Every morning we open our eyes and start making small and large decisions. When Kenny and I were in high school, he made a little, spur-of-the-moment decision that ended up setting the course for the rest of our lives. On a sticky, July, Friday night, I was a bored 14-year-old walking around the Davis Days summer festival with my current boyfriend, Ronnie. I loved the carnival rides but they made Ronnie sick. A bold, 16-year-old Kenny stepped up to me and asked, “Would you care to go on the Ferris wheel?” I jumped at the chance. Back on the ground, I returned to Ronnie, who was standing where I left him. Kenny went his own way. The next night the village festivities continued and so did the romance kindled between Kenny and me.
Two years later, I promised to wait for Ken when he made the big decision to enlist in the Navy. It was the Eisenhower Era of peace and prosperity, but the Cold War, a state of political and military tension between the United States and Russia, continued and so did the draft. The men in uniform were trained and ready to do whatever might become necessary. He spent his first year learning to be a sailor and to handle the ammunition and the bombs carried by planes. The following three years, he was an ordnance man aboard the U.S.S. Bennington, an aircraft carrier. The small-town boy visited both coasts of the States and travelled halfway around the world to Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.
When Ken returned home, we were married. We raised Linda, Lisa and Kurt, welcomed daughter-in-law Sandy and became the proud grandparents of Katelyn and Jacob. Ten years ago, we buried Linda who died of breast cancer. Last April, we celebrated sixty years of marriage. We enjoy growing old together.
Have you made a small decision that ended up changing your life?