Just a little something extra

I constantly have Melissa’s Military Moments running through my head because unlike you, I know the whole story! I have to decide what I want to tell, what’s too personal to share, what might be too boring or perhaps an incident that I’d like to tell but the details are just too sketchy to me to make a story out of it. After all, it has been over 20 years –well over 20 years ago . . .

And sometimes I’m so bored with MMM because well, I know the whole story! Like right now, I’m so tired of PLDC –so very tired of it. But so much happened then –and much of that, as you will soon find out, all led up to some other significant thing. You might be surprised to know PLDC was only 6 weeks, so much happened to me in that short amount of time, didn’t it?

I know I say it over and over but you really need to read these stories in the context of which they took place –back in the 80’s when technology was at its infancy. It’s significant to the story to understand how secluded I was from my family, my country –from just about everything. We had very little live coverage news and even “daily” newspapers were received a few days late (or weeks). Recently a friend mentioned a song to me from the 80’s and I told her I didn’t recall it being that popular and she was astounded. There was a lapse in the 80’s for me where I lost some pop culture. I was behind when I was in Germany but when I got back to the states I was in “real time” and lost whatever had not yet caught up to Germany. As we often stated while we were there, being in Germany felt a lot like stepping back in time or standing still in time.

I’m vague about specific dates for a reason –a certain story in the future hinges on a certain time frame and I’m waiting to get to that story until I give exact details. When I give you a whole story about me or my past that is seemingly unrelated to the military, it sets the ground work for something to come that is related to the military.

Sometimes I can’t wait to get ahead because there’s a particular story I want to tell. Sometimes I want to go back because as far as funny stories, nothing can possibly top my Basic Training experiences.

I soon will be posting more pictures since my scanner is back up and running.  I had intended to post more as I went along but I always have issues with scanners and printers.

I don’t know how/when I will end MMM. I mean, the obvious being when I was no longer in the military but then I transitioned into military life as a soldier’s wife –though those stories are pretty mundane and ordinary, if you ask me. So maybe MMM will end the day I stepped out of my uniform and returned to civilian life.

I LOVE everyone’s comments whether they are in the comment section on my blog, to me personally, in an email or whatever means it reaches me. I LOVE to end a post with suspense because its more fun that way but also, it helps me to remember where I left off.

The greatest compliment that could be paid to me is to know that perhaps one day a future generation; my grandchildren or great-grandchildren, will sit down to read these stories and whether they personally knew me or not, they will have a deeper insight to their heritage. I think about that and I get chills. I wonder right now, 4:01pm March 31, 2010 if I will know the hearts, souls and minds of those generations to come.

When I meet people they are often surprised I was in the Army. Even to me it seems odd now. I write these stories and recall those memories and wonder how I got through it all. These hands have gently wiped the dirty faces of my small children for many years but before that, I threw a live grenade and fired an M-60 machine gun. A MACHINE GUN! That’s crazy to me. I could take down an M-16 rifle with precision and speed. My Drill Sergeant even entered me in a contest once for . . . well, maybe that will be another day’s post. Now I struggle to carry a basket of laundry up the stairs but there was a day when I’d throw a ruck-sack on my back and hoof a 15-mile road march. Yeah, I did that. I earned an expert badge both for my M-16 rifle and grenade launch. I did that. How did I do those things? That Melissa is so far from who I am today. I always envisioned my life in Chicago forever and ever and ever –that is where Prince Charming and I would meet and live and raise our perfect 2.5 children –we’d be just that average. And Jerry? He always envisioned his life in Georgia forever and ever and ever and then somehow, from Georgia to Germany and from Illinois to Germany by way of Hawaii, we ended up here in Ohio –raising .5 children more than I thought I’d have.

But God has a way of doing that, you know –taking you off a path or maybe redirecting you to the path that was chosen for you. He has a way of changing circumstances.

And hearts.

And people.

I’m getting way ahead of the story.