Being There
This is still about my past but more recent than my youth, which I consider to be everything before I turned 21 which I did in 1967 while on active duty in the Navy. I grew up in the Navy. I was on my own, following orders to be sure, but making my own decisions. Living on my own. Learning about life and responsibilities. I met people and began to develop a picture of what I might be able to do with my life.
Soon after my release from active duty, I met my soon to be wife. A year later, in 1970, after I completed a year of junior college, which I took to learn how to go to college, we married. I was still in school. In 1973, we had our first child and I graduated. And with that, we launched ourselves into the world. It was a fruitful partnership. Her people skills were nonparileil. I drafted behind her. Chatted with her about my work life. I learned from her. She was the key to our social groups and our social life. It was wonderful. She could read a crowd and read a face. Social cues were second nature.
Nowadays, I’m on my own. It’s not so wonderful. I miss the partnership. And social cues for me are like guessing on a multiple choice test. I do my best but it’s a strange language and my interpreter is gone. I think my best bet is to emulate Chance the Gardener in Being There and maintain my silence, smiling, nodding, and taking my pleasure in the simple things because in the end, maybe I’m just a simple man.
Part 22, Living in America: An Old Man’s Journey into His Past