It’s Saturday, September 5th.
What a beautiful morning! It’s finally a break from the heat—or at least sort of. It was a nice, blue sky outside, so I used Adobe Capture to captures some leaves from the maple and sweetgum trees near my home. Sascha, my German Shepherd, really liked going out with it being a little cooler today. We’re expected to have thunderstorms later, which is awesome; we could really use a change in the weather.
I’m starting to move closer to setting up my little art world to do collage and printing in the corner. My creativity is starting to come back a little bit, and that makes me feel better.
Additionally, I’ve been misplacing things a lot. I don’t think I have any memory distress going on, but at my age—being in my mid-60s—I do stutter a bit and pause often when I talk. It’s like going in reverse; before age five, I had a stutter. My older siblings sometimes teased me for it, but that’s okay. I’ve always had a vivid imagination, and I had trouble expressing how I felt, so I would use art to help communicate. I remember the first time I saw Play-Doh and all the bright colors; I had a Play-Doh machine. Yes, it tastes like salt! Of course, when you’re three or four years old, you’re going to eat that stuff and hope you spit it back out. I’ve always been visual.
Today is a lot better for my mental health compared to the past week. I had to cancel my dental appointment yesterday; I just needed to break away from anything with a medical connection. The whole week I’d been at cardiac rehab or physical therapy. Yesterday morning, I thought, ‘I am not going to drive 100 miles to have them look at my teeth and drive all the way back in holiday traffic.’ So, I just needed the day. I took my wife to breakfast and I over ate slightly, but that’s okay. I’ll make up for it because, according to my home scale, I’ve lost another pound, which I think is incredible for me.
I guess this is just a general ‘what’s up’ blog. Everything seems to be going well in my life so long as I let things happen the way they’re supposed to and don’t get in the way of myself. Today, I’m going to try to be creative; you might see something new from me, like a collage. We’ll go from there.
Oh!
There is one thing I would like to touch on. I don’t watch the news much because it doesn’t benefit me; it just makes me worry about things that haven’t happened yet or makes me feel sad. It doesn’t do me any good. However, it did come across my feed, and my wife—who likes to keep up with the news—and I discussed the USS Abraham Lincoln being at sea for nine months without a port call for the crew to take a break.
We were discussing this over breakfast, and I started having strong feelings because, in the 1980s, I served on the USS Nimitz. It was the lead ship of that class, just like the Abraham Lincoln, so I know what it’s like to be at sea for a long period without a port call. I got mad, and then I felt sad inside. One time, we were at sea for three months straight without a port call, and we thought that was nuts! We were all grumpy and just wanted to put our feet on land. Finally, the captain—who was really, really good—helped us out. We had flight deck field days where we could do sports, trap shooting off the fantail, and they brought out charcoal grills so officers could make hot dogs for us. The captain, God rest his soul, did a good job helping with morale, and I’ll never forget that. It was truly an honor to serve on the first Nimitz-class carrier ever, and she’s retiring now. By the way, that captain was Jack Batzler, he flew F4 Phantoms over Vietnam, he was awesome..
Anyway-
I found myself getting really angry because I know what it’s like on those ships. Lincoln is modeled after the ship I was on—everything is in the same place. The magazines are in the same place, the mess desk is in the same place and…well, everything is in the same place even if it has a different use. Back then, laundry would slow down, the mail would stop… Nowadays, the crew complains because the Wi-Fi comes and goes. We didn’t have Wi-Fi; all we had was the US mail. No internet. You were either very close or very grumpy with other people. I know what it’s like to see nothing but water for a long period of time. That’s what I signed up for, and I’ll never forget the experience.
I feel angry and sad for the crew and the officers because they are following orders but don’t like it. Any good captain of an aircraft carrier knows in their heart how the crew feels; it becomes less military and more personal after a long period of time. I’m angry at the leadership that allowed this to happen. It shouldn’t have happened. Columbus made it to the world faster than nine months, about 33 days I think! My heart goes out to the crew. No aircraft carrier should have to go more than two or three months without a port call, and definitely shouldn’t go more than six months without being relieved, because 5,000 people start getting grumpy. Thanks for letting me vent.
Have a look at their FB page, they held on to morale well!
https://www.facebook.com/USSLincoln
Support group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/450044034012873
So, y’all have an awesome and blessed day. Try to love one another—and if you can’t do that, I don’t know what to tell you; I’m not a psychologist. Keep moving forward as best as you can. Have a beautiful day and a beautiful weekend. I love you guys.
Peace, love, bye.
Mark