"What made it good?" I asked.
"I had never traveled more than 60 miles from home [in West Virgina]. When I got drafted they sent me to Texas, then Louisiana, then they said 'you're shipping out' and I asked 'where to?' and no one ever told me. I went to Japan and farther; ended up in Korea...I worked on tanks and built bridges. When I came home they asked me to work and train people in the army. But I told them 'no, I wanted to get married'.
"I went home. I asked if she wanted to marry me, but her parents said she was too young. So I told her the only way to get married was if we got pregnant...we got married in her house and her parents consented and the preacher charged us $4."
He continued to go on telling me about how him and his brothers would race wagons down the hills in West Virginia dodging stumps and diving off the wagons if they were headed for a cliff. I couldn't help but ask him "how did you not break anything or end up dead?!" He just laughed at me.
Towards the end of the visit I told him that I loved listening to his stories. He said for me to come back any time and he'd try to think up more to tell me.
During the life reviews that I do with patients, it's very uncommon for me to hear anyone complain about living a hard life. Mostly everyone has something good that has happened to them; the sun always comes out tomorrow.
If it wasn't for the Army, he never would have traveled outside of a 60 mile radius of his childhood home regardless of the fact that he probably saw countless friends die. There's always a silver-lining to that gray cloud.
Don't let the shadow get in the way of seeing the sun.
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