As a Senior Citizen and Disabled Veteran, living in Westborough, Mass. I have learned, there is nothing I can basically do or say to change the politics, of the town or the nation. we have one right and that is to vote and participate in what we are allowed to, by laws and right we have. I have learned, I can shout to the rooftops and beyond, and it will not help change anything once elections and voting is over. There is no sense crying or complaining over who won the Presidential Election, or what Trump is doing to our nation, our rights, our way of life and our republic. That decision was made by the American people on Election day 2024. That being said, we all must now, save our money, survive for the next four years, watch prices rise, gas, home expenses and food, and taxes too, as trump plans for his retribution and revenge. It is a sad sight to see, when so many American citizens believe what is not true, there is no Trump mandate folks, he did not win by a large margin in anyway. Ya need to look at the actual numbers folks of the popular vote. Also, let me say this, if Joe Biden had stepped aside at the beginning of the election cycle and said I am too old an dlet Harris run sooner, Trump would have lost. Trump didn’t beat Harris really, she only had 119 days to run, and came close and scared him. !
The above said, I don’t wish to argue with die-hard MAGA, or Trump people anymore, they will not listen no matter if you are right, and can prove it. They are the Blind and Loyal puppy dogs following a owner who just feeds there basic needs of wants and desires to get what he wants out of them. It’s a sad sight to see folks. trump won according to the results 49.8 percent to Harris’s 48.3 percent. yes trump won, but, it is no mandate folks and if you want to really examine it closer, look at the numbers in the House and Senate and the number of seats in each. That said, I tire of those who claim Trump has a mandate, he doesn’t and once his honeymoon is over, you will see it. Ok enough on Politics for me, for now, as I shall watch, listen and see what comes next in the near future for America.
Next subject folks, I turn 69 on the 25th of this month in a few days time. As I do, I tend to look back at my life on each birthday and see what affected it, and why, and how I handled it, and whether I believe it was mistakes I made or good decisions I made. I know, no one is perfect and that includes me, and I have made numerous mistakes and at times overstayed or overstepped my welcomes. Ignored warning from others, and at times accepted things I should have fought against. But, in looking back, I know certain people and events, affect all of our lives, and how we adjust or don’t adjust to them effect what happens next and the decisions we make, each day.
We do not control for instance the day we were born, our sex or gender at birth, or the parents who raise us and teach us, or how they do so. We tend to bend and get molded in our young days by these things and people, and depending on how that goes as a starter in our lives, we, tend to do all we can to survive to carryon. I know I had many people in my life who affected how I think, how i react to certain things, and of course medical and mental conditions also. We overcome, we adapt and we learn to live with what we have, or else we die in someway, because we can not overcome and fight a fruitless fight. In my case I have been lucky enough to overcome certain things, I was born with.
Number one was, as a baby when I overcame seizures as a baby, due to a fall. Secondly, I had to overcome being born with Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyper-Activity. Back when I was growing up in the 1960s, mind you, no one knew what that was or how to handle a child who had it, they called it emotional disturbance. Misdiagnosing it and not understanding it made my childhood rough for myself and the family I grew up in. No one’s fault of course but, again a major item to overcome for a child.
Number two for me, was a constant battle with my mother, God rest her Soul of course, over who my real father was and her not wanting me to ever know the man. I always got, well, your just like your father a grease monkey, penny pitching fool. That was far from the truth of course, and that was proven when I finally got to 18 and found the man myself and met him. But, as time went on, because I wanted to meet my real father and know my heritage and from where he came, the battle was constant with my Mother. It resulted in my being Institutionalized for two years for being emotional disturbed, as they called it back then. The fact is, a simple look at the documentation from the Institution I was in for two years shows I was fine, it wasn’t me. Yet, I suffered the separation and almost lose, of my parental family due to it all. In some ways, it improved me and in other ways damaged me emotionally and would take a bit to overcome once I was home again. It taught me ways to handle my mother and my older brother, and in the end my step-father too.
I made mistakes in my teen years in relationship areas and some I regret and some I don’t, as I am sure may do, when young and going through puberty and becoming an adult. It took me a while to learn, not to allow the girls to choose me, and to learn to pick the ones to pursue. And even then, I made mistakes that carried me through my High School years, and made problems for me. yet, looking back at it, I can honestly say, it wasn’t the girls or the relationships I had, it was how I did not know how to navigate each one. So my, teen years were one lonely, two at time rowdy and three, in the end over before I knew it. High School for me, was not good for I dropped out in my Junior Year, and went to work in a factory, because my parents made me pay rent and to survive at home. yet, I did it, and survived, for I had no choice. By the time I left High School it was 1973, and my next adventure was ahead of me, that I never thought of until necessary, welcome to the military was my answer at the time, as the economy tanked, factories closed, and there was no where left to turn, and I, ended up unemployed and in The YMCA, living there. After a short stint in The U.S. Army that didn’t work out due to my step=father getting ill and my inability to mature fast enough. Six months is still six months and the Discharge was Honorable thank God. Between 193 and 1978 I served in The Connecticut National Guard as a Machine Gunner Scout. Struggling to find work as I did so and to survive.
By December, I was alone, scarred, tired, hungry and in the YMCA again. My Unemployment was dying out and my financial situation was rough, as I would make menus for restaurants to post meals, clean dishes, peel potatoes for them and clean their diners to get food to eat. Luckily, the owners I met were kind to me and generous. But, I knew I was in trouble, so I moved on once again, and this time I choose, a little older and wiser to join the U.S. Navy. It was the end of December 1978, when I did so. This time, I knew there was no excuse if I failed and I had to succeed and serve my contract out fully. I did, and overall my Naval time would cover twelve years and added to my Army and National Guard time it would add up to 16 years service for me.
Seeing the world in the Navy was an experience and worth it to me. I gained maturity overtime, I gained some rank, and I gained an education as a sailor and a Boiler Technician. I passed A Scholl for it and then later, two C Schools also. I climbed from a watch position of Messenger to finally Boiler Technician of the Watch. I had few people in The Navy I admired, on each ship I served, and followed and earned from. yet, I was always independent and stubborn also, but got the job done. By, the time I left the Navy in 1989, I had six herniated discs in my spine, and they discharged me, under a Honorable,/ under Medical. My Naval career was over. Along with my Naval Career went my marriage, I had from 1979, and my family and home. I ended up divorced and alone and trying to recover once more, when I returned to my home, and started over.
From the day I returned home in April of 1990 to the summer of 1992, I floundered, struggled and held on. It would take some help from Uncle Sam, the Veteran’s Administration and in the end my second wife to help me recover again. I was lost, scared and alone, when I took a chance and went to a Single’s Dance, lol. There I would meet my second wife. and begin a new as she encouraged me, helped me, showed me the way, and guided me. Through her, I got my benefits from the Veteran’s, I got stability, I went back to College, and got an Associates Degree. I found a way to work once more, I learned to write. and so much more. I helped her pay her bills and we moved in together into her home and grew as a couple. I have no idea why she loved me, or how it worked out so well but it did, and I had her by my side and as my wife in the end for 28 years, till she passed from Breast Cancer on 2021. God Bless her soul I say and I know just how special she really was.
Now adays I am alone again, but I have my condo, a decent car, a way to stay alive and take care of myself, with the Veteran’s Administration. And life has gone on even though I miss my wife, I am learning, when you lose someone, you loved so well, you gained so much from, you must go on. Because once they pass, you are still here, alone and you must find ways to survive and make do, and be as happy as you can doing so, and keep your hopes alive. That is where I am today folks and It just seems to me, no matter what happens, I shall somehow survive, because I have learned to adapt, adjust, be the best me I can be, ignore those who are doubters and angry, and harm no one, but, go on it life. It’s not easy, being a widower or a widow, but, you do learn to once again, live alone, you do learn you don’t have to take any bullshit from anyone. You learn to live, laugh and try to enjoy life the best you can, once more and hold hope that life still has something or someone in store for you in your future, even if you can not find them or it fast, enjoy what you have, make the best and carry on as well as you can.
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