I revel in the knowledge of knowing that this retirement is great and, so far I have led a wonderful and full life.  There is nothing to be ashamed of or, to put it another way, hang my head in shame and ask for forgiveness.  All of this was bought into the forefront when a person I have not seen nor heard from in the past thirty five years contacted me and we met Saturday.

We renewed our friendship and I met his wife.  Ricky worked for me in the Air Force, both in Germany and in North Dakota, and although I outranked him and he worked for me, we partied hard together.  I was surprised to learn he was a pastor now and is walking the straight and narrow but stranger things have happened.  Just to think I don’t drink anywhere close to what I used to drink, or cuss as much (it is almost non-existent now), or even go out like I used to.  Chalk it up to growing softly older or maturing enough to finally know that that was not the way to go or somehow live to a sweet old age.

I looked at Ricky and remembered the many good times we had together and, like I told his wife, I was the First Sergeant while in North Dakota and he spent more time at my house than I did (I was joking, of course, but he did spend a lot of time at my house).  Ricky was crazy enough to have been part of my K-9 outfit in Germany but he was security.  I was sent from K-9 to take over a portion of the security force and that is how we met and started partying together (in fact, I partied with most of my men).  The rest is HISTORY, a little alcohol clouded but a blast anyway.

We sat and talked, ate supper and talked, sat and talked again.  We reminisced a lot and still did not hit but the tip of the iceberg.  I will go to Charlottesville and have lunch with him very soon (just a short drive).  This just goes to show us that true friendship last forever.  Ricky Clatterbuck and I have proven that point.

Take care and, with school being out soon, be very, very careful.  FISHING this week (rain, rain go away) and I will write about it.