wadewilliams
I was born in Albuquerque, NM, into an Air Force family. I am the oldest of six kids in a mixed family. I have a Korean sister that my parents adopted while we lived in Japan. Later my parents divorced, and when my Dad remarried, we picked up a step-brother. Later, we had a half-brother. That made six of us. We original four lived primarily with my Mom in New Mexico, as she was awarded custody. Of course, in the 1970s, women were normally awarded primary custody whether it was right or not. In our case, who knows?
I enlisted in the US Army when I was 17 in 1983. I was a very delinquent teenager, and whether the judge had the authority or not, I was given the opportunity to avoid going to jail by joining the Armed Forces. I jumped at that chance. For a military brat, that was a very easy decision because I loved the military!
I served for 25 yrs in the US Army as a Military Police. Beginning in 2003, I served as an instructor training US military personnel and certain others who were going to Iraq or Afghanistan during the wars there. We prepared them for the constantly changing methods that ISIS was using against us. Many generals said that the training done by my unit and others like us kept Americans alive on the battlefields of the time.
After I retired, I became a professional driver in Arizona. I drove school buses and other types of people transportation vehicles taking people from Prescott to the airport in Phoenix, and back. I really did enjoy both of these jobs, particularly when I was made a trainer and instructor, as I believe that was my calling in life.
In July of 2015 began slowing down. I mean that literally. My walking was slowing, along with most of my physical actions. I requested to stop driving as I knew I was no longer safe to be driving other people, especially large numbers of them. In that same month, I had a serious fall resulting in stitches. By the middle of September I couldn't walk without a walker or work. By the middle of 2016, I was in a wheelchair. In 2019 I was finally diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. I wouldn't wish the path that my Wife and I walked during that period on anyone. The not knowing what disease I was fighting or what the prognosis would be was trying for anyone of any faith. I wouldn't have been able to survive that without my wonderful Wife, who kept me focused on God and family.
We now live in North Carolina with my Mother-in-law. We moved here to help with my Father-in-law, who had cancer. He passed as soon as we got here. We stayed because my MIL has cancer also and needs my Wife's help. We will stay here until she wants to move elsewhere or passes on. One or the other.
