Thirty three years ago… a third of a century, I got off a tan school bus onto a field at Fort Hood and was nearly bowled over by my mom running through the crowd and tackling/hugging me. My uncle drove up in a car with one of those old rotary phones physically attached to his car so my dad could call, and I posed for pictures with loved ones holding a can of Sprite under a big “Welcome Home Steve” banner. I had dog tags woven in my boot laces, and candy in my pouches where kids stuffed it as we passed through airports on the way to Texas.
And it feels necessary every year to pause a moment and – combined with some glancing back through old pictures and occasionally notes and letters – reflect on all the people who were in my life then, and have joined it since. I retired from the military five years ago now, and while I miss the Army, whenever I go down the list of people on the address line of this email, I am perpetually met with the sting of all those I have not kept up with nearly as much as I would like or you deserve. You’re good people.
It took me a while to realize that trips and events and vacations and whatever other adventures I got myself into were very very pale and shallow if I didn’t have at least one of you along with me to share it with. By myself, it is a sort of boring story, but with one of you, it is a real memory. And I treasure all the memories I’ve created with you in the past, and any memories I am fortunate to make with you in the future.
I have been so so lucky, in so many ways, and so, as is my tradition, I thank you, deeply and sincerely, for being in my life. Feel free to reply back with any thoughts or memories you have, and I will do my best to keep treasuring all that I have.
All the Thank Yous
All the Feels
All the Memories
-Steve
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