After he was done with the Navy, papa needed a place to live. He thought
about just staying in Arkansas, or even going all the way over to Montana.
He said it would have been a full circle, since that’s where he first grew
up. He narrowed his decision down to two choices, which was to move back
closer to his parents in Idaho, or to Indiana, where his sister lived with
her family. The two of them had grown even closer over the last few years,
and he loved his nephews. They had just had their second son, so he decided
to choose Indiana. He needed a job, though. Most people who need jobs have
to go out and look for them. These days, they will go on the internet, and
search for anyone who is hiring, but this was back in 2002, so people
weren’t doing that very much yet. And anyway, my papa didn’t need to look
himself. Companies were actually calling him to offer him a job. He
had a really good education, and his time in the military made bosses know
that he would be loyal and trustworthy. He ended up reconnecting with a guy
who he knew who once worked for the Coast Guard. They also work on the
water, but have different jobs. This former Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander
had started his own business that wanted to build new kinds of submarines,
and he would be testing them in Lake Michigan. My papa was perfect for the
job, because that’s exactly what he learned in school, and in the Navy. He
ended up living in Chicago on the Illinois side of the border, but he was
still less than a half hour away from my Aunt Cooper. We’re still a Chicago
family. I’ve gone there myself many times, even though I live in
Massachusetts.
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