"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." (Ecclesiastes)

.....When I was about 14 year's old, I met a girl from Brighten Beach in Brooklyn whose Aunt and her four cousins lived in the building next  to ours on Kelly St. in the Bronx.  She was a very pretty blonde...the only kind I was ever attracted to.  She was 12 and we became quite close--even kissed a few times; but I think that was a case of cheating on a game of "Spin the Bottle."  At any rate, we did correspond while I was in the Navy and when I returned, we picked up where we left off.  Only by this time, I was 21 and she was 18.  Very significant changes, I believe.  I spent an hour every weekend on the BMT subway just to get to her home in Brighton where she lived with her parents and two older sisters.  We decided to get married, invitations were printed and mailed just about the time I was incarcerated in the VA hospital in 1946 suffering from battle fatigue.

..... (I may get some of my dates wrong, but it's not that important; this examination of my life is primarily for my own satisfaction.  When I was younger, I did not want merely to be "good"--I wanted to be "great"--as I mentioned in a previous blog.  At this time that particular goal seemed dismal and improbable, if not impossible.)

.....Of course our marriage was delayed, to say the least--but we did get married in June, 1947; we were divorced in 1977.  Our marriage after 30 years simply got stagnant.  She ran away to California one day and never returned--she wanted "to find herself"; but  before that stunning decision, we raised four children;   I didn't I fully understand her compulsion, but I thought what she did was courageous...I couldn't do it.  I wanted to find myself also, but I didn't know where to look.  After our marriage I spent the next five years in college, having time only on the subway to study for my courses.  My daughter, Robin Lee was born in December 1950, and my son Joel Michael in 1952--the year I got my MA degree.  The twins, Bobby Lou and Bonny Sue came into this world in 1955.  By that time I had my first job teaching English in Cranford, NJ.  I took to teaching English Lit. like a duck takes to water, like a bird takes to flight, like a hot dog takes to a bun.  

.....I  was in the middle of Life #3.  

.....God! I've had a long life!  How can I finish this?