestra....lightning and thunder!!! And, almost all of the day was cloudy, very humid with too warm temps, and just plain dreary.
I was awakened a bit after 7:30am by the phone screaming in my ears.....ringing it's loud incessant ring. When I picked it up, the speaker phone was on somehow and it also brought the 1st Lady to a sitting position(not a good idea upon her first awakening!!!).......it was a voice I couldn't even understand, never mind recognize.....DUMB ME!!!! It was a former student who is now a band director and he was calling from Buffalo, NY. after having had his band in Toronto, Canada on a band trip. We had not conversed since he went into Canada......and it was almost beyond my capability of conversing without having my steaming cup of Fr. Roast coffee first!!!! Sorrrrrrrry Andrew!!!!
So, it took me some time to recover, to think and chat at the same time, and to speak with some degree of intellectual ability. Sounded like he was having a good time and that everything was doing ok with 80+ students and a total of 9 adults for the week long trip.
The rest of the morning was just spent in doing........hmmmmm, I'm not sure. Oh yeah......I had to forward pictures of my damaged truck......the vehicle that God suddenly dropped a deer in front of while I was going 63 mph while we were in northeast Missouri.........anyway I took pictures and then emailed them to the insurance claims office.
Then......after lunch I got an estimate and had the auto repair shop email more photos and the estimate to the claims office. Not as much as I anticipated, but was told that there may be more damage once the front of the truck is removed.........
Also had to take our medical insurance monthly payment out to the school Supt's office. Found myself chatting and telling stories to the ladies of the office....and having a good chat with the Supt.
Then, upon returning home.........I was in the garage and found the box of letters that my mother had kept.....among ALL of the other stuff......letters that I had written while I was in Asia(Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Thailand, Viet Nam, and many other countries) during the Viet Nam War. Before long I had disappeared into my mind as I read the words, the stories, the descriptions, the events that I experienced 37-38 years ago!!!! I have not finished reading all of them, but it is soooooo amazing the mental pictures that returned as I read these wonderful letters that I wrote to my parents. As a "keeper", Mom had saved ALL of them!!!!!!! What a wonderful box of historical events during the 15 months I spent seeing and experiencing the Asian countries of that era!!!!
The PRICES of things during that time: 1969-70. I was dining at a lovely restaurant that overlooked the bay, with a string orchestra for dancing, and the "Mills Brothers" entertainment in Naha, Okinawa and had the full lobster dinner with bottles of wine, etc., etc., etc......and the cost was only $4.25!!!! YEP....only four dollars and twenty-five cents!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!
In Thailand, I had two sharkskin silk suits made for $30 each; shoes custom made for only $4.00 per pair; a 4.5 carat black star sapphire ring with a small ruby beside it for only $14.00!! And the list goes on and on.........just unreal!
I spent six weeks in Japan on TDY going from one military installation to another carrying a pack of punch cards to feed through the computers of those days to see if they had any parts on their bases that we might need in Korea at the base I served on. I saw almost ALL of Japan during those six weeks.
I was sent quite unexpectedly to Calcutta, India......to hand deliver some required parts for one of our aircraft that had had mechanical difficulty.....and wound up staying in Calcutta for three days. WHAT a city during those days!!! Filthy, but very, very interesting to an American Air Force guy......
I was in Singapore on much the same type of mission........wonderful, wonderful city. I was in Hong Kong 14 times.........I was in Japan 26 times as I was assigned to a "committee" for aircraft parts that needed to be supplied to the bases.......and was there almost every two weeks for a 4 hour meeting.
Soooo, does that explain how traveing infected my body, my mind, my entire being???? Do you now understand why I have this unquenchable urge to continue to go, go, go down the roads???? I sometimes have this really strange sensation that I was an explorer in a previous Life!!!!!! And, perhaps I was..........
And, when I post this blog in a few minutes for all of you out there in cyberspace to read, I will then return to that era of 37 years ago and relive some of those times through the letters that I wrote to my parents from all of those exotic places during the time of a war that we should never, never have found ourselves involved in!!!!!! Hmmmmm........history sure does repeat itself, doesn't it?????????????????????
And, so as I titled this post........how long will I/we remain here in the stick and brick before we begin another adventurous journey?????? NOT LONG, I hope!!!! I can't sit still and stare at the same landscape, do the same "chores", see the same people, go to the same stores.......day after day after day for very long! It will soon be time to hit the road once again. (I am thinking very seriously about going to Thailand next spring as the 1st Lady has never been to Asia!!).
How......just how can Life being anything but:
Life is GREAT.....and I hope it is for all of you, also!!!!!!
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