You never know what will send you down an unexpected path

Our younger daughter was nearly 10 years old when her adored big brother, Ross, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. The trip back to Maryland for graduation was something she’d looked forward to for four long years and her pathway was clear before her. She often told us. She told everyone. When she grew up, she would go to Rosses’Apolis.

Our time at the historic academy was filled with wonderful moments, but it was hot, and there were crowds and noise, and there seemed to be lots of people with bayonets, so I didn’t notice that she seemed a little subdued.

When we came home, though, Younger Daughter came to me with tears in her eyes and said, “I’m not going to Rosses’Apolis when I grow up.”

“Why not?”

“They tell you what to do there,” she explained, then added with a hint of steel, “NOBODY is going to tell me what to do.” That was the end of the Navy as her path forward.

I planned to be an airline stewardess after high school. Ignoring the fact that I had never actually been in a plane, I sent the tuition money to a school in the Midwest that promised to place their graduates in dream jobs with the major airlines. In the 1950s, stewardesses would often sooth a crying baby while Mom caught a nap or took a break, all the while wearing a “soft and feminine hairstyle” and “delicate and flattering makeup.” These descriptions actually come from airline recruiting ads.

“A well-fitted girdle,” the ads went on. Yes, we did all wear girdles. You wouldn’t have liked it.

And you had to be single. Which heaven knows I was. Then came the deal breaker. “Maximum weight of 135 pounds.” The stewardesses were actually weighed before their next shift. They told you what to weigh. NOBODY tells me what to weigh.

As the years went on, it turned out everybody has unexpected turnings. Youngest Son came home on Thanksgiving break his first year in college wearing a sapphire stud earring in an era where only pirates wore earrings. I took one horrified look and slammed the door. Son stood outside and shouted, “You took that very well, Mother.”

But events took a happy turn. Youngest Son got into a fight with a truck driver who made comments about the earring. (“He said surprising things about you, Mother,” he related. “I didn’t even know he knew you.”) Truck Driver offered to tear ear off. Son politely declined and stopped wearing earring. He’s an attorney now. The son, not the truck driver.

Next week my first Great Grandson graduates from high school. You can see why I’m a little worried about the path ahead in these uncertain and dangerous times. Seems like every graduate should be given the number of the Capitol Switchboard so they can start right in making their voices heard by Senators and Representatives. (It’s 202-224-3121).

We probably shouldn’t worry so much. After all, Christopher Walken was a lion tamer in a one-ring circus, and Pope Francis spent time as a night club bouncer in Buenos Aires. They came out OK.

Many members of our family have been planning to celebrate the happy season with a trip to see the new “Top Gun” movie, except, of course, our Annapolis alum who was planning to skip it.

“I didn’t plan to go owing to the fact that I hate Tom Cruise,” he reflected. “However, a bunch of Abraham Lincoln alumni (USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72) gathered up to see it, and I joined them.”

Son generously supplied a long list of criticisms, ending with the observation that “the CGI dogfight looked like it belonged in a Star Wars movie.”

Navy son observes that while he still hates Tom Cruise, “It was fun catching up with my shipmates, though.“

His brother, ending his first year teaching at a new school year, observed that his own work means “boldly grading essays that no one has graded before.” He also reported a graceful touch at the graduation ceremony.

“Before the ceremony, as people were filing into the bleachers, they played thank-you messages to family and friends from the graduates over the PA. One of them included ‘...and to my Grandma, for always cutting my fruit for me,’ which I’m supposing was a little bit of an inside joke, but it was still sweet.”

And that’s it, isn’t it? The people we meet along the way keep us on the unexpected path.

How about the younger Daughter who decided against Annapolis? She is a professional puppeteer and ventriloquist who controls a wide cast of characters. She tells them what to do. And they do it.

Where to find Dorothy in June

• 2 p.m. June 9: The Zoom Book Doctors. Guest experts tell you how to bring your book from idea to launch. Special Guest Judith Briles, The Book Shepherd.
• 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. June 25: 20th Anniversary Celebration at Fred Oldfield Western Heritage Center in Puyallup. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free Family Fun Day. 5 to 9 p.m. The Oldfield Opry Variety Show for $75. www.fredoldfieldcenter.org
  
  

Register for both events at Dorothy@itsnevertoolate.com

Catch Dorothy’s podcast, Swimming Upstream Radio Show, at https://itsnevertoolate.com.

Contact Dorothy by phone at 800-548-9264 or at Dorothy@itsnevertoolate.com