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Different Direction

Last night I had several interesting conversations down in Surfside.  I ran by Castaway’s for a few tasty adult beverages and met a man on terminal leave from the Air Force.  I found it odd as he was wearing a Marines cap.  As he continued on, he said he was wearing the hat in honor of his son who is a Marine in Afghanistan.  He said, “my son got blown up by an IED and took two years to recover then wanted to go back…he has been there for two months now…”  He continued about looking to settle in at a new place in Surfside and get a civilian job.  He said he just really likes the low-key environment of Surfside.  As I was walking down the beach back toward the house, I stopped at another place to have another coolie. 

The bartender looked at my shirt and said, “I would like to buy you a beer.”  I had on one of my Special Operations Warrior Foundation shirts.  She wanted to buy me a beer for supporting the military.  I said thank you and drank it.  As we talked, I found out she is retired military and was a C-130 flight mechanic in Florida.  She and he husband were on the way to look at a retirement home to purchase on a lake when they decided to make a swing through Surfside.  They never made it to look at the house and have now settled here.  She gave the same reason as the man at Castaways.

I found it both odd and interesting to meet two members of our military, one retiring and one retired, that ended up in the same place when they were originally heading in a different direction.  I am not a big beach person as far as lying out in the sand or playing in the surf, but I do like to come down here for the experiences as the ones mentioned above. 

The two conversations last night just reminded me about directions in life and how they can change at any given time.  Direction change can be devastating or exciting depending on how you choose to look at it.  I’ve known people that were fired from their job only to end up with a better one making more money.  I’ve been in relationships that ended and thought at the time that I may never recover from the hurt only to find those were some of the best lessons of my life.  I took a different direction.

How do you see it when life presents you with a different direction: scared or excited?  It is your choice ya know.