Too Much History . . .

I’m a kid. I’m sitting in front of the TV set. Outside, it’s snowing. I’m watching John Glenn rocket into space. The next time I visited the barber, I wanted my hair cut like John Glenn.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The ‘Nam war.

I’m thirteen. Neil and Buzz are taking their stroll on the Moon. I had to go out on some errands. I remember looking up at the Moon and wondering if they were looking back.

Voyagers one and two fly by Jupiter and Saturn. And while Voyager one plows on into interstellar space, Voyager two visits Uranus and Neptune. With the prime mission over, the camera looks home one last time to give us a family portrait of our Solar System.

Watching in horror as Space Shuttle Challenger and its crew die.

I’m in basic training. We just heard we bombed Libya. We’re all standing around wondering what that meant.

Halley’s Comet returns. I missed seeing it.

I’m in Germany. It’s a day off, and I got up oblivious to what’s going on around me. I thought it was a holiday and everyone was celebrating. I ran into someone I knew and asked them what was going on. I found out the wall between East and West Berlin had come down. Germany is one nation again.

A few months later, I’m up early. I’m the patrol supervisor for our MPs that day. I’m not seeing them in the bathroom getting ready. I find them parked in front of a TV watching Iraqi tanks roll into Kuwait. They asked if I thought we’d be going down there. I watched a Kuwaiti tank fleeing into Saudi Arabia and said, “Bet on it.”

A few months later, I’m in a command tent in Saudi Arabia. There’s a higher-than-average amount of jet traffic tonight. A few minutes later, an announcement came over the military channels that we had struck targets in Iraq. The air war is on. I told a private to go wake up our commander with the news.

A few weeks later, I’m rolling into Iraq with the rest of 1st Armored Division., and I’m wondering if my insurance policy is going to be up for grabs any day now.

A few days later, the General calls everyone together and says the war is over. As we’re walking back to our area, my LT, knowing my interest in history, asks what I think. My response was, “I think our children will be over here fighting this again.” I hate it when I’m right.

Years go by. I’m working in Denver. I come into the office early, like I always do. A girl who also comes in early asked if I’d heard about the airplane that crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York. My first thought was it was one of the small sightseeing aircraft around the city. No, it was a big jetliner; she said. I’m thinking of all the approaches to the different airports around the city, and a chilling realization came over me, and I said, “This was no accident. This is a terrorist strike. There will be more.” Like I said, I hate it when I’m right.

Sitting dumbfounded, I learned that Columbia and her crew had died.

My prophecy concerning Iraq comes true with my boy jumping into northern Iraq.

New Horizons flies by Pluto and wow’s everyone.

That’s a problem with getting older. You’ve lived through a lot!