Flashback Friday # 149

Bad Things Come In Threes

Welcome to those who have braved coming back. I think most of my readers have become addicted to Facebook, but that's OK. The main reason I blog is to leave behind my memories to my children. They don't know some of the stories that I have written here, neither does my wife. It's not that I'm trying to be secretive, it's just some of the stuff I didn't feel that they would be interested in, or they would find it boring. If that is the case here, they can always skip to the next post.

My Freshman year of High School was rough for me. You can tell this by reading Flashback Friday 136-Present. It was also rough on my brother, Sir Gattabout.

That year, while Gattabout was away doing field training & maneuvers for the US Army Corps of Engineers (he drove a road grader), we got the news that one of his friends from Westerville had died. Had this friend lived long enough, he would have become Gattabout's brother-in-law. He was fixing his car in his garage and it was cold outside, so the garage door was shut. When he finished working on the car, he started it to see how it sounded. The carbon monoxide fumes overcame him. Since Gattabout was on the field in training, he wasn't able to attend the funeral.

Shortly thereafter (a week to ten days) we got word once again that one of his Westerville friends had died. He had finished the training and hopped the first flight to Columbus. This friend was special. It was his best friend in Westerville. She also was the youngest sister of Dad's best friend, Chuck (who I mention here). She was on her way to work in her Volkswagen Beetle, leaned over to change the radio channel, and struck an oncoming car. Gattabout said he would have gone AWOL if he had to to be there. Fortunately, he was able to get leave. He was one of the pallbearers.

A few weeks later, once again we hear of one his Westerville friends passing away. Cars & telephone poles don't mix. Since Gattabout had just had a leave, he couldn't get one again so soon.

In the space of about five weeks, he lost three friends to automobile related accidents. He now wondered if he did the right thing in joining the Army. He was at Fort Bragg, North Carolina,so far away from those who he cared about. Later in life, he reflected that this time was one of the hardest for him. I wish all of my Flashback Friday posts were comical & high spirited, but I can't lie. My life had plenty of rough spots, of which, I have only begun to tell.