YESTERDAY

-By Jim Culp

            Yesterday, October 14, 2016, at 4:10 AM, I was a half century old.

It is something special to me that my 50th birthday was on a Friday, and the 14th of October that I was born on was a Friday too. I never, in my younger years, imagined that I would live this long, but I am glad that have. I set many goals for my life twenty-five years ago, and I've already accomplished half of them; so I guess now, for this remaining fifty years, that I am blessed to carry on into, must be for the rest of those.

            I already raised my daughter, the most precious thing to me on this planet, and I consider that the greatest goal that a man can achieve. I didn't do it perfect, by any means; but I look at her today, and I see a woman that stands up for her beliefs, is quick to charity, loves unconditionally, and works harder than anyone I know. Mission accomplished.

            I retired from the military, after a long career of 22 years, and took soldiers to war twice, and brought them back. I consider that the second highest achievement of my life. In those years, I gained lifelong friends, some that I regard the same as my own blood, others brothers and sisters of the rifle nonetheless. I lost six soldiers in that time, but none that can be counted against my leadership; they were from the lacking of a society that takes care of them as they should.

            I accomplished goals of career; in 1995 I became a 5th Army Certified Instructor, and I loved teaching soldiers young and older the skills of war, like landmines and machine guns, map reading, and how to use that pistol on their shoulder when there was no other means to defeat our enemies. I attended four colleges, and never earned a degree. Life always seemed to get in the way, and I still learned the skills of writing, and the love of history and literature. I graduated from Gunsmith School in 1997, and collected, fired, traded, and used firearms and performed thousands of ballistic tests for the better part of 10 years.

            Finally, I produced, recorded, and distributed my own music record, titled "End of the Tunnel", and we'll go so far as to say it sold way less than a million copies. It doesn't matter...a long term, personal goal was accomplished. I didn't do it by myself. I was assisted by a brilliant songwriter, guitarist, and recording expert in Grapeview, Washington, and together we completed the work in 2010. Thanks Mike Morrison.

            Yesterday I was on the job, hauling concrete and other materials across central Kansas, and although I didn't have time to read them until this morning, I heard chirp after chirp of my smart phone telling me another person was chiming in to which me Happy Birthday. Family, friends, military brothers and sisters, cousins, in-laws, and outlaws made me feel very special, loved, and generally positive about life. If you were one of those people that brightened my day, know well that I love you and miss you.

            Paul McCartney once said that "I believe in yesterday." To me, yesterday proved  to be something I believe in too. Now it's time to work on tomorrow. I don't know exactly what tomorrow holds, but this big family I have will make it a little easier.

Thanks for a great feeling, and I wish peace and blessings on you all.