Friday I was honored by the flight simulator instructors from Vance AFB with a quilt handmade by the wife of one instructor. I had the best job in the world at Vance for 15 years. As an Office Administrator for CSI (Contract Simulator Instructors) I started that job in 1995 in the front office with 23 retired military pilots. They taught the Air Force students to fly, and I kept the office running for them. We lost that contract 15 years later and by that time we had 85 instructors and one Office Administrator. I had help and lots of things changed in that 15 years, but what was most important was that I worked with 85 of the best people in the world.
I’ve had a varied career, starting with working in flower shops, managing municipal pools, and teaching swimming. Later when the kids were older I went back to school and received my paralegal certificate from OU then worked for years in law offices. I met and worked with some wonderful people and learned more than I could have ever imagined. And then I went to work for the flight simulator instructors at Vance.
I felt like Danny DeVito when I first crept onto that military base and asked for directions to the sim building. “Can I buy a vowel?” Military lingo is a language all of its own. You couldn’t sling a dead cat without hitting a retired Lt Col, and there I stood in my heels and suit from the law office among a sea of flight suits – many of them Viet Nam era. I quickly learned what the insignia on the shoulders meant and thank God for name tags.
I left the base when our company lost the contract and my job disappeared into a pool of paperwork, but not until I helped the instructors apply for their own jobs with the Federal Government. Then I went back into a law office in an oil and gas company. But the people I worked with remained my friends. I knew their wives, children, and grandchildren. They were family, not just co-workers.
I still have breakfast with the old codgers every couple of weeks now that we are all retired, and Friday morning they presented me a quilt of honor because they said I could herd cats (them). They were always grateful for the work I did.
Thank you, CSI, for your friendship and the quilt I will always cherish.
Next week, Friday, September 7, 2018 is First Friday in Enid 5-9 pm. 
#weareowfi! was used a couple of years ago to celebrate all things having to do with Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. Those days came and went, and we are still a great group of writers supporting writers even if I haven’t seen that hashtag in some time. Breaking into the publishing world is a tough nut to crack and you need all the support you can get. And at OWFI, you get the support you need and want. 
I cleared my life of a few books at A New Chapter Bookstore yesterday afternoon. I had a book signing with four other Oklahoma authors. Five authors in one location. It was a beautiful Oklahoma afternoon and I was surrounded by books and good friends. What more could an author want? I came home and ordered more books. 
Victim mentality
I cleared my life of an old phone this week. I’m like an old dog with new tricks – trying desperately to learn something. 
I did a little more clearing of my life this week. My bedroom is in the back of the house and it seems things collect there. I am not sure how this happens, but the house is shaped like an “L” and the master bedroom suite is at the end of the “L.” You can’t go any further. So, as you walk to the back with your arms loaded from the living areas, things get dropped in that room. The room is also a dust collector and I constantly battle the dust bunnies. I think I may be losing that battle. 
Photos courtesy of Martha K. Draper.
Peggy Chambers "Views from the Hammock" site 