Most Significant Event(s) in Your Life

spectratg

spectratg

Senior Member
Location
Adamstown, MD
Okay so we can all point to memorable events such as our marriages, birth of our children, etc. Also to tragic events for some of us; for me, the loss of my wife nine years ago. I'm looking for other than these types of events that many of us share, such as a spectacular vacation (the Great Wall of China for example). I would think it is also fair to include something like adoption of a child after many years of marriage.

For me it was becoming an entrepreneur at age 53, starting a company with 3 of my 4 daughters still in college or Catholic high school. The small business went on to be mildly successful, at least enough to pay off the college tuitions and the house mortgage and equity loans by age 65, and to have some reasonable investments by then. (I'm now 77.) Of course, none of that was guaranteed when I took that leap into the world of government contracting.

What's your story?
 

I would say mine is on the same line as yours. After I finished my degree in Business Management, I was finding it difficult to find a job and had just had my daughter. I decided more or less on a whim to start my own business adventure in my mid 20's. I had no idea if it was going to float or sink all I knew is I was going to be the sole owner and operator of the business. The business was cleaning homes and mostly homes of upscale clientele. At first it was slow building up that clientele, but the business did survive and I worked that job until the year of 2022 until I shut down the business and retired.
 

At the height of my Schizophrenic mania I felt I was the most despised, infamous person on the Planet. You must understand, I had 'delusions of reference' and 'delusions of persecution' in spades.

To show the whole world that in fact I was not evil, I donated a signed can of Campbell's tomato soup to the local food pantry. I thought satellite cameras from the sky were recording my every move...and watched me do this.

After making the donation I returned to my car...turned on the Radio...and Feed the World by Band Aid was playing. I cranked it up...raised my fist to the cameras in the sky and yelled out YESSS!!!! at the top of my lungs!

I felt a wealthy business person like Musk or Zuckerberg would purchase that can of soup as a Pop Culture memento for a billion dollars and millions of women, men and children would be fed and clothed.

Utter madness of course. But in that moment, I can honestly say I reached the state of Zen. I was at one with the world. I no longer felt like the Planet's greatest deadbeat.

One day I might pen a book about my crazy mental adventures. No one would believe half of the stuff I write, but I think the entertainment value might be pretty high. lol!
 
There are so many, so I will go chronological order.
  • Graduating from college
  • Coming out as gay
  • Moving from Tampa to Miami with my company in the late 80's
  • Buying my first condo
  • Meeting my partner of 30+ years
  • Buying our first house together
  • Being hired by the company with whom I would spend 20 years
  • Losing my father in 2000
  • Being promoted several times within my company
  • Moving from Miami to Dallas for quality of life
  • Losing my mother in 2019
  • Being "retired early" in 2020
  • Being "in the moment" since retiring
These days, every day I get to enjoy being healthy and hearing the birds chirp is a significant event.
 
seadoug said:
There are so many, so I will go chronological order.
  • Graduating from college
  • Coming out as gay
  • Moving from Tampa to Miami with my company in the late 80's
  • Buying my first condo
  • Meeting my partner of 30+ years
  • Buying our first house together
  • Being hired by the company with whom I would spend 20 years
  • Losing my father in 2000
  • Being promoted several times within my company
  • Moving from Miami to Dallas for quality of life
  • Losing my mother in 2019
  • Being "retired early" in 2020
  • Being "in the moment" since retiring
These days, every day I get to enjoy being healthy and hearing the birds chirp is a significant event.
Click to expand...
But which one really stands out from the rest?
 
Apart from getting married (50 years in Sept) and the birth of our children nothing 'Earth shattering', but a long list of interesting things...
First trip to the Lake District. It was quite wonderful, but now it's "standing room only".
Living in Germany down by the Rhine.
Road trip across north USA
Paddle boat trip on the Mississippi
Holidays in the Swiss Alps..
Retiring early and moving to N.Scotland..
+ lots of other little things..

Not significant individually, but they add up to an eventful life.
 
There are several events I could cite, but probably the most major was the death of my fiancĆ©e at the hands of a drunken driver as I was finishing up grad school. I had to completely rekindle my life at that point, and made my work my life for several years thereafterā€¦
 
Fyrefox said:
There are several events I could cite, but probably the most major was the death of my fiancĆ©e at the hands of a drunken driver as I was finishing up grad school. I had to completely rekindle my life at that point, and made my work my life for several years thereafterā€¦
Click to expand...
Iā€™m so sorry for your loss.
 

Most Significant Event(s) in Your Life​


spectratg said:
What's your story?
Click to expand...
We all have them

My most recent was up at our mountain cabin
I learned to look forward to the vivid changing of the seasons up there
Nature is so pronounced when far enough from the congestion of the city

fire on the mountain.jpg 100.jpg

full moon.jpg

I began to view 'nature' as 'creation'
I could see His handywork in the sky
and everywhere

7p56bKS.jpg


even in the tiniest of vegetation
struggling thru the brittle pumice

flower .jpg

t

I was a fifth season for me
One when He entered my soul

This event didn't hurt none;


Didnā€™t happen today, yet still....it made me happy today

Itā€™ll make me happy tomorrow if I think about it


A while back, wife and I went to church

Itā€™s refreshing, sometimes, to attend a church

Sometimes

Anyway, there was a song service
I donā€™t sing
Canā€™t
Tried
Itā€™s not considered singing
So, there I was, mouthing the words.

A few rows back, a middle aged gentleman was singing his heart out.
A tenor, I believe.
I also believe he was a butcher by trade.
Cause he was doinā€™ a job of it on that song.
His voice, his voice literally hurt my good ear.

Seems there were several stanzas to the hymn.
He got louder with each one.
At the last of the chorus to the last stanza I looked back...

Had to

There he was, tears streaming down his face.

The sun did not shine on him thru the ornate window

Yet,

His face....beamed

He wasnā€™t a good looking guy

He literally wrecked the hymn




Iā€™ve seen a lot of beauty
A lot
In nature, mostly

But this

Was the most beautiful thing

I have ever seen


I have that joy now

It won't soon leave me
 
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I grew up with God in my life as my mom and dad were consistent with going to church on Sundays. My dad always said the we have to give some of our time to the Lord. Also, with the exceptions of meeting my wife-to-be and having our 2 children, the day I graduated from the State Police Academy was definitely another significant moment in my life.

I definitely had more than 1 significant moment in my life. Out of those moments, I couldnā€™t chose just 1. Each moment was very special in its own way.
 
At age 18, first time on an airplane flying trans Atlantic to Frankfort, Germany to live on the economy with my new Army hubby of two months.
Seated next to me was the producer of The Dirty Dozen, all full of himself, and being obnoxious. (I was too young to say anything except gawk). Landing in a foreign country, reuniting with my hubby, and walking the streets to my new home, knowing only one Deutsch word Gesundheit. The sun was shining, I was so in love, so absolutely happy!

All this within a 12 hour period, the happiest I had ever been up to that point.
 
I also have to add seeing the Grand Canyon for the first (and only) time! Simply a mind blowing sight! And then there was being on Jockey's Ridge (not for the first or last time) late afternoon, cool breeze, absolutely perfect day on my 60th birthday (November 14) in 2005. Jockey's Ridge is the most peaceful place on Earth that I have ever been to. And earlier in the year being with my wife on her 60th birthday, St. Patrick's Day, in St. Patrick Missouri.
 
I'm a Civil War nut. I've visited the Gettysburg Battlefield countless times. It was the first battlefield to be photographed within days of the battle. There's a famous photograph of a dead Rebel soldier. By finding the rocks in the 1863 photo, with the same rocks, you can stand exactly where his body laid. I did that. I didn't expect such an emotional response. It's hard to explain, but it was like there was no time between 1863 and now. That made Gettysburg even more important to me.soldier-dead-with-rifle.jpg
 
My one and only serious involvement with the legal system ocurred in 1997. I was working as the assistant Treasurer for a publically traded, nation-wide finance company called Mercury Finance. During the annual audit it was discovered that the company had been over-stating earnings for the previous 3 years. When the event made the news the share price plummeted and the total market value of the company fell by $2 billion. At that time it was the largest one day loss of market capitalization in Wall Street history. That record lasted until the Enron scandal in 2001.

Being an insider, I knew what was happening. The press were outside the offices nearly every day for some time. Although we were making regular statements, the news in the media was so far from the truth as to be laughble. Since then, I have been very sceptical of everything I read or hear in the media.

As the assistant Treasurer, I was subpoenaed by the DA. Fortunately the company paid for an attorney. He advised me to take the fifth and he would work on getting me immunity. But it was still quite unnerving to have to take the fifth for almost 2 hours of questioning. Eventually I received immunity but had to wait almost 3 years before I learned that they would not need my testimony at trial.
 
Narrowing it to places that affected me:

- First of many trips to the USS Arizona Memorial
- My first visit to the Pyramids in Egypt.
- visiting Berlin before the Wall came down.
- Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
- Live Aid 1985 at Wembley Stadium
- Stratford-Upon-Avon to see 'Much Ado About Nothing'
- Day I retired from the USAF and knew that phase of my life was over.

Along with Personal family events, these places and events also left an impression on me.
 
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