The Best Perspective Exposes Ultimate Moments of Love and Life

Dancing Elephants prompt 12 of 52

Dear Reader,

I would love to thank Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, for the writing prompt used to create this article. She is a gifted writer and editor and always provides prompts that resonate with me and others. This is evident when someone looks at the articles on file with the Dancing Elephants Press.

The prompt for this article was provided at https://readmedium.com/what-is-one-moment-in-your-life-that-you-treasure-382f1f3ebca1, and it is “What is One Moment in Your Life That You Treasure?” She stated that writers could use more than one, and she requested that we add a couple of lines about how recalling these incidents makes us feel.

Introduction

I have a list of these moments, but I could easily build that list. Some of the moments I can think of at the present time include:

This one is not a single moment, but many — growing up in a Christian household with loving parents and siblings.

Graduation from High School.

Joining the United States Air Force.

I married my dear wife — 43-plus years ago.

Being in the delivery room when my wife had our baby.

Again, not a single moment but many — Raising our children into responsible adults.

Having grandchildren in my life — this has happened multiple times.

Getting promoted by the Air Force each time I did. I went from E-1 airman basic to E-9 Chief Master Sergeant (just 2 percent of the entire enlisted force gets promoted that far upline).

Getting my associate degree in Logistics.

Getting my bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Getting my master’s degree in human relations.

Went to various Christian, rock, country western, and jazz concerts and sessions. I love music, so I keep each of these memories.

The Air Force provided various assignments, and I am thankful for the friends my family and I made.

I watched my son graduate from high school and basic training in the Air Force.

I watched my son receive his bachelor’s degree in computer science years later.

Watching my daughters graduate from high school.

Watching my children get married.

These are not in any special order of importance but things that are memorable to me in my life. I refuse to put them in any order because I don’t want to step on the feelings of anyone.

Reasons These Memories Are Important to Me

I will now explain why these things are important to me. Growing up in a Christian household with loving parents and siblings was a blessing to me. I learned many things that I have used in my adult life.

One of the most important was love for people. It helped me meet my life mate, persevere through many challenging events, and succeed. It made me who I am today.

When I went to High School I did it because it was required of me. I could have had a better time. I could not wait for graduation and was never so happy when I heard my name called to go across the stage to receive my diploma.

Three weeks later, I found myself in basic training for the Air Force. This was the single time I was away from my family unit, and it was very difficult to know that things would never be the same again. Still, I made it through the rigor and requirements for graduation and was happy to have the ability to follow my dream.

About two years after that, I met and married my sweetheart, and we have been together now for 43 years. Things have not always been smooth sailing, but I am happy that we could stay together, and I could not imagine my life without her in it. The day of our marriage was one of the very best moments of my life.

I treasure this event and often have wondered if I would have had the drive to achieve what I did without her in my life. I really don’t think so.

After our marriage, we took a tour to Guam. While in Guam, our youngest daughter was born. I was in the delivery room when that happened and will remember it in a loving way for the rest of my life.

We raised two girls and one boy, who are all married and living with their families now and doing very well. Playing with the kids as they grew up, teaching them responsibility, and being their dad was fun. This is something that I would never trade for anything.

Watching them grow up and graduate from high school was neat. We went through some hard times along the way, but for the most part, it was a life-enriching experience. When they got married and had their own children, it was great to visit them and spoil, spoil, spoil.

After high school, my son joined the Air Force and took the same job that I had. My mother, father, wife, and I saw him graduate from basic training. It was fun; seeing him make it through was awesome.

When I got my college degrees, I did them years apart so that I could afford them and do them while working full-time. It meant a tremendous amount of extra work after coming home from my job, but I was happy I could accomplish the required actions. I remember very well each of the graduations with family and friends gathered around.

I can remember each concert that I attended through the years. They were full of great music, and the bands never sounded as good as they did live. The concert that sticks out in my mind was the Rolling Stones at Cleveland in 1978. What a party we had and what a great time.

Imagine 60,000 people spending the night outside the stadium, no one getting hurt, no one getting busted for illegal substances, and no one committing a crime that caused them to get hauled away by the cops. Then, the next morning, 83,000 people entered the stadium, and everyone had an awesome time.

Near the end of my career, I was fortunate to get promoted to Chief Master Sergeant. Of all my promotions, this one was the most special for me. It meant getting promoted to the top of the enlisted grades and being able to help people who were junior to me.

I loved being a Chief because I knew that when I spoke, others would listen, whether officer or enlisted. I also helped people from other countries become citizens of the United States. I encouraged officers to promote their people through various career programs. I also got enlisted people and officers to understand the Air Force and their careers better.

I could go on and on with the memories I have had in my life. I have chosen not to bore you with a very long article. I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. I am certain that if you’d like to submit an article to Dancing Elephants Press, they would be willing to encourage you to do so.

I would love to give a Big Shout Out to Anurag Paul for his article https://readmedium.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-power-of-music-7dc958a41643. This article is about the wonderful things that music can do for us. Anyone that loves music as much as he and I do will benefit from reading his article. Good job on this Anurag!

I would love to give a Big Shout Out to Jennifer Dunne for her article https://readmedium.com/silence-is-golden-as-are-cat-purrs-4ec8391361ca. She explains how migraine headaches affect her and how her cats help her when she is feeling down. This is a very well-written article; anyone with migraines or who knows someone who does should read and consider this article. Great job Jennifer!

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