Charlie Jackson:
CLASS OF 1970
DuVal High SchoolClass of 1970
Lanham seabrook, MD
Georgia Institute of TechnologyClass of 2004
Atlanta, GA
Western Carolina UniversityClass of 1980
Cullowhee, NC
Brevard CollegeClass of 1972
Brevard, NC
Charlie's Story
I have a 2 1/2 year old granddaughter that is the "apple of my eye". Grand kids are great...they come and visit and then¿thankfully go away!!! Michelle (my wife of 33 years) and I have had evolution proven to us...humans have evolved and are "set up" to procreate when they are young, I frankly don't see how our daughter keeps up with that child...just watching their interaction wears me out and¿the step-grandson of 10 (remember hormones etc. emerging at that age)¿well I rest my case. My daughter Laura, Cheyanne and step son Dakota came up to visit this holiday season from South Central Louisiana. We had a wonderful visit...we were truly sad to see them leave¿ but what a relief!!! Laura's husband works with a company from Texas (in the oil business of course) as a crew leader. He was (and is still actually) in Saudi Arabia. So she came up here to Atlanta with her crew, minus Kenneth. We missed him, but man, those guys rake in the money while overseas. That helps feed their 2 horses, three dogs, 18 cats, a rat (domestic, some actually refer to them as pets!), 4 humans, etc¿
All I have to say is: ¿There is just one thing I hate about being an ¿empty nester¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿Nothing!!¿
I became eligible to retire this past August from the federal government (33 years and age 55). But I chose to hang in there for a bit longer. And besides, Michelle is not eligible to retire from the EPA for a few more years and she wouldn¿t let me begin my life of leisure before she did! I'm (for the first time in my career) really using my education in my work now. I work for the National Park Service where I have been a cop, shift supervisor cop, tractor operator, maintenance supervisor, and the head of a maintenance operation from Philadelphia to South Texas to Georgia. I ran the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (in terms of ...Expand for more
facility and utilities management), managed business permit holders at the Canyon, and ran a maintenance operation here in Atlanta (Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area). I'm finally using my Masters Degree in my work (imagine that) writing contracts, managing the work of the contractors and seeing the project to its completion. I DON'T SUPERVISE PEOPLE after about 20 years and what a joy! I'm really enjoying my current professional endeavor, so why hang it up?
In our limited free time, Michelle and I enjoy RV travel (and that culture) and frequently take weekend trips and some extended vacations in our newest C.O.W. (Condo on Wheels) RV. We are planning a long weekend at the beach in NC next week and another in a couple of weeks to Nashville, TN (a favorite RV destination for us). We are heading to Nashville to set up a ¿sort¿ of family reunion for June and to see the "Grand Ol¿ Opry" in the Ryman (the traditional environment, they move it out to the suburbs in the summer) for the first time. Yes I know, THE FIRST Time, you country music fans may ask? Well in our six (or so) trips there, we always managed to enjoy other sites around that cool town (you know; the distilleries, restaurants, the Hermitage (of course) and so forth) but not the "Opry". We are not intensely avid fans of that type of music but do enjoy it. The history of the music, the tradition of the Opry and observing the people that attend is what we genuinely enjoy.
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being perfect) I would rate my life after DuVal a solid 8. As we all know, life always has its curvy roads, and I certainly have come close to misjudging those curves many times, human perfection on this earth rarely exists. It is how we negotiate and successfully make those curves safely, that adds to the exhilaration of being human. Yeah¿at least an 8!
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