THROWING HELICOPTERS OVERBOARD

I woke up on the sofa in the morning, hungover and bleary eyed.  After adjusting  the horizontal roll on the black and white television I slowly focused on a surreal sight.  Saigon had fallen during my hiatus.  Helicopters were flying out to  Navy ships off the coast of Vietnam.  There were people hanging onto the bottom of the choppers which were landing on an aircraft carrier.  As soon as the people cleared, a crew of sailors would push the aircraft into the drink.
I thought, Oh my God, they are pushing millions of dollars of aircraft into the Ocean.  What a waste.  Then I slowly realized that the mission of an aircraft carrier is to launch fighter planes.  This cannot be done with the decks cluttered up with helicopters.  All of a sudden it made sense; as much as war itself makes sense.
     Where am I going with this, you ask.  For the third time in my last two years I am facing the prospect of "downsizing".  The possibility of moving from my new apartment into a single room in assisted assisted living is depressing.  But this is what it may come to, remembering my mission and pushing my personal helicopters into the water. 
      I have had 40 years of happiness and tragedy since Saigon fell 40 years ago today.  I am sober now and much more able to take life's disappointments without drinking but I still wince when I think of all those helicopters at the bottom of the sea.