Was there ever a time you felt your life was in danger?
Lorraine: With three boys, it was always that way.
John: Overseas in the marines a couple times. Once we were
in a “duck” and almost got run over by a bigger boat. I jumped out and I couldn’t
swim real well.
Marcella: During my first marriage.
Arlie: I flew in the Navy for 15,000 miles, 79 combat missions in Vietnam. I
retired from the Navy and worked for the Army on the firing range. My job was
to work downrange, repair targets, extinguish wildfires in unexploded ordinance
areas and tag questionable explosives. I would say God watches over idiots so I
was not in any danger.
Denny: Joe Nott had a really cool ’39 Ford coupe with a
beautiful candy apple red paint job and a hot engine. We were chased across the
swamp flats and up the S curve and out of town by some drunk coastguardsmen in
an old beater. Right behind them was the local police car. They clocked the coast
guard car at 105 mph but we were leaving them in the dust. When we got out by
the railroad overpass, Joe spun the wheel and we slid down the street sideways
and then managed to get in control and headed back to town. The coast guard car
slid off the road and the cop car went into the ditch. The local police found
us later and gave Joe a ticket. We had to go before Judge Grady in his chamber
and all Joe got out of it was his fingers slapped. Grady kept his license for
60 days but nothing went on the record. Joe and I used to sneak in and out of
Fort Worden when it was still patrolled by military. We’d scale the bluff at
night and we’d be in and out of the bunkers. Think we probably had a few close
calls in his dad’s boat, as well, when we went out in weather we shouldn’t
have.
Joyce: I remember climbing the bluff at North Beach to
sneak into Fort Worden. Janie lost her footing and fell head over heels backwards. She was screaming: I’m blind!
I’m blind!” I yelled at her “Open your eyes you idiot! You can’t see
because your eyes are closed.” Another
time cousin Linda and I went wild blackberry picking with our dads. We got
separated from them and we were positive a bear was coming to eat us. We cried
and carried on something awful and then our dads laughed when they found us.
(Linda cried harder than I did) In
January of 1964,John and I were driving from Port Townsend to San Diego in the ’57
Chevy wagon my dad gave us when John got back from sea duty and we were traveling
south with our new baby in the back seat. Going across the Siskiyou Mountains
in Oregon, the snow was coming down hard and it was late night. John lost
control of the car and we slid sideways. The car was looking out over the
treetops and I was convinced my life was over. I went into shock and insisted
we stop at a motel for the night. Traveling mountain roads is still something I
hate.
Dale: In my mid-twenties I barely escaped being crushed by
a heavy moving pleasure boat. Apparently, adrenalin kicked in as I was
physically relocated out of harm’s way. I found myself some distance away from
imminent peril with no recollection of how I got there. I was fully conscious
of the danger as the event was occurring and I was able to witness the subsequent
result as the boat slammed into the point where I had been. I am unable to
account for how I arrived where I had found myself. Several witnesses observed
the incident and judging from their wide eyes and gaping mouths, they too were
unable to fathom how I simply disappeared. I had no perception of a guardian angel
or other nebulous entity intervening for my welfare but then it happened in an instant
and I have no recollection of my body being transported from point A to point
B. Afterwards I acquired an overwhelming belief that I was being saved for some
later purpose. For 25 years I strongly retained this sense that I had some
destiny to which I was obligated. Many times I wondered what it could be. I have
come to the realization, in only the last few years, that my purpose is to
perform as caregiver to my debilitating wife and son.
Janie: A couple of tenants have recently threatened me in my
job as apartment manager.
Sue S: One time I was with some boys that decided they
would pass every car in front of them no matter what speed they were going. I
remember I thought for sure we were going to hit a school bus head on. I
remember seeing a flash of yellow as we barely made it on to our side or the
road. I am not very proud of the stupid things I did.
Cindy: When I as a kid we had a very long driveway from the
house up to the school bus stop. There were no houses along our driveway or at the
top. My mother would drive me to the bus stop and be there to pick me up after
school. Once in a while, she’d be late and I’d be let off the bus, alone, in
the woods, at the top of the drive. One time a
very disturbing filthy man in a beat-up car was behind the bus when I
got off. He didn’t follow the bus when it pulled off but stopped and started asking
me questions. I knew in my heart that he was going to be trouble for me. My
heart was racing. JUST THEN as I felt my life might be in danger, mother came
around the corner in the Pontiac and he drove off really fast.
Bill: Just with my health. In 1989 I couldn’t seem to lick
my kidney problems. I was in the hospital for three months.
What would you like to change about yourself? If you could
have done something else in life, what would you like to have been or done?
Lorraine: That I was more outgoing and not quite so
retiring. I wish I could have gone to high school. We couldn’t afford it.
John: I should have moved out of Port Townsend.
Marcella: I would have finished college. I only went two
years. I probably would have been a social worker.
Lillian: I would have liked to have finished high school. I
might have gone into nursing.
Jim: I would have liked to have been rich instead of so
darn good lookin’.
Arlie: I’m far too practical and factual. I lack in the
area of compassion. I feel it but am unable to express it well.
Denny: I would like to iron out some of the wrinkles in in
my face.
Joyce: I wish I loved vegetables more than sweets. I wish I
wasn’t so timid of trying new things.
Dale: Undue skepticism of others’ motives and intentions.
Janie: I wish I was less anxious.
Sue S: The obvious thing is to change my weight and I’d
like to be able to think before I speak.
Marlee: To be more tolerant
Cindy: I would like to NOT be afraid of being alone at
dark.
Bill: I would change how I think. I wish I could accept
myself more and be happy and content with who I am.
Sue W: My forgetfulness.
Mary: My weight.
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