Thirty Years Ago

On this night, thirty years ago, in the year of our Lord 1982, yours truly was spending the night in Howard Johnson's Hotel in Charlotte NC waiting to join the United States Army the next day and be all I could be.  I was supposed to have enlisted on the 27th of January, 1982, but my snuff dipping recruiter messed up my paperwork so I had to spend two nights in that Howard Johnson's instead of one.  With extra time on my hands, I made some phone calls to assorted friends and family.  All in all, no one cared all that much that I was about to step into a new life.  I told Mrs. Howard just now about this date in my history joking that, by having to spend the extra night in the hotel, I was being given one last chance to make a run for it.  She told that if I had run that I wouldn't be here where I am tonight, with her.  And she's probably right.