Life

It’s amazing how no matter how well you plan things out the one thing that you can never plan for is life. Life has a tendency of getting in the way of just about everything and can cause you to lose your mind if you let it. Take for example the simple pleasure of enjoying yourself in an amusement park; I was riding a rollercoaster ride called “The Batwing” where the seats recline so that your back is parallel to the ground and when starting the ride sends you forward head first so that it gives you the unique experience of either looking at the sky or the ground during the ride. Because of this, “The Batwing” at times gives you the impression that you’re actually flying. Well needless to say I enjoyed my ride with a family member that I had signed out for the day from his stint in AIT at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, Maryland, when all of a sudden life got involved and the ride was closed down due to technical difficulties. We were stuck on “The Batwing” for thirty minutes and because of this instead of leaving the park at 9:30 PM as I intended we wound up leaving at closing time when the traffic there is the most heavily congested. I had signed the family member out with the intentions of getting him back to post in time for the 11 PM formation and instead got him there at just before 12 midnight. Right after we were pulled out of the ride (due to the reclined position) I talked to the maintenance person and he wrote a letter and signed it explaining the circumstances involved that caused the family member to become late. The maintenance person also provided the Six Flags telephone # that gives a report of what rides were not working and the times they broke down. Hopefully the letter was enough to offset any possible trouble that my family member would experience due to being late for formation. Thinking back on the circumstances that caused us to be late is just one of many examples of how life can never be included into a plan of action.