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Does Age Make a Man?

Who's to say what will make a man of you? Case in point, my wife's grandfather:

He was born to a fairly privileged family. However, his father had lost and regained the family fortune at least once (Dad was a compulsive gambler) and things were not very stable.

He was 12 or so when his mother died in childbirth. The next year his dad found out he had terminal cancer. They had no other family, so his dad made arrangements with the housekeeper: she would recieve the house upon his death and in return she agreed to raise his two sons and daughter. The balance of assets would go to the children once they reached maturity.

After a year or two the housekeeper took the children to an orphanage and kept the house and assets. Who knows what became of her.

When my wife's grandfather was about 17, he left the orphanage and went to the Northwest to get work as a logger (This was in the depths of the Great Depression). Most of his earnings went into an account for his siblings.

By 21, he was flying a B-25 over China and Burma. The Flying Tigers jacket and silk "blood chit" he carried are still in the family.

After the war he came home, raised his own family, and led an ordinary life. He died last month at 82 after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease.  

So you never know what life may hand you, or when...hopefully you can rise to the occasion.

The ones that "get it" by 18 or 19, you can pick out of a crowd.

"Nothing counts 'til you have the badge . . . Nothing!"

Ask "Captain Bob" Any Question

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