Sunday, August 08, 2010

Changing Time

In a nice jewelry store yesterday, just off the plaza in Santa Fe. Talking with the owner and discussing a purchase I was fascinated by his accent. When our business was over, I asked him where he was from. He smiled and said, "Dallas."

I laughed and said, "No, where are you from originally?"

He smiled back and we both acknowledged his humorous first reply, then he said, "Georgia, do you know where it is?"

"Of course, I do. I'm very familiar. I was an Air Force fighter pilot and I used to sit on alert with a very large bomb in Turkey waiting to deliver it to Tbilisi. Things have certainly changed, haven't they?"

We left in agreement. Things are much different now than they were thirty-five years ago. It's a good thing, too.

1 comment:

juvat said...

One of my last TDY's before retirement was to Sarajevo. When it was time to leave, we got on a C-12 to an airfield outside of Budapest. As we came down initial, I'm looking outside and am struck with a VERY strange sense of deja vu. I couldn't figure it out, but I was convinced I'd been there before. Knowing full well I had not, I asked the crew chief, who was riding in the back with us, what the name of the airfield was. He told me and, although I can't remember the name now, I realized it was the airfield I'd studied as my target for Nuke Cert in the F-4. Yes sir, Mr. Rasimus, times have changed.