Well, it finally happened. Due to the Coronapocalypse and my terminal leave, I hadn’t actually worked for the Air Force for the last three months, really, but now it is legal and official. I am a retired veteran, also known as a civilian.
To say it’s been a roller coaster of a career would be a study in understatement.
Historical perspective tells me I’ve had it easy- I was never in the trenches of WWI, I was never a doomed bomber pilot in WWII, I was never a POW in Vietnam.
That said, I would not wish some of my experiences, one in particular, on anyone. I have some horrible stories.
I am proud of a lot of the things I’ve done. Some stories I can tell now, some I won’t be able to tell for decades, but I have some wonderful stories.
I can’t remember whether my successes outpace my failures, but I know I’ve got plenty of both.
Overall, when I take the sum of the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, the successes and failures, it all comes out to where I am now.
As it stands, I am an incredibly lucky person to be where I am when I retire.
I have a beautiful, wonderful wife. I don’t deserve her, but I won’t argue the point.
I have incredible kids, brilliant and adorable. Both are rays of sunshine and forces of nature (one is more ray, one is more force, but both have a little of both).
I have an amazing house and a cute dog. I have good friends.
Though I retire in the midst of the Coronapocalypse, I am blessed to still have a good job waiting for me. One which I hope will leave me time to write, but a good job either way.
I can’t say I’ve had it easy, but I can say I’ve got it great now.
I am a retired veteran. I’m a mess of scars and medals.
Someday I might miss it, but for now I finally get to focus, more than ever before, on being a husband and a father.
I have a great life.
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