What if?
2002-04-15

I travel through Providence on my way into work in the morning. Past the hospital where M.E works, past the ships in the Providence river. It made me wonder, what if... In high school, I had it all planned, join the navy, learn to run nuclear reactors, get out make the big bucks, retire early and sail around the world. It all seemed so easy, and none of it ever happened. But it could have, and my life would have been very different.

I had the highest score that ever had on the advanced tests at the navy recruiters office. Admittance to Nuke school was no problem. I was pre-approved. I was unattached, ready for challenge ready to be out on my own. And this butthead army doctor fails me on the entrance physical because I have flat feet. He failed 8 of the 10 of us who drove to Boston that day, all for flat feet. I guess he was having a bad day.

So, plan A is trash. There is no plan B. I don't have the money to go to college, and the family has no way to help me and the scholarships aren't nearly enough. So I went to work and life unfolded the way it did. A few months later the recruiter called and said he had found a doctor that would pass me, but that time had passed. Still, when I look out at those ships in the harbor, I wonder, what if....

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