Thursday, June 14, 2012

Old Times Remembered--Omaha

It was November 1983, Chris and I and the two (at that time) kids, Jeremy and Nicole, arrived to a cold and almost frozen Offutt AFB, near Omaha, Nebraska.

It was a different time. We had traveled from Shreveport, Louisiana, where I had just completed a the three year assignment to 8th Air Force at Barksdale AFB. I was an Air Force Captain and we were living pay check to pay check while raising a family and fulfilling my dream to be a vagabond Air Force officer. We were fortunate to move into base housing just before Thanksgiving and the arrival of snow and sub-zero temperatures. Two weeks later and the move in process would have been markedly different.

Although I was assigned to Offutt for two years, I spent only about 7 months actually living there. Te rest of the time was on the "road" seeing the world and living the dream.

I was reminded of all of this during the past few days as I revisited Offutt and was reminded of how things used to be. They say that you can never go back and, frankly, I'm glad that I never tried.

Omaha is a wholesome city. It is clean and surprisingly there is a lot to do and get involved with. The traffic at rush hour is non-existent--especially compared to the Baltimore-Washington corridor. But it is in the middle of the country and I am truly a coastal person. I love ocean beaches and it is a long way to the ocean from Nebraska.

Our family grew while did our two years in the Omaha area. Our cornhusker, Patrick, was born--so all things considered this short adventure on the road of life was a good one.

It is good to revisit and remember--but trying to go back usually ends in frustration and disappointment. It is hard to recreate the magic that resides in the mind when confronted with the realities of day-to-day life.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

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