No change

  Saw a post on Facebook. It was just a simple picture of a young lady that is beginning her senior year in high school. It was posted by one of my Facebook friends or acquaintances. Just a proud grandmother sharing her joy. I get that, I understand it completely. How many pictures have I posted of my grandchildren? Too many to count over the years and I have no plan to stop anytime soon. So, I saw that photo and my first thought was, to be that young again, full of hope, full of life and it is just beginning. I went back to 1971. Following graduation, I was to go to boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. That was far as my plans extended. Tomorrow, that's how far ahead I was thinking and planning for. 

  Back in those days if you weren't going to college that was about what was expected of you. I remember well the guidance counselor's advice, get a good job or join the military. That was the standard response if you let it be known that you weren't college bound, you weren't worth their time. No, guidance counselor's only guided students to the college of their choice. That decision was usually made by the time you were in ninth grade. If you said you weren't going to college in ninth grade, I think your folder went into a separate file, the common folks file. People you may call when your lawn needs to be cut, maybe a typist or a waiter/waitress. Yes, the uneducated educated. A high school diploma and nothing more. You were encouraged to plan for tomorrow.

  I was remembering all of that after seeing that picture. Looking back, I really was just carefree. I chuckled about that often as I tell others, I wasn't exactly what you would call a responsible person. To say I was taking life seriously would be a gross exaggeration. I just had all the confidence in the world. I would go in the Navy, be a success there and retire as a Master Chief Petty Officer. Then I went to basic training, a lot changed. Well, it will only be four years, I'll get out, go home, and pick up where I left off. The only problem with that plan turned out to be, home wasn't where I had left it. Well, there is always tomorrow. In five days, it will have been fifty-three years since I went to basic training. A lot of tomorrows have come and gone. I have to say not many have gone the way I thought they might but I'm not complaining either. I still have tomorrows to come. 

  Mental health experts, life coaches and counselors all stress the importance of setting goals. Books are written about that. Seminars are held, motivational speakers preach that as fervently as any Baptist minister at a revival. We are told to do that as soon as we are able to understand the words. You have to plan ahead, save for a rainy day, establish benchmarks to measure your success. Happiness will be achieved when you reach your goal. 

 But I have never done that. I joined the Navy, that was a goal. I passed the test and was accepted. I have obtained quite a few licenses and qualifications over the years. You could say each of those was a goal. I did accomplish them but out of necessity more than a goal setting thing. I think a goal is something that you want to do, not have to do. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do. Well, I'll continue to think about that and maybe tomorrow I'll have an answer. As far as my mental health concerning a goal, or the obtaining of a goal, I can only say this. I think I would be far more disgusted, solemn, angry, or bitter if I had set a goal and failed to reach that. You can't fail if you don't take the test. I remember that guidance counselor asking me, what do you want to do after high school? My answer then was, I don't know.  Some things never change, I guess. Still living one day at a time.