A Life's Journey: Choice and Circumstance

The writings in my life's journey are an examination of events with some of the people, places, and experiences I remembered, fitting them together and appreciating how they influenced who I was. So much time, choices - good and bad, mistakes, failures, and achievements.

I had difficulty concentrating and retaining data in school, until I started taking private music lessons my first year in high school. I was learning to study and memorize music, which started to carry over into my high school classes. My life through graduation was disjointed, but I was making progress and retaining minimal data to enter engineering studies. I struggled through college and upon graduation with my BSEE, was on to a 50-year professional career. My career gave me freedom of choice in engineering and marketing, both domestic and international.

As you follow my path, I essentially learned to make choices based on data and conditions, void of impulse. Many times, I had no choice, confronted with unanticipated events. But even then, I would stop, analyze, and attempt some acceptable outcome. My decision to study engineering and complete my degree lacked any preparation or plan. I was strapped with financial burdens and changing work conditions which I did not manage well. On top of this ... I need to live and grow personally with a philosophy for life, continued music studies, art and culture, and social development ... plus there was the added pressures of the selective service to be considered.

The Guide: If you have the opportunity, before you start a life's goal, make a plan with reasonable milestones, allowing for unforeseen events. If it takes years, allow for your being a human being and if you require a companion, find one who will share your life in a loose relationship with love and respect, where you both understand it is not forever. No controls ... conflicts are not what you require in life. Looking back, the army was my rescue which I didn't see at the time. It gave me the time and opportunity to reorganize my life and plan for my return to the university. If you are lucky and have a memory where you remember almost everything ... enjoy it! Best of success with your journey!