My Questions Please, Ms. B.

I volunteered to let Branshine interview me as per her website. It seemed like a fun thing to do. I may regret it after I have to answer these questions. If you want to interview, follow the instructions below.

This is a "Tag! You're It" kind of exercise except you have to volunteer to be tagged. Here are my questions:

1. Describe the first time you knew you were in love.
This is difficult, as I have recently wondered if I have ever really been in love, even though I have been in a few long term relationships and married twice. The first time I thought I was in love was when I went into the Navy and had left someone behind. I am not sure if it was the time apart or the time in isolation with 70 other men, but I realized not only could I not live with D, but that I did not want to live without her. She moved to Chicago with me after boot camp and we were married shortly after that. It was a mistake for us to get married that young, I was 18, but I do not regret it as we had a child together a year or so later and he is fantastic. As far as love goes, I am still waiting for the thunderbolt to hit me.

2. Given the power to change anything about yourself, what would you change and why?
I am not sure really. I guess I could say I would like to be more open about my feelings with those that I love. I have always had few friends and many acquaintances. I rarely let people get inside my heart or head. See question 4 for one of the reasons I believe I am like this. Maybe I just have not met the right person yet. Until I find someone that I can fully commit to, I will always be a little lonely.

3. What would you account for being the biggest mistake of your life?
Wow, there are so many, I am not sure I can pick the biggest. There are some obvious ones, not taking high school seriously enough, I just barely got out. Not staying in the Navy after my tour ended, it was the easiest job I ever had and I would be retired now with benefits. But the biggest might be letting my son move back to Seattle after he spent his freshman year with me. I understood why he wanted to move back, but I think his life, and mine, would be severely different if I had made him stay with me.

4. What childhood memory would you say had the most profound effect on the development of your character as an adult?
I don't really have a lot of great childhood memories. I think I blocked out most of my childhood as I just don't want to remember it. However, the one lesson I learned, the hard way, that has stayed with me all through my adult years was this...no one is going to take care of you in this world, so you need to take care of yourself. This was drilled into me as a child and it is still with me today. I think at times it makes me selfish, but also self reliant; independent, but also closed off.

5. What scares you most about death, yours in particular?
I do not believe in organized religion because they all seem to think that they know what is going to happen when we die and if we do not believe as they do, then we will be damned. That seems incredibly arrogant to me. They can't all be right, but they might not all be wrong. The biggest fear I have is dieing and finding out one of them is right...wouldn't it be a kick if it was the Hari Krishna.

Now, here are the rules for this Blog-a-thon. I'll offer to interview the next person to respond to this post that will follow these rules:
1. Leave me (Blue944) a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions here on Just Some Rants. They will be different questions than the ones above.
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.