December 7th 1941 Dad's story

I asked Dad what he was doing on this day December 7, 1941 and he said he was laying in bed it was early Sunday morning and had been working in Philadelphia in a funeral home working towards his degree as a Funeral Director. He had turned the radio on and heard the news- shortly after that terrible day he was drafted within that next year. He did his basic training outside of Philadelphia for six weeks then he was stationed on the docks in Baltimore. Finally, he did get his orders to go to the Philippine Islands where he was setting up telephone wires he worked in the area where people answered the Telephone he was a switchboard operator. Because his eyesight was poor, he was classified as a noncombat Army soldier. He also told a story about the time in Baltimore when he was to be guarding a warehouse unfortunately for him he fell asleep on his watch. For this watch he was given a rifle although he was never trained to shoot a gun. As the night went on, he fell asleep and as a matter of course while his Sergeant was making his rounds he happened upon my Dad and seeing he was asleep he took, his gun. The Sergeant then roused Dad -who was petrified. He should have been in big trouble first for sleeping on duty and then for losing his fire arm but it turned out that the Sergeant was teaching Dad a lesson did not press any charges and they remained friends going on to serve together on the Philippine Islands.

RELAXATION

I have recently realized, after about 27 years, that I can no longer become completely relaxed. Following my accident and due to my dependence on medication that restricts my ability to enjoy a cocktail or exercise to the point of releasing endorphins. I am always on edge on a scale of 1-10 ten being the worst pain you have ever felt, I am living between a 5 on a good day and 7 ½ to 10 varying on my pain threshold on any given day. I am like a car idling at a stop sign I never ever completely relax ever, it is very difficult. I don't know why I didn't think about this before but imagine never being able to relax what would this do to a person's body. Experts say the having a chronic illness will take ten years off your life span. I just want to unwind – rest - be calm - become slack - just melt into a chair, close my eyes and just let go but I can’t because I have CHRONIC PAIN.