Well, I said "maybe"…

And, sure, I knew there was a good 6 - 8 weeks after Levi was born when it wasn't a good idea.

Okay, Angel had put on extra weight with the baby. I know you need to feel comfortable with your body again. She wouldn't be comfortable with me until she felt she looked "right".

Yes, I was working that goofy rotating shift. I couldn't really tell the United States Air Force I needed different hours just so I could sleep with my wife.

I decided the only thing I could do was to leave it up to Angel. When she was ready, I'd be ready. She seemed surprised that I was so "anxious", but told me she loved me and would let me know when she was ready.

Finally, Angel felt she looked good enough. Finally, Levi was sleeping through the night. Finally, I was back on day shift for more than a few days. My hopes were high.

And so, THAT day, I get my orders sending us back to the States, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

Well, there was just SO much to do now. Angel had to call her folks, figure out what we wanted to take, what were we going to need. What about the car? What about the furniture?

That window of opportunity slammed before I got my fingers away from the sill.

Well, one good thing about going to Wright-Pat was that Chrissy had moved to Dayton. She was an RN now and working at Dayton General Hospital. With Max gone, Chrissy was as close as I had to family. Another good thing about having Chrissy there was that she and Angel worked out all the arrangements for find a house together.

Before leaving for the States, we decided to take a weekend trip to Amsterdam. It was their 500 Year Celebration. It made the U.S. Bicentennial seem sort of premature.

We had a great time wandering around and looking at things. Levi was a great traveler.

However, he didn't want to sleep anywhere more than six inches away from Angel or me.

So much for that romantic weekend.

I was promoted to Sargent the day we left RAF Lakenheath.

We got back to the States in April 4, 1976. We slept the night in a cheap motel in New Jersey before making the drive to Memphis. Angel drank wine for the first time since she learned she was pregnant. We smoked a joint together for the first time since she learned she was pregnant. And we… (you get the idea.)

I'd never met Angel's family. I'd only seen pictures of them. So they came as pretty much a surprise in person.

I knew her father had died in a car crash when she was 15. I knew that she, her sister, and her mother lived with her grandmother.

I wasn't prepared for just how Southern they were. You could practically hear "Damn Yankee" every time I left the room.

There was no "hankie-panky" in Grandmother's house. We got separate rooms.

Thanks to Angel's planning and Chrissy's help, the house in Dayton was ready and waiting for us. Well, almost ready. The movers had arrived the day before. Chrissy was there to make sure everything made it inside the place at least.

So we started to settle in to our new life, a new routine.

I ended up on graveyard shift.

In a way that worked out. Angel had decided she should go back to school. I'd be getting out of the Air Force in a little over a year, so we had to be ready to the future.

And Angel dove into school with a vengeance. She felt she had to catch up. She was nearly 21 and just starting college. She signed up for 22 credit hours right off the bat. Angel had classes all day, every day, and night classes twice a week.

Here's how it worked:

I'd get home at around 7:30 a.m. We'd pass each other as Angel and Levi headed for daycare. I'd sleep until about noon and then pick him up. We'd eat lunch and take care of errands until Levi was ready for his afternoon nap. While he napped, I'd "straighten up" around the house, wash dishes, that sort of thing. Depending on the day of the week, Angel would get home between 4:30 and 5 o'clock. Some times I cooked, most of the time she cooked. I always did the dishes. By 7 p.m. she be off again, again depending on the day, to class or to the Library to study. I'd have Levi bathed and in bed by 8:30. I'd start getting ready for work around 10. Angel usually got home by 10:30. I was at work by 11:00 p.m.

And what were the weekends like? First remember that the Air Force is a 24/7 operation. I didn't get weekends off, I got Tuesday and Wednesday off. So on those days, Angel didn't take Levi to daycare, I stayed awake with him. We'd go out for lunch and usually meet Chrissy. Then we'd go home and take a nap until Angel got home. Then it's the same old plan, except that Angel was normally home later, say 11-11:30, and we got to sleep together. And that almost always meant just that, sleep. Angel would be too tired or too stressed for anything else. Saturday differed in as much as Angel normally didn't have classes. She'd clean the house while I slept. Then she'd go to the Library and Levi and I watched old sci-fi movies together on TV. Sunday was different, We'd usually try to do something as a family, go to the zoo, something like that. We'd go out for dinner. But I still had to go to work.

That was it. That was the routine. That's the way it went for my whole time at Wright-Patterson AFB.

I must say though, Angel packed nearly three years of college into that time.

After I got out of the Air Force I had to find a job quickly. The landlord raised the rent, daycare cost more off-base. Fortunately, Chrissy came to the rescue again. She knew the guys in Data Processing at Dayton General Hospital and I'm sure her recommendation helped me get the job.

Doing the same thing I did in the Air Force. Graveyard shift again. At least the money was better.

But I didn't join the Air Force only to get out and do the same thing. I went so I could go back to college.

Except I couldn't, not with Angel going. I had to work, make the money.

So, as my compromise, I took a photography class one night a week.

That's where I met Helena Starks.