CaliforniaCajun
Member since Jul-07-07 · Last seen Jun-17-21
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| When I was eight or nine years old, a cousin five years my senior taught me how to play chess; that is, how the pieces move but nothing about strategy. I loved the game at once for all of its excitement it induced within my breast: The feeling of anxiety and wonder waiting for the next move of my opponent, the feeling of accomplishment and exhileration when a planned strategy, or just the capturing of a piece, put me at an advantage, and the indescibable feeling of exhilaration I would acquire when fighting off the despair of losing, when filled with hope that there is a way out of the predicament at hand despite the overwhelming forces of the enemy arrayed against me, and through perseverence the tide of battle is turned in my favor! yes, it is all there even when the end result of the game turns again against me and ends in defeat. Ah yes, the agony of defeat is never so sweet as in a game of chess! I know this well because I didn't win my first game until I was thirteen years old. I am now sixty years old. I served in the Marine Corps for four years of active duty, doing two tours of duty in Viet Nam. I was born and raised in San Jacinto, California, and this is where I reside now. I am an Elctrician and have been a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union #440 for the last thirty-eight years. I have a wonderful wife and six children, ages 28, 26, 24, 18, 16, and 14. The only truly dark spot in all my sixty years was when child number seven was still-born; if he had lived he would now be 11. God has been good to me; I am truly blessed! |
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