One year ago today I was released from Jackson General Hospital after a four day visit. In my life I have had a few notable days that come to mind. Lets see if I can put them in chronological order. My first train trip. That was from Minneapolis to Great Lakes Recruiting Station where I went to Navy Boot Camp. My second big "first day" was Active Duty to Philadelphia Pennsylvania to the Navy Receiving Station. Then my first out of the country trip, eventually to Naples Italy to catch the Air Craft Carrier USS Shangri-la CVA 38, which was sailing around in the Mediterranean Sea at the time. After my time of sea duty was up, I was transferred to CINCLANTFLT HQ in Norfolk, VA. That is where I met the future Mrs. Saffell. Pat worked in the Personnel Office (actually the Training and Education branch) and worked on getting tuition aid forms filled out for me. I never used the forms because we had decided to get married instead. The next and biggest day was March 18, 1967. That was when we said our "I do" to each other at the Naval Chapel on the CINCLANTFLT compound. It was a small wedding with 12 or so of our closest friends. That was a BIG day.
Come to thinking about BIG days, at this age, there were many for both of us. It is difficult and probably counter productive to list them all, so I am keeping to a couple of what seems to most life directing/changing days.
The next one I suppose is years later after our second child, AMY, was born and I was again on active duty based in San Diego, CA. I had gone back on Active Duty to make the Navy a career, as there was stability and reliability as well as a community of brothers and sister military family that is a bond that those who have not experienced it, cannot understand. Having left Pat and the two kids, I was stationed on the Bon Homme Richard CVA 31 and on my second Viet Nam tour. It was pretty good for me, but wasn't so good for Pat with the two kids by herself back home, away from her family for support. We had an apartment in E.San Diego which was some distance from the Naval Station. Her family was the closest between our two, living in Henderson, NV. Mine were in Minneapolis, MN. So it was hard on Pat, which I realized through our cassette tape "letters". I was due to re-enlist (Active Duty from Reservist) while off the coast of Viet Nam. That morning a tough decision was made that I am grateful to have made. I decided that in spite of the stability and the resources, etc. available to the military families, with the prospect of me continuing to be assigned to sea duty and being deployed 6-9 months a year plus all the training periods away from home port for weeks at a time, I needed to be closer to the family that we were building...and it was unfair to lay all that on Pat. So that morning I decided NOT to re-enlist. Perhaps that was in the top three or four of the decision days of our lives. I still remained in the Navy Reserve, but the long deployment condition was now eliminated. The Navy and eventually the Army seemed to be a BIG part of our lives together. We both had comfort in being part of the Military family. Whenever and wherever we went and entered a military base, be it Navy, Army or Air Force base, it was HOME to us. There is a warm feeling of security and comradeship being there.
I think the next BIG day was when I left for Desert Storm. I was in the Army then having transferred from the Navy during a huge drawdown by the Carter Administration. Fort Dix, NJ. Flew forever it seemed to Daharan, Saudi Arabia, an eastern oil town close to the Gulf. Daharan was where we were housed and worked out of. Enough said about that. It was not one of the most enjoyable tours but was still a part of my life, but a physical challenging part that remains with me today. Glad I went, glad I was able to come home.
I thing that the next BIGGEST day (actually night) of my life was one year ago. Ten months earlier I had been given a gift that had long been dreamed of. I was assigned to a Church as it's Pastor. A lot of you remember that time. That night, I think it was Monday night, I went to bed and shortly afterwards woke up struggling to breath. After a call to daughter Amy and a friend of ours, Dale who lives close by, 911 was called and I was taken to Jackson General Hospital. I stayed there for four days. I was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis. I was now dependent on a oxygen machine and a CPAC machine at night. That was a life changing and most alarming time of my life. As I got used to the machine, which was a small, over the shoulder like a purse type of thing, things smoothed out and I mostly adjusted to the "new me". I asked to be be replaced from my Pastor duties, which at the time was both easy and difficult, because I felt I was letting God down, and letting the people He chose for me to lead. Pat and I were members of a neighboring Methodist Church that has a dynamic youth program and so many loving and caring members. I had filled in at that church earlier for two months while the presiding Pastor was on medical leave. That is where we are today. I am helping with the music on Sunday mornings playing my guitar and singing. When I found out about my lung problem, I had the idea that singing may strengthen my lungs and help somehow. I was also led to develop their Power Point program so they could get their noses out of the hymnals and sing the words of praise and honor that are now projected on the front wall. A new pastor had been assigned shortly after our arrival and is a dynamic and fantastic man. We have become very good friends. I also found a need and desire from others to learn how to play the guitar. So I stared a free guitar lesson class on Tuesday evenings. One thing led to another and I started a Bible Study on Sunday evenings at 5:30 as well. All this because Pat and I were so well fed by the loving spirit of the people of Gibson Wells UMC, that it was a natural thing to do. There is ALWAYS somebody, and most times somebody's that are almost fighting over who will carry my guitar, briefcase and stuff out to the car after church!
Now for perhaps the BIGGEST day of my life so far. Went to the lung doctor a couple days ago for the first annual re-certification for my O2 machine usage. Long story short on this one. I came away from there learning that my lungs have slightly IMPROVED! I will always have Pulmonary Fibrosis for the rest of my life. It will NOT go away. Doc tells me this is a very RARE event, where there is some improvement. He attributes the improvement to the dosage of the medication I have been taking and the SINGING I have been doing. I am now to the point, where if I am sitting, like at my computer, or reading a book or being more or less still, my O2 level is such that I do not have to have the "nose hose". When the level drops to a certain point, then I need the assistance. What a glorious day that was! God is working in my life. There is absolute proof of that. I feel He is very pleased with us doing His work at the church He has guided us to. He is touching our lives and can be touching yours as well. I plead with you to allow God into your life, so that you can do His wondrous miracle in your life, where happiness and peacefulness will live.
Do we have our "down" days? Of course we do. But I will share with you that they are fewer and less dramatic than ever before. Living the life that God has for you is a lot better than living a life without Him. So many don't understand that. So many are deaf and don't want to hear the Good News and Jesus has provided for us. Here's a truth for you to contemplate: Living life on your own, without God, will not work. You may think it is working, but there will come a day when the truth that I have written will strike you on the nose and you will understand.
Enough for now. Had to share the good news that only God can give.
Keep singing, keep smiling, keep laughing
Blessings,
Gary
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