Brats

Lately I have been a bit nostalgic, thinking about some of the places I have lived, people I have known and things that I have done. This especially seems to be focused around the military life that I was raised in. You see, I was born on an Air Force base in Maine and lived on several over the next decade and more. During my teen years all I wanted to do was join the Air Force and be like my Dad, but it seems that God had other plans. I had three candidacies to the Air Force Academy, ended up joining air Force ROTC in college, was part of the Air Force Association and the Arnold Air Society.

When I was finally told that, because of an asthma attack when I was thirteen, I was not going to be allowed to finish my course of study and be commissioned I was devastated. The Marines told me that they would take me, but I was not interested. Nothing against the Marine Corps, but I wanted Air Force. Over the next 15 years I spent much of my time as a civilian contractor for the Air Force, and so was able to work on the F16, F15 and F117 weapon systems.

A little while ago I began looking at those places I used to live. What I found was disheartening. It turns out that of all the places we were assigned, only one is still an active Base. It got worse; some of the places I lived no longer even existed. Loring AFB in Limestone, Maine has been turned over to civilian use and the base housing has been razed. I found a picture online that shows where I lived and the only things left are the street and the sidewalks.

It has been said that you 'can never go back'. This is so true. Perhaps civilians don't truly realize how true. Most can go back and see their old neighborhoods, changed perhaps, but still there. Imagine going back to a place you lived and it literally doesn't exist anymore. The good thing is that God still walks with us through those places. Our past is wiped away, but we still have the present and the future. We don't know how much time we might have, but God is there with us no matter how long it is. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. As I look back and mourn over the past, I can look forward and know that at least one piece of the past still exists...my relationship with Him.

Praise the Lord.

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