Well, here we go again.
The story continues......................................... ..
When the Organization Effectiveness School ended, I didn't have to go far, they
assigned me to the New OE office at Fort Ord. It was an old building, but just the right size for us.
Our Crew.....
The Commander was a salt of the earth Major. Good career guy, rock steady and never got flustered. He and his wife had been married for years. They had no children, but not for the lack of trying. A very good friend.
Next was a Captain. Young, athletic, active, and drop dead handsome. He loved the ladies and they loved him. He was never in a long term relationship.
Can you say party? On the job, a natural leader and very quick of mind. A champ of a guy at work and also a good friend.
Then there was Lea, a black E-7 female. She and I were partners. We did most things together. Her ex husband still lived with her. She was in her mid thirties and was a mature, but nice looking woman. She knew her job inside and out. We made bit of money on the side, but that will come later. I thought that we would be friends forever, but it didn't work out that way down the road, But that's another story.
We had a PFC that came in once a week to clean up our messes. We did make messes when we got rolling on a job.
To be continued .........Our first job.
The Story Continues………………………………..Our First Job
We got a call from the General’s office. He wanted the OE office to be at the Monday morning Staff Meeting. We looked at each other and smiled……we were going to work!
There was a problem though, he did not want Lea there, In fact, he never wanted Lea there. We never did figure that one out.
If you don’t know what a staff meeting is, it is when all the Commanders on the post would tell the General how things were going in their units. Usually a big dog and pony show.
When we arrived, there was the usual coffee, tea and donuts. Which were being consumed at a record pace. We checked out the seating. There were three long tables set up in a row. The General…a two star…would be at the head of the tables. At the other end was the Command Sergeant Major. He and I were the only enlisted people in the room.
I had a seat about 12 feet behind the General. I had a little table in front of me.
The Major and the Captain from our office had a small table to the right of the Command Sergeant Major. After a few donuts the General sat down…..there was bit of a scramble and every one else sat down.
In turn each Commander stood up and did his report, usually accompanied by charts and graphs It was boring as hell. When the last Commander was finished, the General stood up and thanked everyone. Meeting over.
The General turned and walked toward me. I stood up and got to the side of my table.
He walked over and stood by me. We stood there for moment and he elbowed me
in the ribs! He said “Sergeant, do you know what the hell they just said?”.
I said “Yes Sir, everything is ok”. “Well that’s good!”.
Then he asked me how were things among the enlisted folks. I said no problems that I know of. He smiled and said “I want you to get the feel on the Fort as far as the enlisted go“.
“Yes, Sir I will be happy to”. Then he said “Call my office if there is something I should know about, your office will be working all over the Fort and you will know what’s happening”. “Yes Sir”.
He then walked over to our 2 OE Officers and said the same thing to them. We were impressed, that he knew what we did and why. There was a reason he was a two star..
Over the years ahead the General and his wife would become very good friends of mine and Lea.
Two be Continued……………………………………………The Cohorts.
The Story Continues………………………………………….The Cohorts
Every once in a while some idiot General at the Pentagon as a terrible idea. This one must have been interested in Roman History. When the Romans concurred a new country, they would create Cohorts. The Cohorts were made up of local men from the country that had just been taken over. The Romans believed they would fight better if they were in a group of men that they knew each other and were raised together.
With that idea in mind the Army created Cohorts. 10 of these units were at Fort Ord.
All of the men (no women) were recruited in the sane geographical area. All went through basic training and Infantry school together. Then as units they were assigned to Fort Ord. That is when we met them.
To understand our job in OE a bit better, here is how it worked. The Commander of the Unit was the only person that could ask for our help. In other words the Commander of a Division could not order one of his Company Commanders to call OE for help
They had to do it themselves. To make a long story short, every Commander of a Cohort unit called us. Once we did one, we knew before we went to another one what it was going to be like.
They all had the same problems and it was impossible to help them, because of their structure.
A typical Cohort had a Captain as a commander, Two Lieutenants as Platoon Leaders.
Two E-7s as Platoon Sergeants. 8 Buck Sergeants (E-5s) as Squad Leaders and 8 Corporals (E-4s) as assistant Squad Leaders. The two platoon Sergeants were imported from other units. All the rest of the enlisted in the Company were promoted from within.
There in was the problem. All the positions were taken. No one could be promoted.
Only if someone was killed or wounded could anyone be promoted. How would you like to be working somewhere that you could never be promoted?
I don’t know how many letters our office sent to the Pentagon asking for something to be done. No answers.
Here is the real kicker too. The Officers would be rotated to other units and could be promoted. They had freedom. Before I left Fort Ord all Cohorts were sent overseas.
I have no idea what happened to them. Very frustrating.
To Be Continued………………………….........………………..OMM looks for love.
The Story Continues……………………………………………….OMM looks for Love
Well, the sweet little Lawyer to be girl finished her Military time and took off for college.
She left a big hole in my life and my son Tao’s too. She was like a part of the family.
I didn’t realize that I wasn’t doing anything much, until one Friday night. As Tao was going out the door he stopped at the door and asked me if I wanted him to stay home with me. In his words, he said “Dad all you do is sit around at night. You want me to stay and keep you company?’. Huh? He was right, I just stayed at home. I told him no and he took off.
I grabbed the newspaper and started looking for singles meetings. Monterey is a pretty nice place and there were some single places. The first place I tried was at the courtyard at a nice restaurant. They met on Saturday afternoon. I worn one of my Italian suits, I’m glad I did. I didn’t stay long. It was a bunch of yuppies all trying to out do each other.
Screw. that!
Next was a nondenominational Church that met on Saturday night. The first night I went, I was in the kitchen getting myself a drink of lemon aid and there was this 6 foot 3 woman telling me how horny she was. She intimidated. the hell out of me.
When I was 12 years old I was five eleven, I just knew that I was going to have basketball Jones life. I never grew another inch! Anyway, she walked over and poked me in the chest and said “ You blew it Buddy, this was your chance!” Gulp!
I liked the place, so I continued to go there, before long I started facilitating singles groups and that was fun. That’s where I met “The Pink Lady”. She was a redhead and Jewish. She loved to be called a JAP. A Jewish American Princess. Which she was..
We started dating. We both loved Art and we went to many exhibitions and shows together. I liked this woman. After about a month and a half she asked if I want to go with her to meet her sister who lived in Berkley. I said yes, it had been years since I had been to Bezerkly.
When we got to her sisters place, she gave us our own bedroom. We had not had sex yet, but we did that night and it was ….. sweet. Nothing spectacular…just sweet.
From that point on I spent most of my nights at her house. This woman was feminine through and through. Her whole house was feminine. Her bed was the kind that you practically had to have a ladder to get in to it. Posh comforters and big pillows, the whole bit.
One night after we had made love. I was doing my stud thing with my hands behind my head and she was snuggled up to me. She started telling me about when she had lived in France and that an older French man had taught her everything she knew about sex.
I lay there and thought to myself “Holy shit! She has forgotten everything he had taught her!”, I was nice and didn’t say a word,
As time went by, I realized that I did really want to be with her much longer. She was wonderful as a person, but I wanted a bit more of the kind of women I liked. One with more spirit. I would miss her 9 year old daughter, she had spirit.
We sat down one day and I told her the way I felt and she said she thought as much as I did. We really didn’t fit. For a long time I would visit her and see how she was doing. We really were fiends.
To be Continued………………………………………Col. Ord’s Division
This isn't a story....But.....Kind of a wish of mine.
Part of my OE training was relaxation techniques and visualizations. I still use the relaxations techniques to this day.
Last night they weren't working for me, so I had time to think.
There is nothing more that I would like to do than get everyone on the floor and relaxed. Maybe soft blankets to lay on.
I would just love to get you all in a big circle, actually it would have be many rows.......so we could all close our eyes and I would tell you a visual story.
Of course we would get really stoned and I would start.
Unfortunately having you read a visualization it would lose it's impact. Imagination plays a big part with your eyes closed.
If you would like a can write one and you would have to do the rest. Let me know and we will give it a try.
The Story Continues……………………………………….Col. Ord’s Division
When we received a call from Col. Ord we were surprised. His Grandfather and his Father were both fine Generals. The fort was named after his Grandfather.
When we got to his office, he walked around his desk and over to us and shook our hands. We all noticed this and were impressed…..he wanted no barriers between us….open and honest. Then he asked why we wanted him to sign a document we had sent to him, that in effect, said no one would be fired because of our findings. Then he handed it to us with a smile and it was sighed. We looked at each other and smiled, we liked this man.
We all sat down and talked for a bit. He wanted to know how his Division was doing and if there were any problems he wanted them fixed. He wanted them battle ready.
It took almost a month. We interviewed every last soul in his Division. Group interviews with his officers, We used the base theater for the troops. We saw them all. We got our feet wet for sure. It was our first big job and we took it step by step.
When we finished we asked him to come to our office for the results. He was there the next morning.
The brief went like this.
Sir…..the only and we mean the only complaint that was common to you're whole Division was that the salt shakers in all the mess halls were never full!
Sir…. your Division loves you! He actually looked relived!
Years latter I met him here in Hawaii. He was a General then and was the Commander of
Schofield Barracks, a Fort. I taught Computer Science to his NCOs on duty time. He wanted his troops educated. When I ask for an appointment with him, he walked right out and shook my hand. This man was a natural born leader.
The Story Continues…………………………………………..……..Visualizations
The Story Continues……………………………………………….………..Visualization
Each year all OE people were lucky enough to pick a Seminar or School to broaden our
Knowledge base in any field we wanted.. I went to a week long Seminar on Visualization held in Seattle. I was lucky to get in, it was sold out. This Seminar has had a positive influence on the rest of my life. I’m positive it helped me with my bouts with cancer later in life, and it played a part of me ending up in Hawaii.
To state the obvious, visualization deals with the power of our minds. It’s very much like mediation, except you create worlds of your own, unless someone is guiding you verbally.
The first day.
Our leader made sure we were all comfortable and relaxed, then we started. He told us to think of some where that we felt very safe and relaxed. Later we all discussed where each of us went. Some were in a field of flowers from their childhood. It took me a while to imagine a safe place, finally I created a bubble deep on the bottom the sea. It had a door and I could see the fish swimming by right the walls of my bubble. It was indestructible, safe. I furnished it with very comfortable furniture and soft lights.
Our leader then talked us back to the present and we had lunch. Over lunch we talked about the experience we had and the places we had created. Some were down right incredible. All were safe.
Next we were told that we could use our safe place to settle unfinished business. We could bring in anyone we wanted to and have a discussion with people we never had a chance to talk to in real life or reach closure with them. I brought my adopted parents there, they both had passed away and I wanted talk to them and say things to them I had never told them when they were alive. What was really amazing they talked back. .
Later, while at Fort Ord I brought RS to my bubble and we had a long talk. She had just disappeared and I couldn’t talk to her in person. It really helped me to come terms with our break up.
The rest of the week we talked about helping ourselves to reach goals that we wanted and how to help ourselves reach for the things we wanted in life.
Getting to Hawaii.
Everyday for years I stopped at least 3 times a day and visualized how it would be in Hawaii. One has to have a real determination to do this. I truly believe it helped to get me here.
Fighting My First Bout with Cancer.
After my 10 hour surgery, there was still much worry that I wouldn’t make it, so I took it upon myself to heal me. Wasn’t too much to do in the hospital anyway. What I did was visualize at least 5 of 6 times a day, while laying my hospital bed, that with every breath I took all these little cancer eating monsters would go through my body and eat any cancer cells they found. Chomp, Chomp! They were like little cartoon characters. It must have worked, I’m still here!
To be continued ……………………….........………………I take you on a visual trip with me.
The Story Continues……………………………….. I take you on a visual trip with me.
Pretend to close your eyes.
You have decided to drive on old historic Route 66 from Arizona to New Mexico. It’s a hot day and in the distance you can see gigantic red dust devils across the desert. You are in no hurry, so you’re just cruising. All of a sudden there is a blinding flash of light to your left.
What the hell was that? There it is again……It's a refection off of something. You think to yourself “What could that be?”. You pull over and stop. Whatever it is, it's bright. It doesn't look too far away so you start walking to see if you can find whatever it is. You think “Damn it's hot out here!”. Good thing you brought your old blue bandanna. So, you keep walking. Soon you realize it is a reflection from a door. A door out here? As you get closer you can see it is a small building. What's a building doing out here? Actually it's just big enough to hold the door. You walk around it and its 4 feet across the front and about 8 feet deep. You're nose y, so you try the door. It opens and cool air hits your face. Man, its dark in there. You take a step inside and it seems your standing on a grate of some kind. You take couple of more steps inside and the door closes. You quickly turn around and try the door. It opens. What a relief!. You step back in and let the door close again.
It's all most total dark. Then far below to the left you see a very faint light. You feel around and there are rails all around you, except on the left and you feel banisters on the wall. You realize your standing at the top of a big stairwell. There are thin metal banisters on both sides of the stairwell. Well here goes and you step down. It seems safe, so you start down the steps.
You haven't been counting the steps, but it seems like every 50 steps or so you come to grated platform. Must be a rest stop, you think. The light doesn't seem to be any closer. How deep is this thing? You start down again. After what seems like and hour, you stop and rest. After you have been standing there for a while, you reach to your left and feel the surface of the wall. It is feels almost smooth. What or who could have done this? You look down and realize the light is much closer, but you still can't make out any details.
Down you go. No use stopping now, you are getting consumed by the need to get to the bottom.
There is enough light now and you see that you are only few rest stops from the bottom.
Down you go. You are starting to see things littering floor around the light. A very old fashioned coat rack is laying on it's side. Empty old wooden crates and old fashioned glass jars. As you step on the last rest platform, your eyes lock onto what looks like an old wooded pirate's chest. ???? What the hell? As you finally step the floor, you realize the floor is uneven rock and you can tell that there is a great, black sea that seems to go miles into the shadows.
You see that the light is hanging from a cord that disappears up into the darkness. Hanging from what? Then your eyes focus on the chest. It is an old Pirate's chest!
As you get closer you see that's is rusted. Rusted? Nothing else in this place is rusted?
There is an old fashioned key lock on the chest and as you touch it, it turns to dust and falls off. You take a deep breath and start to open the lid. A faint blue light is emitting from it as it opens. The hinges give way and you can finally see the contents. You stare into it for a long time.
You stand up and breathe deeply. It's time to get out of here!
Climbing the stairs makes your legs burn like fire. Man it's long way up. It takes hours to reach the top. Your terribly tired. When you open the door to go outside, it looks like the same time of day as you went in? After a couple of steps you realize you are not tired at all. You feel great and you start the walk back to your car. After you have walked a while, you turn to look at the building. It's not there! You run back up to where the building was. It is not there! Just the desert. You walk around for a while looking, but it's gone. Then you feel like you want to leave as quickly as you can. You practically run to your car and get the hell away from there.
OK! Folks, its time to tell me what you saw when you opened the chest...
To be continued......................................... ...............................Three months of hell at Fort Devens, MA.
The Story Continues…………......………………Three months of hell at Fort Devens, MA.
I don’t even like remembering this one.
We got a call from the Pentagon for our team to go to Ft, Devens, MA. We would meet a Major from the OE cell at the Pentagon once there. We thought “What the hell?”, was this all about? We knew it must be something important or bad. It was bad.
We left Lea behind again.
I've looked up Ft. Devens on the internet and it looks nothing like what I remember.
I don't remember seeing very many troops there at all. Now it's very busy with troops.
We met the Major from the Pentagon at the airport. He was older than our Major and was one nice person. He fit like a glove with our team. We called Ft. Devens and ask for a ride. There was none available, so we took a cab, When we got to the Fort there was no guest house, but there was a Hotel from hell right out side the gate. It had a hall through the main floor and rooms on each side. The two Majors decided to share a room on the ground floor. The rest of us had private rooms up stairs.
The Major briefed us on what was happening on Ft. Devens. There were 2 Full Bird Colonels. One was Commander of the Hospital and the other was Commander of the rest of the base. The rub was the Col at the Hospital had been a Col longer, so he was Commander of the Fort... The other Col was throwing a tantrum about it. Was he ever! A total egotist.
It was late afternoon, so we called the Col at the hospital. He welcomed us and mentioned that the other Col was having a meeting at the base theater and all the civilians employs would be there.
Our team went to the base theater to listen to what he telling them. As we walked in, the Col, while pointing to us said “I see the Organizational Effectiveness team is here. I will tell you right now, they are not needed here. I do the Organization Effectiveness for this base, Do you think we need Organizational effectiveness here Civilians?” There was low mummer from the crowd.
We gave each other an “Ah Shit” look. We turned around and left. This was a mess.
We took the easy way out and met with the Hospital Commander and got him to sign off on us doing an OE evaluation of his hospital. While doing so, I met a Nurse and we both did a “Well, Hello There!” moment.. More on that lovely lady, later.
It wasn't long into our evaluation that we realized that the other Col had spies every where that were telling him everything we did. Slowly, but surely we realized the guy a psycho and we started gathering information, That would prove he was not fit for command of any thing.
We were into our third week there when two armed men forced the two Majors to open their door and robbed them at gun point. They were shaken, but unharmed. Two days later they went into their room and the two men were inside the room waiting on them. The robbed them again!
It took a week out of our schedule, so we were getting behind..
I took advantage of this delay and went over to see the nurse I had met. When I found her, there was no doubt that we wanted to see each other. All of our team had rental cars, so she showed be the best parts of Massachusetts. During our stay. It was fall and the state was beautiful. Pumpkins on door steps. I loved it. We went to the old Boston Gardens and watched the Oilers and Bruins fight it out. What a great place to see a hockey game..We went to the North End and had some of the best Pizza I have ever tasted. .Her name was Dotty and she was great.
We started to do our OE process on the base side. We did our usual interviews with his staff and every one else. Each time, the Col would come in and say “Oh! I can answer that question for them. He did this every time. He did not want his people to answer any questions. We tried over and over to do interviews, but he always there. We gave up and called the Pentagon and told them what was going on.
The next day the Pentagon called back. They were going to force the Col, to retire.
This would take time to do everything properly. The Col had the right to prove his case.
So now we had no job. We started riding around taking in the sights, we went all over New England. We weren't alone. The Captain had met a lady too. Both Majors sent for their wives. There was also Dotty and I.
I know this sounds great, but it wasn't what we wanted. We wanted to go home. I even asked Dot to come back with me, but she liked where she was at and her job was the best she had ever had.. A shame.
No matter where we were, we kept in touch with the Pentagon. A red tape mess.
After a few weeks, everything was set. There would be formal dismissal of the Col.
We were all invited as witnesses...True to form the Col made an ass out of himself.
He was booted. Forced to retire. We could go home.
Later we found out the Col went into politics and was elected as a State Senator .
God save us all!
To be continued………………………………………….I see Jo for the first time.
The Story Continues…………….…………...............…..………………The First Jo Sighting
Well, I had started going out again and at one of the church singles meeting I was told about an organization called “Parents Without Partners” or PWP in the short version..
I found a little ad in the Newspaper and decided to take a look.
This was a meeting to welcome people and to see what it was all about . This one was at yet another red headed Jewish American Princess's home. Her name was Cindy and there was nothing quite about her. She was a ball of fire and friendly as hell. Actually there was a good turn out for the meeting and it was fun and informative. To be a member you had to have 2 letters of recommendation to join. One could be friend and the other had to be from someone professional that knew you. It was a place for single parents to meet others with the same circumstances.
I met a rather stuffy Sgt from Fort Ord there and we exchanged numbers so we could maybe attend a function together. More on that later.
As the meeting finally came to a close, Cindy invited everyone to meet in a few minutes at a Country Western Bar in town to get in some line dancing and two step practice. Of course, I went. Lordy, lordy, I had a ball. I danced my butt off. These nice PWP ladies were wild, Later, I found out there was 12 women to every man in PWP. I liked those numbers. When I walked out of the Country place, there was Cindy and three other Ladies in a van waiting for me. I said no……Cindy was pretty adamant and said “We can do it right here!”. I still said no. Later I found out she was one of my son’s High School teachers! Oh! Boy!
On Monday I got all the paper work done and became a member. .
The Stuffy Sgt. called and asked if Tao and I would like to go on a PWP trip to Alcatraz Island in SF.. I said yes and we went. He brought his drop dead glorious daughter. Tao was in love the first time he saw her. They were like glued to each other the whole trip.
On the way home, Stuffy Sgt. forbid them from seeing each other, Tao was crushed.
Once a member of PWP you could go to the neighboring towns to their functions too.
The Salinas chapter was having a 60’s party and so I went. It was crazy as usual.
About an hour later in walked a couple and my eyes went right to the woman, She was dressed sixties style and was 105 pound blonde, with a body to kill for. It was Jo!
Damn, she had a boy friend.
To be continued…………………….……………………………………More PWP.
The story Continues……………………………………........................... ...................…………………….More PWP
While I was at a party at a member’s home, I was talking to some of the older ladies and in walked two new ladies. One of them was a knock out. I rudely said I will see you to the older ladies and practically ran to meet this new dazzling new lady. I later apologized to them. It was rude. However, I was not going to let some other guy grab her.
I grabbed a glass of wine and took it to her and introduced myself. She was half black and half Spanish. Her skin was amazing…..so was her smile. We hit it off and I spent the rest of the evening with her. She was together with the other lady and didn’t want her drive home alone, so I asked if she would have a late breakfast with me the next day at this great little restraint down in Big Sur... They served a fantastic breakfast that was legend. She said yes!
When I picked her up, she was radiant. I usually don’t care about a woman’s breast size, but I couldn’t help noticing she was well endowed. She looked radiant. Off we went to Big Sur. We had a great day. There was a small river out back and we sat on the grass.
We talked and talked. She seemed just as happy as I was and we stayed all day. It was getting dark so we headed to her place.
It was dark when we got there…she did not turn on the light. Before long we headed to the bedroom. Then the fun began…her bed collapsed. Boom! We started laughing, That wasn’t going to stop us. We started to make love. It wasn’t long before she asked me “Can you feel me?” I answered truthfully and said “No”. She said “I didn’t think so”.
She explained that when she had her son something had gone wrong and her body did not close properly. I could have cared less, she made up for it in many other ways. I was in heaven.
She invited me back the next night to meet her son and have diner. Lord, this woman could cook! Her son and I hit it off from the beginning. I asked him just how much “Jury Curl” did he have in his hair. That did it, we were instant friends.
When he went bed, she put on some Barry White and we snuggled on the couch. I felt so relaxed. This was great I thought to myself.
Then she started telling me about herself. She was a Sergeant in the Army. She was a food inspector for all the mess halls on Fort Ord. She was an honest person and flat out told me that when she went to a new place she looked a for a lover for the time she was stationed there, she wanted me to be that man. Hell Yes! I thought.
To be continued…………………………….........................… ………………………More Natasha,
The Story Continues…………………………………….………………………..Natasha
At first I would sleep over at Natasha’s place, go home and get ready to go to work. She was always awake when I woke up. She would be putting on her makeup. Sometimes I would go back and pick her up and drive her to work. One morning I stopped at the OE office to make sure where we were going to be that day. The Major and the Captain met me at the door. Who is that? They both said together. I told them that was my new lady.
They wanted to meet her, so I asked her to come in. They fell all over themselves smiling at her and saying welcome to her. Lea just said “Huh”.
It got to be a routine; I would bring her around almost every morning so they could ogle at her. She thought it was pretty funny. Let’s face it, she loved it. Over the week end she and her son would stay at my place. I had lucked into a redwood house on Del Monte Beach. It was a 4 bedroom redwood place and we had plenty of space. She would cook breakfast for us. We had big picture windows and could look at the beach as we ate.
Tao loved her and her son, so he kept asking why she didn’t move in with us. I said lets wait a while first. I was starting to realize that see took hours to put on her makeup. Hours.
We found out there was going to be some blues bands that were going to be playing in Santa Cruz. I bought us all tickets. It started at 8 pm. We got there at 10 and it was about over. Tao and I were really disappointed. We got to see one band. Why were we late….make up! She took hours to put on her make up.
We had a long talk about it when we got home. Turned out she had lost many boy friends because of it . Many. I really didn't enjoy the picture she was painting. We talked long into the night about it. She promised she would do better.
Christmas was coming. When I was with my boys it went without saying, that every Christmas I would take them to the SF Ballet to see the Nutcracker Ballet. Tao still goes every year with his daughter. The boy would be too disruptive.
I told Nat that we would be going and she was excited about it. I told her that it was a special performance that would be starting at 6 pm, so please be ready.
We got there at 10 minutes to 8. Perfect! It actually started at 8. I had learned a way to be on time with Nat.
To Be Continued…………………………………………………More Natasha.
The Story Continues………………………….………………………….Natasha
Well, the final straw that broke my patience with Natasha was the annual New Years Eve party, held by PWP. This was the one where almost every member attended.
I waited. for her almost 5 hours. We got there at 5 to midnight. Soon as it hit 12 AM, people started leaving a few minutes later. We did too! I took her home and just told her I couldn’t handle it any more, and went home.
Monday she started calling me and asking me to give her another chance. No woman had ever done this for me. By Wednesday I gave in and said OK, let’s try it again. I honestly wanted this to work too. She was just perfect in every other way. A month went by and I was happy as could be. I should say during that month, we did not go anywhere.
Then I had to attend some after duty Military functions.. They were mandatory.
The first one we were only a few minutes late. Late enough that everyone noticed we were late though. I had always been careful when it came to my Military Career. I was never late
The second one, we were going to be very late, so I left with out her. That was the final end for me and it was over.
A few years later, after I had made the biggest mistake of my life and married Jo, we were sitting in a coffee house having a small meal, in walks Natasha and her son. They came over and sat with us.
While the two of them were talking, I sat and looked at one and then the other. It hit me then that I had made a big mistake…..I had married the wrong one! Yes, Natasha had her problem, but Jo had thousands of problems. .In all truth I still feel the same way.
The next story will continue in my new Journal. It will be about OE, after all I was working in OE and we did some pretty amazing stuff during those years
To be continued…………………………………………………………..
The story continues......................................... ..
When the Organization Effectiveness School ended, I didn't have to go far, they
assigned me to the New OE office at Fort Ord. It was an old building, but just the right size for us.
Our Crew.....
The Commander was a salt of the earth Major. Good career guy, rock steady and never got flustered. He and his wife had been married for years. They had no children, but not for the lack of trying. A very good friend.
Next was a Captain. Young, athletic, active, and drop dead handsome. He loved the ladies and they loved him. He was never in a long term relationship.
Can you say party? On the job, a natural leader and very quick of mind. A champ of a guy at work and also a good friend.
Then there was Lea, a black E-7 female. She and I were partners. We did most things together. Her ex husband still lived with her. She was in her mid thirties and was a mature, but nice looking woman. She knew her job inside and out. We made bit of money on the side, but that will come later. I thought that we would be friends forever, but it didn't work out that way down the road, But that's another story.
We had a PFC that came in once a week to clean up our messes. We did make messes when we got rolling on a job.
To be continued .........Our first job.
The Story Continues………………………………..Our First Job
We got a call from the General’s office. He wanted the OE office to be at the Monday morning Staff Meeting. We looked at each other and smiled……we were going to work!
There was a problem though, he did not want Lea there, In fact, he never wanted Lea there. We never did figure that one out.
If you don’t know what a staff meeting is, it is when all the Commanders on the post would tell the General how things were going in their units. Usually a big dog and pony show.
When we arrived, there was the usual coffee, tea and donuts. Which were being consumed at a record pace. We checked out the seating. There were three long tables set up in a row. The General…a two star…would be at the head of the tables. At the other end was the Command Sergeant Major. He and I were the only enlisted people in the room.
I had a seat about 12 feet behind the General. I had a little table in front of me.
The Major and the Captain from our office had a small table to the right of the Command Sergeant Major. After a few donuts the General sat down…..there was bit of a scramble and every one else sat down.
In turn each Commander stood up and did his report, usually accompanied by charts and graphs It was boring as hell. When the last Commander was finished, the General stood up and thanked everyone. Meeting over.
The General turned and walked toward me. I stood up and got to the side of my table.
He walked over and stood by me. We stood there for moment and he elbowed me
in the ribs! He said “Sergeant, do you know what the hell they just said?”.
I said “Yes Sir, everything is ok”. “Well that’s good!”.
Then he asked me how were things among the enlisted folks. I said no problems that I know of. He smiled and said “I want you to get the feel on the Fort as far as the enlisted go“.
“Yes, Sir I will be happy to”. Then he said “Call my office if there is something I should know about, your office will be working all over the Fort and you will know what’s happening”. “Yes Sir”.
He then walked over to our 2 OE Officers and said the same thing to them. We were impressed, that he knew what we did and why. There was a reason he was a two star..
Over the years ahead the General and his wife would become very good friends of mine and Lea.
Two be Continued……………………………………………The Cohorts.
The Story Continues………………………………………….The Cohorts
Every once in a while some idiot General at the Pentagon as a terrible idea. This one must have been interested in Roman History. When the Romans concurred a new country, they would create Cohorts. The Cohorts were made up of local men from the country that had just been taken over. The Romans believed they would fight better if they were in a group of men that they knew each other and were raised together.
With that idea in mind the Army created Cohorts. 10 of these units were at Fort Ord.
All of the men (no women) were recruited in the sane geographical area. All went through basic training and Infantry school together. Then as units they were assigned to Fort Ord. That is when we met them.
To understand our job in OE a bit better, here is how it worked. The Commander of the Unit was the only person that could ask for our help. In other words the Commander of a Division could not order one of his Company Commanders to call OE for help
They had to do it themselves. To make a long story short, every Commander of a Cohort unit called us. Once we did one, we knew before we went to another one what it was going to be like.
They all had the same problems and it was impossible to help them, because of their structure.
A typical Cohort had a Captain as a commander, Two Lieutenants as Platoon Leaders.
Two E-7s as Platoon Sergeants. 8 Buck Sergeants (E-5s) as Squad Leaders and 8 Corporals (E-4s) as assistant Squad Leaders. The two platoon Sergeants were imported from other units. All the rest of the enlisted in the Company were promoted from within.
There in was the problem. All the positions were taken. No one could be promoted.
Only if someone was killed or wounded could anyone be promoted. How would you like to be working somewhere that you could never be promoted?
I don’t know how many letters our office sent to the Pentagon asking for something to be done. No answers.
Here is the real kicker too. The Officers would be rotated to other units and could be promoted. They had freedom. Before I left Fort Ord all Cohorts were sent overseas.
I have no idea what happened to them. Very frustrating.
To Be Continued………………………….........………………..OMM looks for love.
The Story Continues……………………………………………….OMM looks for Love
Well, the sweet little Lawyer to be girl finished her Military time and took off for college.
She left a big hole in my life and my son Tao’s too. She was like a part of the family.
I didn’t realize that I wasn’t doing anything much, until one Friday night. As Tao was going out the door he stopped at the door and asked me if I wanted him to stay home with me. In his words, he said “Dad all you do is sit around at night. You want me to stay and keep you company?’. Huh? He was right, I just stayed at home. I told him no and he took off.
I grabbed the newspaper and started looking for singles meetings. Monterey is a pretty nice place and there were some single places. The first place I tried was at the courtyard at a nice restaurant. They met on Saturday afternoon. I worn one of my Italian suits, I’m glad I did. I didn’t stay long. It was a bunch of yuppies all trying to out do each other.
Screw. that!
Next was a nondenominational Church that met on Saturday night. The first night I went, I was in the kitchen getting myself a drink of lemon aid and there was this 6 foot 3 woman telling me how horny she was. She intimidated. the hell out of me.
When I was 12 years old I was five eleven, I just knew that I was going to have basketball Jones life. I never grew another inch! Anyway, she walked over and poked me in the chest and said “ You blew it Buddy, this was your chance!” Gulp!
I liked the place, so I continued to go there, before long I started facilitating singles groups and that was fun. That’s where I met “The Pink Lady”. She was a redhead and Jewish. She loved to be called a JAP. A Jewish American Princess. Which she was..
We started dating. We both loved Art and we went to many exhibitions and shows together. I liked this woman. After about a month and a half she asked if I want to go with her to meet her sister who lived in Berkley. I said yes, it had been years since I had been to Bezerkly.
When we got to her sisters place, she gave us our own bedroom. We had not had sex yet, but we did that night and it was ….. sweet. Nothing spectacular…just sweet.
From that point on I spent most of my nights at her house. This woman was feminine through and through. Her whole house was feminine. Her bed was the kind that you practically had to have a ladder to get in to it. Posh comforters and big pillows, the whole bit.
One night after we had made love. I was doing my stud thing with my hands behind my head and she was snuggled up to me. She started telling me about when she had lived in France and that an older French man had taught her everything she knew about sex.
I lay there and thought to myself “Holy shit! She has forgotten everything he had taught her!”, I was nice and didn’t say a word,
As time went by, I realized that I did really want to be with her much longer. She was wonderful as a person, but I wanted a bit more of the kind of women I liked. One with more spirit. I would miss her 9 year old daughter, she had spirit.
We sat down one day and I told her the way I felt and she said she thought as much as I did. We really didn’t fit. For a long time I would visit her and see how she was doing. We really were fiends.
To be Continued………………………………………Col. Ord’s Division
This isn't a story....But.....Kind of a wish of mine.
Part of my OE training was relaxation techniques and visualizations. I still use the relaxations techniques to this day.
Last night they weren't working for me, so I had time to think.
There is nothing more that I would like to do than get everyone on the floor and relaxed. Maybe soft blankets to lay on.
I would just love to get you all in a big circle, actually it would have be many rows.......so we could all close our eyes and I would tell you a visual story.
Of course we would get really stoned and I would start.
Unfortunately having you read a visualization it would lose it's impact. Imagination plays a big part with your eyes closed.
If you would like a can write one and you would have to do the rest. Let me know and we will give it a try.
The Story Continues……………………………………….Col. Ord’s Division
When we received a call from Col. Ord we were surprised. His Grandfather and his Father were both fine Generals. The fort was named after his Grandfather.
When we got to his office, he walked around his desk and over to us and shook our hands. We all noticed this and were impressed…..he wanted no barriers between us….open and honest. Then he asked why we wanted him to sign a document we had sent to him, that in effect, said no one would be fired because of our findings. Then he handed it to us with a smile and it was sighed. We looked at each other and smiled, we liked this man.
We all sat down and talked for a bit. He wanted to know how his Division was doing and if there were any problems he wanted them fixed. He wanted them battle ready.
It took almost a month. We interviewed every last soul in his Division. Group interviews with his officers, We used the base theater for the troops. We saw them all. We got our feet wet for sure. It was our first big job and we took it step by step.
When we finished we asked him to come to our office for the results. He was there the next morning.
The brief went like this.
Sir…..the only and we mean the only complaint that was common to you're whole Division was that the salt shakers in all the mess halls were never full!
Sir…. your Division loves you! He actually looked relived!
Years latter I met him here in Hawaii. He was a General then and was the Commander of
Schofield Barracks, a Fort. I taught Computer Science to his NCOs on duty time. He wanted his troops educated. When I ask for an appointment with him, he walked right out and shook my hand. This man was a natural born leader.
The Story Continues…………………………………………..……..Visualizations
The Story Continues……………………………………………….………..Visualization
Each year all OE people were lucky enough to pick a Seminar or School to broaden our
Knowledge base in any field we wanted.. I went to a week long Seminar on Visualization held in Seattle. I was lucky to get in, it was sold out. This Seminar has had a positive influence on the rest of my life. I’m positive it helped me with my bouts with cancer later in life, and it played a part of me ending up in Hawaii.
To state the obvious, visualization deals with the power of our minds. It’s very much like mediation, except you create worlds of your own, unless someone is guiding you verbally.
The first day.
Our leader made sure we were all comfortable and relaxed, then we started. He told us to think of some where that we felt very safe and relaxed. Later we all discussed where each of us went. Some were in a field of flowers from their childhood. It took me a while to imagine a safe place, finally I created a bubble deep on the bottom the sea. It had a door and I could see the fish swimming by right the walls of my bubble. It was indestructible, safe. I furnished it with very comfortable furniture and soft lights.
Our leader then talked us back to the present and we had lunch. Over lunch we talked about the experience we had and the places we had created. Some were down right incredible. All were safe.
Next we were told that we could use our safe place to settle unfinished business. We could bring in anyone we wanted to and have a discussion with people we never had a chance to talk to in real life or reach closure with them. I brought my adopted parents there, they both had passed away and I wanted talk to them and say things to them I had never told them when they were alive. What was really amazing they talked back. .
Later, while at Fort Ord I brought RS to my bubble and we had a long talk. She had just disappeared and I couldn’t talk to her in person. It really helped me to come terms with our break up.
The rest of the week we talked about helping ourselves to reach goals that we wanted and how to help ourselves reach for the things we wanted in life.
Getting to Hawaii.
Everyday for years I stopped at least 3 times a day and visualized how it would be in Hawaii. One has to have a real determination to do this. I truly believe it helped to get me here.
Fighting My First Bout with Cancer.
After my 10 hour surgery, there was still much worry that I wouldn’t make it, so I took it upon myself to heal me. Wasn’t too much to do in the hospital anyway. What I did was visualize at least 5 of 6 times a day, while laying my hospital bed, that with every breath I took all these little cancer eating monsters would go through my body and eat any cancer cells they found. Chomp, Chomp! They were like little cartoon characters. It must have worked, I’m still here!
To be continued ……………………….........………………I take you on a visual trip with me.
The Story Continues……………………………….. I take you on a visual trip with me.
Pretend to close your eyes.
You have decided to drive on old historic Route 66 from Arizona to New Mexico. It’s a hot day and in the distance you can see gigantic red dust devils across the desert. You are in no hurry, so you’re just cruising. All of a sudden there is a blinding flash of light to your left.
What the hell was that? There it is again……It's a refection off of something. You think to yourself “What could that be?”. You pull over and stop. Whatever it is, it's bright. It doesn't look too far away so you start walking to see if you can find whatever it is. You think “Damn it's hot out here!”. Good thing you brought your old blue bandanna. So, you keep walking. Soon you realize it is a reflection from a door. A door out here? As you get closer you can see it is a small building. What's a building doing out here? Actually it's just big enough to hold the door. You walk around it and its 4 feet across the front and about 8 feet deep. You're nose y, so you try the door. It opens and cool air hits your face. Man, its dark in there. You take a step inside and it seems your standing on a grate of some kind. You take couple of more steps inside and the door closes. You quickly turn around and try the door. It opens. What a relief!. You step back in and let the door close again.
It's all most total dark. Then far below to the left you see a very faint light. You feel around and there are rails all around you, except on the left and you feel banisters on the wall. You realize your standing at the top of a big stairwell. There are thin metal banisters on both sides of the stairwell. Well here goes and you step down. It seems safe, so you start down the steps.
You haven't been counting the steps, but it seems like every 50 steps or so you come to grated platform. Must be a rest stop, you think. The light doesn't seem to be any closer. How deep is this thing? You start down again. After what seems like and hour, you stop and rest. After you have been standing there for a while, you reach to your left and feel the surface of the wall. It is feels almost smooth. What or who could have done this? You look down and realize the light is much closer, but you still can't make out any details.
Down you go. No use stopping now, you are getting consumed by the need to get to the bottom.
There is enough light now and you see that you are only few rest stops from the bottom.
Down you go. You are starting to see things littering floor around the light. A very old fashioned coat rack is laying on it's side. Empty old wooden crates and old fashioned glass jars. As you step on the last rest platform, your eyes lock onto what looks like an old wooded pirate's chest. ???? What the hell? As you finally step the floor, you realize the floor is uneven rock and you can tell that there is a great, black sea that seems to go miles into the shadows.
You see that the light is hanging from a cord that disappears up into the darkness. Hanging from what? Then your eyes focus on the chest. It is an old Pirate's chest!
As you get closer you see that's is rusted. Rusted? Nothing else in this place is rusted?
There is an old fashioned key lock on the chest and as you touch it, it turns to dust and falls off. You take a deep breath and start to open the lid. A faint blue light is emitting from it as it opens. The hinges give way and you can finally see the contents. You stare into it for a long time.
You stand up and breathe deeply. It's time to get out of here!
Climbing the stairs makes your legs burn like fire. Man it's long way up. It takes hours to reach the top. Your terribly tired. When you open the door to go outside, it looks like the same time of day as you went in? After a couple of steps you realize you are not tired at all. You feel great and you start the walk back to your car. After you have walked a while, you turn to look at the building. It's not there! You run back up to where the building was. It is not there! Just the desert. You walk around for a while looking, but it's gone. Then you feel like you want to leave as quickly as you can. You practically run to your car and get the hell away from there.
OK! Folks, its time to tell me what you saw when you opened the chest...
To be continued......................................... ...............................Three months of hell at Fort Devens, MA.
The Story Continues…………......………………Three months of hell at Fort Devens, MA.
I don’t even like remembering this one.
We got a call from the Pentagon for our team to go to Ft, Devens, MA. We would meet a Major from the OE cell at the Pentagon once there. We thought “What the hell?”, was this all about? We knew it must be something important or bad. It was bad.
We left Lea behind again.
I've looked up Ft. Devens on the internet and it looks nothing like what I remember.
I don't remember seeing very many troops there at all. Now it's very busy with troops.
We met the Major from the Pentagon at the airport. He was older than our Major and was one nice person. He fit like a glove with our team. We called Ft. Devens and ask for a ride. There was none available, so we took a cab, When we got to the Fort there was no guest house, but there was a Hotel from hell right out side the gate. It had a hall through the main floor and rooms on each side. The two Majors decided to share a room on the ground floor. The rest of us had private rooms up stairs.
The Major briefed us on what was happening on Ft. Devens. There were 2 Full Bird Colonels. One was Commander of the Hospital and the other was Commander of the rest of the base. The rub was the Col at the Hospital had been a Col longer, so he was Commander of the Fort... The other Col was throwing a tantrum about it. Was he ever! A total egotist.
It was late afternoon, so we called the Col at the hospital. He welcomed us and mentioned that the other Col was having a meeting at the base theater and all the civilians employs would be there.
Our team went to the base theater to listen to what he telling them. As we walked in, the Col, while pointing to us said “I see the Organizational Effectiveness team is here. I will tell you right now, they are not needed here. I do the Organization Effectiveness for this base, Do you think we need Organizational effectiveness here Civilians?” There was low mummer from the crowd.
We gave each other an “Ah Shit” look. We turned around and left. This was a mess.
We took the easy way out and met with the Hospital Commander and got him to sign off on us doing an OE evaluation of his hospital. While doing so, I met a Nurse and we both did a “Well, Hello There!” moment.. More on that lovely lady, later.
It wasn't long into our evaluation that we realized that the other Col had spies every where that were telling him everything we did. Slowly, but surely we realized the guy a psycho and we started gathering information, That would prove he was not fit for command of any thing.
We were into our third week there when two armed men forced the two Majors to open their door and robbed them at gun point. They were shaken, but unharmed. Two days later they went into their room and the two men were inside the room waiting on them. The robbed them again!
It took a week out of our schedule, so we were getting behind..
I took advantage of this delay and went over to see the nurse I had met. When I found her, there was no doubt that we wanted to see each other. All of our team had rental cars, so she showed be the best parts of Massachusetts. During our stay. It was fall and the state was beautiful. Pumpkins on door steps. I loved it. We went to the old Boston Gardens and watched the Oilers and Bruins fight it out. What a great place to see a hockey game..We went to the North End and had some of the best Pizza I have ever tasted. .Her name was Dotty and she was great.
We started to do our OE process on the base side. We did our usual interviews with his staff and every one else. Each time, the Col would come in and say “Oh! I can answer that question for them. He did this every time. He did not want his people to answer any questions. We tried over and over to do interviews, but he always there. We gave up and called the Pentagon and told them what was going on.
The next day the Pentagon called back. They were going to force the Col, to retire.
This would take time to do everything properly. The Col had the right to prove his case.
So now we had no job. We started riding around taking in the sights, we went all over New England. We weren't alone. The Captain had met a lady too. Both Majors sent for their wives. There was also Dotty and I.
I know this sounds great, but it wasn't what we wanted. We wanted to go home. I even asked Dot to come back with me, but she liked where she was at and her job was the best she had ever had.. A shame.
No matter where we were, we kept in touch with the Pentagon. A red tape mess.
After a few weeks, everything was set. There would be formal dismissal of the Col.
We were all invited as witnesses...True to form the Col made an ass out of himself.
He was booted. Forced to retire. We could go home.
Later we found out the Col went into politics and was elected as a State Senator .
God save us all!
To be continued………………………………………….I see Jo for the first time.
The Story Continues…………….…………...............…..………………The First Jo Sighting
Well, I had started going out again and at one of the church singles meeting I was told about an organization called “Parents Without Partners” or PWP in the short version..
I found a little ad in the Newspaper and decided to take a look.
This was a meeting to welcome people and to see what it was all about . This one was at yet another red headed Jewish American Princess's home. Her name was Cindy and there was nothing quite about her. She was a ball of fire and friendly as hell. Actually there was a good turn out for the meeting and it was fun and informative. To be a member you had to have 2 letters of recommendation to join. One could be friend and the other had to be from someone professional that knew you. It was a place for single parents to meet others with the same circumstances.
I met a rather stuffy Sgt from Fort Ord there and we exchanged numbers so we could maybe attend a function together. More on that later.
As the meeting finally came to a close, Cindy invited everyone to meet in a few minutes at a Country Western Bar in town to get in some line dancing and two step practice. Of course, I went. Lordy, lordy, I had a ball. I danced my butt off. These nice PWP ladies were wild, Later, I found out there was 12 women to every man in PWP. I liked those numbers. When I walked out of the Country place, there was Cindy and three other Ladies in a van waiting for me. I said no……Cindy was pretty adamant and said “We can do it right here!”. I still said no. Later I found out she was one of my son’s High School teachers! Oh! Boy!
On Monday I got all the paper work done and became a member. .
The Stuffy Sgt. called and asked if Tao and I would like to go on a PWP trip to Alcatraz Island in SF.. I said yes and we went. He brought his drop dead glorious daughter. Tao was in love the first time he saw her. They were like glued to each other the whole trip.
On the way home, Stuffy Sgt. forbid them from seeing each other, Tao was crushed.
Once a member of PWP you could go to the neighboring towns to their functions too.
The Salinas chapter was having a 60’s party and so I went. It was crazy as usual.
About an hour later in walked a couple and my eyes went right to the woman, She was dressed sixties style and was 105 pound blonde, with a body to kill for. It was Jo!
Damn, she had a boy friend.
To be continued…………………….……………………………………More PWP.
The story Continues……………………………………........................... ...................…………………….More PWP
While I was at a party at a member’s home, I was talking to some of the older ladies and in walked two new ladies. One of them was a knock out. I rudely said I will see you to the older ladies and practically ran to meet this new dazzling new lady. I later apologized to them. It was rude. However, I was not going to let some other guy grab her.
I grabbed a glass of wine and took it to her and introduced myself. She was half black and half Spanish. Her skin was amazing…..so was her smile. We hit it off and I spent the rest of the evening with her. She was together with the other lady and didn’t want her drive home alone, so I asked if she would have a late breakfast with me the next day at this great little restraint down in Big Sur... They served a fantastic breakfast that was legend. She said yes!
When I picked her up, she was radiant. I usually don’t care about a woman’s breast size, but I couldn’t help noticing she was well endowed. She looked radiant. Off we went to Big Sur. We had a great day. There was a small river out back and we sat on the grass.
We talked and talked. She seemed just as happy as I was and we stayed all day. It was getting dark so we headed to her place.
It was dark when we got there…she did not turn on the light. Before long we headed to the bedroom. Then the fun began…her bed collapsed. Boom! We started laughing, That wasn’t going to stop us. We started to make love. It wasn’t long before she asked me “Can you feel me?” I answered truthfully and said “No”. She said “I didn’t think so”.
She explained that when she had her son something had gone wrong and her body did not close properly. I could have cared less, she made up for it in many other ways. I was in heaven.
She invited me back the next night to meet her son and have diner. Lord, this woman could cook! Her son and I hit it off from the beginning. I asked him just how much “Jury Curl” did he have in his hair. That did it, we were instant friends.
When he went bed, she put on some Barry White and we snuggled on the couch. I felt so relaxed. This was great I thought to myself.
Then she started telling me about herself. She was a Sergeant in the Army. She was a food inspector for all the mess halls on Fort Ord. She was an honest person and flat out told me that when she went to a new place she looked a for a lover for the time she was stationed there, she wanted me to be that man. Hell Yes! I thought.
To be continued…………………………….........................… ………………………More Natasha,
The Story Continues…………………………………….………………………..Natasha
At first I would sleep over at Natasha’s place, go home and get ready to go to work. She was always awake when I woke up. She would be putting on her makeup. Sometimes I would go back and pick her up and drive her to work. One morning I stopped at the OE office to make sure where we were going to be that day. The Major and the Captain met me at the door. Who is that? They both said together. I told them that was my new lady.
They wanted to meet her, so I asked her to come in. They fell all over themselves smiling at her and saying welcome to her. Lea just said “Huh”.
It got to be a routine; I would bring her around almost every morning so they could ogle at her. She thought it was pretty funny. Let’s face it, she loved it. Over the week end she and her son would stay at my place. I had lucked into a redwood house on Del Monte Beach. It was a 4 bedroom redwood place and we had plenty of space. She would cook breakfast for us. We had big picture windows and could look at the beach as we ate.
Tao loved her and her son, so he kept asking why she didn’t move in with us. I said lets wait a while first. I was starting to realize that see took hours to put on her makeup. Hours.
We found out there was going to be some blues bands that were going to be playing in Santa Cruz. I bought us all tickets. It started at 8 pm. We got there at 10 and it was about over. Tao and I were really disappointed. We got to see one band. Why were we late….make up! She took hours to put on her make up.
We had a long talk about it when we got home. Turned out she had lost many boy friends because of it . Many. I really didn't enjoy the picture she was painting. We talked long into the night about it. She promised she would do better.
Christmas was coming. When I was with my boys it went without saying, that every Christmas I would take them to the SF Ballet to see the Nutcracker Ballet. Tao still goes every year with his daughter. The boy would be too disruptive.
I told Nat that we would be going and she was excited about it. I told her that it was a special performance that would be starting at 6 pm, so please be ready.
We got there at 10 minutes to 8. Perfect! It actually started at 8. I had learned a way to be on time with Nat.
To Be Continued…………………………………………………More Natasha.
The Story Continues………………………….………………………….Natasha
Well, the final straw that broke my patience with Natasha was the annual New Years Eve party, held by PWP. This was the one where almost every member attended.
I waited. for her almost 5 hours. We got there at 5 to midnight. Soon as it hit 12 AM, people started leaving a few minutes later. We did too! I took her home and just told her I couldn’t handle it any more, and went home.
Monday she started calling me and asking me to give her another chance. No woman had ever done this for me. By Wednesday I gave in and said OK, let’s try it again. I honestly wanted this to work too. She was just perfect in every other way. A month went by and I was happy as could be. I should say during that month, we did not go anywhere.
Then I had to attend some after duty Military functions.. They were mandatory.
The first one we were only a few minutes late. Late enough that everyone noticed we were late though. I had always been careful when it came to my Military Career. I was never late
The second one, we were going to be very late, so I left with out her. That was the final end for me and it was over.
A few years later, after I had made the biggest mistake of my life and married Jo, we were sitting in a coffee house having a small meal, in walks Natasha and her son. They came over and sat with us.
While the two of them were talking, I sat and looked at one and then the other. It hit me then that I had made a big mistake…..I had married the wrong one! Yes, Natasha had her problem, but Jo had thousands of problems. .In all truth I still feel the same way.
The next story will continue in my new Journal. It will be about OE, after all I was working in OE and we did some pretty amazing stuff during those years
To be continued…………………………………………………………..
