I don’t really believe in coincidences. I’m that guy that sees a purpose in pretty much everything. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’m not the guy who thinks people died in the War on Terror because the United States started letting gay people get married, or the guy that think folks get cancer because of something atrocious they did in their past. Nope. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. It’s always been like that. Just because I find a purpose in the bad things (and the good, as well) doesn’t mean I’m being judgy. Judgement is way above my pay grade. No, I just know that there’s a purpose to it all. Keep reading and see if you agree.
When I was seven I lost my right eye to some type of nerve infection. I’ve spent all of my life since with a prosthetic (glass/acrylic) eye. That was a big deal as a kid, not to mention the trauma it gave my parents. Fast forward to me as a young adult. I wanted to be a soldier more than anything else. I loved everything military. It was my ideal vocation. I talked to recruiters in every branch of the armed forces. No can do, they’d say. There’s a basic requirement. Having two eyes is a must. I tried to get them to let me sign a waiver. Waivers are only for those that lose their eye while they’re serving. My dad put it more bluntly. “They don’t want a one-eyed soldier, son.” Ouch.
The loss of my eye never kept me from doing anything else. I played football in high school. Not all that well, but I enjoyed it. I swam, water skied, climbed trees (and fell out of them), and did all the stuff a regular kid would do. It was a tough blow to be told I had a disability that would not allow me to do something that I felt so strongly about. It just wasn’t meant to be, however, and I went to college.
My college career was brief. One year (including two summer semesters) of being a lackluster student who drank too much. Then I started dating Sam. She was back home, in Turrell, Arkansas, and I knew who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. We got married and spent the next twenty years together, raising our four wonderful children. I have zero regrets. My life has been full of ups and downs, twists and turns. Hardships and pain went hand in hand with the joys and fun stuff. My greatest achievement in life has been bringing those four people into this world and having the opportunity to watch them grow. I still love watching them, even though they’re adults now. We never stop growing. It’s pretty amazing.
If I hadn’t lost that eye, things might’ve been different. I might’ve been a soldier. Maybe not. Sam and I may, or may not, have gotten together. Our four kids, whom I love with all my heart, may, or may not, have been conceived. I’d even say that I may have never met Laura Gail, my beautiful wife of nearly twelve years, if circumstances with Sam had not brought me to Tennessee. When I say that everything has a purpose, I mean it. I’m glad that the Good Lord has a plan. I’m even happier that he doesn’t share all the details of that plan with us. We’d just think He was nuts. I see now, fifty two years after losing my eye as a little boy, how all of those situations and circumstances brought me to be exactly where I was meant to be. I’m grateful to the Man Upstairs for getting me here. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
God bless y’all!
Rolling Stones 