25 June, 2023

Surprises Along Life's Way...

We're most comfortable with what we've come to expect. A little surprise along the way adds excitement to our every day lives but it seldom causes us to stop and reexamine the direction of our path. I had to do just that the other day when I ran across something totally UN-expected! Life is an adventure; embracing and accepting something we never expected only adds to the richness of the journey. My Mom and I were talking about someone that we knew from my hometown fifty years ago. At this time, while home from college for the summer, I had taken a weekend job at the Police Station as an emergency dispatch operator. (I'll bet this former job of mine is unexpected to those reading this right now!😉) Anyway, we remembered a wonderful police officer who would run by the local ice cream stand on slow days, while he was on patrol, and bring me chocolate chip cones purely out of the kindness of his heart. We wondered whatever had happened to him. I did a little Internet research and learned that he had a exceptionally varied career path throughout his lifetime! Expect the unexpected: apart from serving as a police officer he'd been a quality engineer for Lockheed Aircraft, a Civil Defense Director, a pipe fitter on the Alaska Pipeline, an elected Town Selectman and a published author of five books! Sadly, I also learned that he had passed away three years ago. I ordered one of his books, I felt that was a tiny bit of repayment for those long ago ice cream cones that he had generously treated me to. Oh, you might wonder what the title of his book is that I'm currently reading: The Unexpected Patriot! Don't you just love it when something you never saw coming catches you up short and brings a happy smile?
Yep, life's and adventure; expect the unexpected
and remember... 
Life is Good!

2 comments:

cityquilter grace said...

Unexpected job indeed...I once worked in a munitions plant making land mines for use in Vietnam... Glad unexpected was good and not the other!

Kyle said...

Sweet story.