Normally I'm not a big fan of the Holiday season and go around muttering Bah Humbug.
Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, my Birthday (Dec 26th) and New Years it just reminds me of all the time that I spent away from family and friends because of the life paths I choose to take.
This time though I will be able to find some good things to remember.
I've finally been around long enough to become a member of the Double Dippers Club. Now for those of you who don't know what that is you must be receiving benefits from two different government programs. I have been retired from the Air Force since 1988 and receive a monthly retirement check. On the first of October I started receiving Social Security and effective with the first of December I became covered by Medicare.
Now more money coming in monthly is nice but Medicare and VA benefits now mean that I should have no out of the pocket expenses for medical services as long as the services are covered by both.
Two things got me here, my decision to serve 20 years in the military and living to see 65. Now the decision on staying in the military and making it a career was directly related to something my father said to me as I was coming up on being discharged from the Air Force. He wrote me a letter and said just come home, that I wouldn't have to work and that he would take care of everything.
It's all about those life choices we have to make that impact our future.
The key is don't let others make your decisions for you, take control even if it turns out not to be the correct decision or path in life you take, you can adjust.