I wondered why I’ve been talking about Basic so much, and although there are other reasons, and I did sort of recall my general enlistment anniversary, I really hadn’t let it sink in. Today, Dylan helped me find my DD214, and my first PT test was 15 Oct 1988. My enlistment was 25 Aug 1988. Thirty years. Which is about when I first met Dylan, although it’s a bit hazy. He was one of many young men in short hair and green clothes.

This is anniversary of the in between, that luminal time between that desperate move to get me back into school, and actually jumping into the deep end. My life would change permanently, and in ways I could never have imagined, because all the rules I’d assumed were in effect, would be upended and wrenched away.

Not to mention a great expansion in my vocabulary.

And a path I’d share with Dylan.

Hardest thing I’d ever done at that point. My universe changed, and I found my courage. Learned to love dawn and find pleasure in nature. Found out I was tough, and realized I was very very alone.