Number 5...... For DU's Vietnam Veterans
I walked in a pasture, kicked at maple leaves in the driveway, talked with some crows and tried to find animal shapes in the cloud formations. Anything to not be near a clock when it struck 4:06 p.m.
October 26, 2020. Year number 5.
I’ve written about him before.....how we passed love notes back and forth every day for 16 years. I hid his note in his work boot, he’d hide mine in the refrigerator. Different place every day, but same love. He made me a pair of brass bookends in the form of calla lilies and built a wind chime out of copper pipes and a bread board clapper. He could weld, play guitar, fix cars, build birdfeeders, draw, design. He rarely bought anything new because if he needed something, he made it.
Flannel shirts ‘til the collars fell off, old bread truck for storage, and an incredible eye for good art.
We had a dog named Sage who loved yard sales as much as we did and a Maine Coon cat. I chose her first name, Lily, he chose her middle name, Elliot.
About three years after his Agent Orange Cancer diagnosis, he started talking about the Vietnam War. He said one minute he was a small town boy and the next minute he was standing in a jungle. Said he was scared at first, then got somewhat hardened to it all.
His diagnosis brought us to many VA hospitals in Vermont and the Boston area. Veterans brought in guitars to play, photos to share, even veggies from their gardens. I heard stories I’ll never forget, cried tears that will never dry, and saw a million acts of human kindness. One on one guy stuff that helped me understand this All For One and One For All concept.
I miss him more than I would miss breathing if I stopped, but because of what happened to him, I have had the honor of meeting some of the finest humans ever to walk the earth. I’ve been taught about sacrifice without any of them saying a word. I’ve been taught about friendship and support and compassion and bravery.
I hold every one of you in my heart...right beside the love of my life.
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