Life sometimes takes us in new directions

One of the great benefits of being a newspaper reporter and editor involves the countless times I met with various people and shared their stories with others in our community. Many times, the stories they share allow me to personally connect with the positive messages they offer.

The most recent example I’d like to offer involves my interview with country music singer Ben Gallaher. Prior to his concert at the Elmore County Fair and Rodeo, we spoke with one another, and he shared with me some of the stories that highlighted how his life took him down various pathways that helped turn his life around.

It’s a message I personally connected with since I remember how my life took different directions that actually helped guide me through various challenges I faced and helped me become fairly unique.

The first turning point I experienced in my life began after my family and I moved from our modest home in Akron, Ohio, to a larger home in the suburbs several miles to the southeast. It forced me to leave behind all of my friends in the neighborhood where we lived the past 10 years.

When I started fifth grade at my new school, I didn’t seem to connect with many of my classmates. As a result, I became a shy introvert and became reluctant to talk to others.

However, life took me in an unexpected direction after my teacher encouraged me to audition for a play our class worked to produce. In an instant, I became the lead character of that presentation – a detective who worked to figure out who it was that pushed Humpty Dumpty off the proverbial wall.

That time on stage led me to another life-changing moment two years later when I assumed the role of the Mayor of the Munchkins in the school’s presentation of the “Wizard of Oz.” That desire to speak to others continued during my years at the high school when I joined the high school’s speech and debate program.

To a point, it seemed that life pointed me into a new direction when I took part in extemporaneous speaking competitions, which required me to develop various talking points related to various newsworthy events happening across the United States and in certain nations around the world. While it took me a couple of years to hone those needed skills, the feedback I gained from others on the high school team allowed me to develop ways to grab the attention of the judges as they graded my performance.

As a result, I became one of four classmates that earned the privilege of competing in a state-level speech and debate competition. It was something I never saw coming.

My life took another unexpected turn after I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Originally, I planned to become a radio and television broadcaster, but the challenges I faced trying to get through that program led me to join the technical school’s journalism program.

Granted, the journalism school took about four years of newspaper writing, photography and design skills and packed them into just 11 weeks, but I did everything I could to meet every deadline. However, that condensed training definitely had me pondering whether I had made the right decision to join that school.

At one point, I ended up having to restart my training and ended up passing by a slim passing grade.

Those struggles continued once I arrived at my first assignment at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. It involved the office’s senior enlisted supervisor, who subjected me to constant, negative feedback.

From his perspective, I could never do anything right. However, the other enlisted people in the office always gained his positive feedback.

Once again, I thought my life was going to push me in a different direction. It happened after that senior enlisted manager asked if I wanted to quit serving in the Air Force.

I still remember what happened later that evening as I pondered what he said. However, I remembered that I had graduated from what was one of the five hardest technical training schools in the U.S. military to graduate from, and I wasn’t about to simply quit.

Instead, I took time to allow my life to continue leading me on the path I chose. After all, I was preparing to leave my first duty station and go to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, and I felt that new assignment might allow me to pick myself up and find ways to improve my newspaper and public relations skills.

My next three years in Alaska became a major turning point in my life. When I first got there, our base newspaper struggled to gain any type of recognition from higher headquarters, and it rarely received any awards during the major command’s annual newspaper awards competition.

However, thanks to my new supervisor’s efforts to provide me with the kind, helpful and specific feedback I needed to hone and strengthen my writing skills, our newspaper ended up earning numerous awards that eventually led us to earning honors as the best publication in the Air Force.

While my life has led me down other pathways once I retired from active duty 16 years ago, I always remind myself that things don’t always go the way we plan. For example, I returned to college back in 2017 and I earned my teaching certification after I graduated with high honors from Boise State University.

Despite all of that hard work, I never landed a full-time teaching position in the Mountain Home School District. However, I did spend considerable time serving as a long-term substitute teacher at some of the schools in the local area, which provided these schools the help they needed to keep those classrooms open.

At the same time, it seemed the pathway in my life chose to go full circle once I returned to the Mountain Home News and resumed my duties as the managing editor.

It reminded me that life sometimes allows us to return to the path we once walked since it ensures we are able to continue making a positive difference.