at seventeen

subtitle: Blessed today by choices made more than four decades ago.

When I think of being seventeen years old, two songs spring to mind.
The first is the one by Janis Ian, which had quite a bit of airplay my senior year. It isn't that I could relate to all of the lyrics, but I was quite shy and kept to myself a lot. (Sounds pretty much like now, eh?)
The other song was not released until five years later. That was Stevie Nicks' tune about looking back at a time when she had gone forth "with an age-old desire to please". That phrase, and the danceable beat, struck a chord with me at my first duty station post-divorce.
I had been on the edge of seventeen when I had enlisted in the U.S. Navy.
I had done so for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was to shed the responsibility of tending to my three brothers.
As the eldest child of four, I'd been daytime caretaker since I was about ten.
The military would make me responsible only for myself and my actions.
What a welcome change of pace that would be!
Plus, I would learn about computer electronics, I would get on the pill, and I would get to travel - bonus, bonus, bonus!
Plus, when my enlistment was completed, I'd still be able to attend college and have it paid for by the Chapter 34 benefits.
I share my birthday with John F. Kennedy and his words of advice in his inaugural address have always meant much to me.
"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - but what you can do for your country."
Voluntarily giving six years of my life to this country I call home, and in the name of the many freedoms we cherish that others do not have, seemed the right thing to do.
And it was!
And I so enjoyed the experience that I added an extension of time!
In fact, I had considered staying in for twenty years, but then I would have forfeited my educational benefits and that was not an option for me.
Who would have thought those eight years would still be granting me benefits?
I know my seventeen-year-old self did not have a clue about such life-long bonuses.
I was blessed back then, and I continue to be blessed for a decision I made during my senior year of high school.
I know Daddy was opposed to my enlistment. If my parents had not been divorced, and if Mama had not had sole custody of me and my brothers, then who could say how different my life would have been?
As it was, I was volunteering at the Savannah Science Museum and learning a bit of physics and electronics there.
That sparked my interest in AEF, so to speak.
(A little joke! Love those puns!)
I had scored very well on the military placement test and had every branch of the service courting me, which was actually rather nice, as having options is a good thing.
I decided to go for the Navy, as I knew I would always have a beach close at hand.
(smile)
Mama had to co-sign in order for me to enlist... and she had.
She had not wanted me to leave home, but she knew this was important to me and she respected my decision, even though she had not agreed with it.
That is truly how a parent's love should be.
I was so blessed!

The Navy blessed me with two years on the sun-drenched beaches in Panama, a year on the clear-blue Gulf shores in Pensacola, two years at the rocky little beaches of Okinawa, and fifteen months on the sun-setting pink beaches of San Diego.
So much travel at places I'd otherwise never have been!
Afterward, I had 42 months of financial support while I attended college. That helped support me well into my first year of graduate school!
Blessings and more blessings, those were.
Still to come were even more that I had never even dreamt of having.
Honors at baseball games, for being a veteran.
Free meals at restaurants, for being a veteran.
Discounts at music and theatrical events, for being a veteran.
Seaworld Orlando even granted me free access to their theme park!
Blessings and more blessings, those are.
But the largest benefit I have had is through my Veterans Administration Health card.
I have had that benefit for about fifteen years, maybe more.
Even so, I had not made use of it until about six years ago.
After Sam Johnson had a stroke at an early age, my husband and I saw a need for health insurance, so we bought it through his work (at a large radio station cluster). I had kept that after the divorce, up until my full-time gig at Armstrong. There followed three years of paying into that health insurance plan, until loss of that job in the fall of 2013.
Ever since then, my only health coverage has been through the VA.
What a blessing to have that available to me!
Even more so, it's been a blessing to have it be free.
Of course, the reason it is of no cost is because I have been so poor.
That makes it that much more valuable to me.
Remember back in May, when I thought I was having a stroke and went to the hospital?
I had the good sense to follow protocol during that scary time, notifying the After-Hours VA Care first, following their advice to seek immediate emergency care.
I repeatedly showed my VA Health Care card to all medical personnel at the local facility.
That has worked out in my favor.
Two of those medical agencies have tried to bill me for that emergency service.
I had called the VA Patient Advocate last month concerning the invoices.
They had sent me the list of payments made by the VA to those entities and noted they were all considered "paid in full".
Yesterday, I spoke to the VA Community Care program.
As per an act of Congress, literally, those entities which are continuing to bill me are violating the law.
Once the VA has paid the invoices for medical care, those bills are considered d-o-n-e.
It doesn't matter what the total amount due had been, nor did it matter what percentage of that amount was actually paid.
After the VA was done with their processing of the bills, the accounts were to be considered "paid in full" by all parties.
What a relief to know!
As I told the young man I spoke with, I'm so grateful that I had enlisted when I was just a girl of seventeen.
I could have had no idea the repercussions of that decision would still be impacting my life in so many ways.
Such a blessing...
i thank You, God.
I thank you, Mama, for believing in my dreams.