I was born 300 miles from the ocean and always wanted to go to sea. I took an RCA basic electronics course when I was 10 and decided that I wanted to work in electronics, especially high frequency stuff like RADAR. When I was 17 I joined the Navy, when I was 18 I married my high school sweetheart, when I was 19 I graduated from the Navy’s electronics school and was promoted to a third class Electronics Technician, RADAR. I stupidly volunteered for Vietnam and was sent there shortly after I graduated from electronics school.
So by the age of 20 I had done everything I set out to do, even went to war. That is something only a teenager would want.
Regardless I advanced in the Navy, quit and worked for NASA, worked on early versions of satellite navigation equipment, changed industries because I was really interested in computer control systems. We also had two children who grew up to be engineers and parents. They each had two children, so I have 4 grandchildren (something that I hadn’t planned for) that turned out really great.
I guess you could say that I did everything I planned to do. Now I’m retired and my question is do I just wait to die, or do I set new goals? I’m not sure what comes next.