Daughter Anna called in tears the other day after learning some shocking news. "It's been such a terrible day, Dad," she said.
It seems a close friend and fellow retired Navy chief, John Courtney, 60, died suddenly at the Memphis airport that morning within moments of her dropping him off to catch a flight.
The shock was amplified by the fact she'd just seen him seemingly in fine health as she turned to wave a last time and oddly thinking to herself, "What if this is the last time I see John?"
Minutes later, John would collapse at the gate. Initial signs, pending an autopsy, appeared to signal a heart ailment.
A mutual friend had come to Anna's home later that morning to share the shocking news. Anna was still in disbelief.
She began to tell me what a good person and friend John had been and how he'd spent the night before with her family.
Always spiritually attuned, Anna then turned to relate the incredible experience she and grandson Trenton had later that afternoon.
"One of John's favorite things in this life was dragonflies," she said. "He was fascinated by them and had several images of colorful dragonflies in his home.
"When Trenton and I arrived at home that afternoon, we were amazed to see our lawn, and only ours, literally covered in hundreds of dragonflies, of all things.
"They weren't in adjoining yards on either side or anywhere else in the neighborhood, only in ours.
"There were so many of them Trenton wondered if it was safe for him to get out of the car. That's the only time I've experienced anything even close to that.
"Why only our yard and dragonflies instead of butterflies or another insect? Where did they come from to arrive on the day John died?"
I smiled and reminded her there are no coincidences and I believed she had experienced a definite and reassuring GodNod from John wanting to let her know he's at peace.
"Yep, it was, Dad, a GodNod if there's ever been one."
'Love' is secret
During my classroom years at Ohio State, I regularly shared with undergraduate classes facts of life they'd likely never considered at 18.
I'd begin by talking about how they probably believed they could be happy in life with the flashy new car they coveted, or a big salary, or lots of accolades, or that beautiful dress they just "had to have," or a sprawling house on the hill with a picket fence.
"But allow me to tell you about reality," I'd say. "Once you get that car, you'll probably wash it daily for the first three weeks or so. Before too long, you'll be leaving Taco Bell wrappers on the floor and sauce spots on the seats.
"Girls, that dress you just have to have is likely to be laying on the floor of your closet within three months. Plaques you receive in life will probably wind up in a landfill after you are gone, because who else has the space or inclination to keep your awards?
"And as for that big house on the hill? Well, if you wind up living there with the wrong person, odds are you won't want to go home in evening."
More than anything else, I was trying to shock them into reality rather than the naïve and fanciful thinking that overtakes many in the late teen years.
So imagine how wide my smile became the other day when I perused the comic strip Pearls Before Swine where Pig was offering "Secrets for a Happy Life."
A man approaches to announce, "Yeah, uh, I got a big house and nice car. Important job title. High salary. Lots of awards."
Pig interrupts by asking "Happy?" The man responds "No, and I don't know why."
Leaning over, Pig whispers, "We all just want to be loved."
The final panel shows Pig announcing, "Some secrets shouldn't be kept secret."
Military struggling
The U.S. military is struggling to meet 2022 recruiting goals as our nation's youth either aren't eligible or interested in considering service.
From all I've seen and read in the news about the potential threats and preparedness of our enemies around the world, this ought to cause alarm in our country.
It has left the Pentagon searching for ways to find new recruits to fill the ranks of America's all-volunteer forces in every branch of service.
"This is the start of a long drought for military recruiting," retired Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation told NBC News, saying the military hasn't had such a hard time finding recruits since 1973, when the U.S. left Vietnam and the draft officially ended.
Spoehr said he doesn't believe a revival of the draft is imminent, yet "2022 is the year we question the sustainability of the all-volunteer force."
Men and women are being disqualified for reasons including obesity, drug use or criminal records.
Also, an internal Defense Department survey obtained by NBC News found just 9 percent of young Americans eligible to serve in the military are inclined to do so, the lowest number since 2007.
This increasingly sounds like a scenario where the draft I grew up with may again become inevitable.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at [email protected].