I'm excited that some of you don't know this part of the story. I lost track of some of my pre-Baylor and Baylor friends once I entered the air force. Thanks to social networking, I've been able to reconnect with so many wonderful friends. Here's the link to part IV, which also has links to the previous parts.
---
I stayed at Baylor a little while after I entered the air force while I waited for my Air Battle Manager training slot to open up. I knew I'd be going to Tyndall but the back log for training was a few months and in the interim, I worked at the detachment. My training slot finally opened up and I reported to Tyndall in October. I felt like I was back in school again with the insane amount of reading and weekly tests. I've never been one to be able to recall information easily, so I had to study hard. And study I did. While my flight members were busy pretending they were still in college with the amount of partying they were doing, I was getting active in my church. I got plugged into the singles group, but not with the intent of finding a boyfriend. Because let's face it, singles church groups are typically full of socially awkward individuals. Nice people and people I would be friends with, but I seriously doubted finding a partner for life. I played guitar with a few guys I met in the church, attended weekly coffee shop sermons, went to church and Sunday School, and studied hard. I was doing great in my class and my grades were high enough to place me 2nd in my class.
One of the people I met in Sunday school was Craig. He was an army captain and was the Army Corps of Engineers Dive School commander. He remembers the first Sunday he met me, I however, do not. As he tells me, he remembered me talking too much in Sunday school. He said it was a requirement that people attend class and be silent for a few months before they were allowed to talk. He was not impressed :-)
I did get to know Craig a little. He was a man yearning for knowledge in the Lord and he desired to throw his life into the Bible. He told me that he wasn't going to date anymore, at least not until he had read the Bible cover-to-cover. He wanted to be a man that could lead a woman in the Lord and he knew he was not ready to do that. I remember telling him that I thought it was a wonderful commitment and that I certainly wouldn't get in the way. We were friends, although I do admit that I thought he was cute. We hung out with our mutual group of friends. It was fun.
There are a couple things to note about my time in Panama City. One, I was there when Craig was baptized. What an incredibly special thing to have been a part of! I had NO idea he would be my husband! I met Craig after he'd done some serious soul searching and started living his life for the Lord. He was still transforming his life and the passion he exuded was beautiful. Two, I went to his change of command ceremony. Now, I've seen a lot of change of commands and they are rather boring and predictable. His was, by far, the best one I have ever seen because it was UNDERWATER. I was there as he relinquished command of his unit and separated from the army.
Getting back to the story now...I went in for my annual eye appointment at Tyndall and I figured I'd need a stronger glasses prescription. It was a typical eye exam and I looked into some machine that took pictures of my eyes. The doctor re-ran the scan multiple times. I honestly didn't think much of it because, well, it was a military doctor. After what seemed forever, the doctor came in and finally talked to me. I was blown away by what happened next.
I was told I had keratoconus. Keratoconus is a thinning of the cornea in the front and a thickening along the sides. The cornea should be shaped like a basketball, but a keratoconus cornea is shaped like a football. Not only would this eventually lead to blindness, but it also medically disqualified me from air battle management. Effective immediately, I was removed from classes. On the bright side? Had this condition been detected prior to my commissioning, I would have never been allowed to enter the air force. It was not just a flying disqualifier, but an air force disqualifier. Since it was diagnosed after I had been commissioned, I could stay in the air force.
In the course of an afternoon appointment, my air force career was tossed at me and I had two days to figure out what I was going to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment