The holidays were difficult without Lee, but I tried to be festive and include the children in everything. I took them shopping to help me pick out some goodies that we though Lee would enjoy. One of the days we had the most fun was packing Lee's Christmas box with packages. It was mostly Christmas cookies which the kids loved to help with. The recipe is one I found in a "Better Homes" cookbook when we were first married. Consequently, I have now been making these cookies for over 50years. Our kids still love them and the grandchildren love them also. Plus I recruit the grandchildren every Christmas nowadays to assist me with the frosting and decorating of the cookies. I let them do whatever they wish to do as far as decorating them. They have a lot of fun and eat as many as they decorate. When we prepared the box to send, I packed popcorn around the cookies which is suppose to keep the cookies fresher and also prevent mold. The kids and I tried to send all of Lee's favorites for the holidays. He looked forward to it and so did his buddies.
I forgot to mention earlier that Lee was a great gift giver, and still is to this day. He actually sent me a gift every single month that he was away. For our November anniversary he had had his picture taken in his Army Fatigues. The picture was framed,and I loved it. Our sister-in-law brought the gifts over the morning of our anniversary. First she gave me Lee's picture and then a dozen red roses which he had also ordered for me. As soon as I saw Lee's picture, the tears started to stream down my face. It was kind of bitter sweet, the gifts were wonderful, but I would rather have had Lee.
Back to the gifts which Lee sent each month. One month he sent jade earrings and a jade ring, another month he sent a mikimoto pearl necklace and the pearls are all uniform in size. Friends of our who own a jewelry store say it is very expensive now because of the uniformity in size. But I will never part with it. Both of our daughters wore it around their neck the day they were married. Most of what he sent me was jewelry. He sent the kids things that were indigenous to Viet Nam or the Orient. A bow and arrow to our son and dolls for the girls. We still have everything he sent to us.
One of the perks?? of going to Viet Nam was R&R (rest & relaxation.) Lee and I had decided before he left that we would wait until February which was actually 8 months. The 6 month mark would have been right at Christmas time, there was no way I would leave the kids at that time. Our families thought my trip to Hawaii was a total waste of time and especially money. I was not to be dissuaded, I had started putting money away as soon as Lee left ,to finance my trip. I was going to Hawaii come "Hell or HIGH WATER" I needed to go, I was compelled to go, we needed to be together alone, if only for five days. Lee needed to go, he had seen so much carnage and bloodshed and massive wounds, some of which they knew as expert medical personnel were hopeless, and could not be repaired. Lee never took pictures of the patients, or never asked them their name. All of the info he needed was in their chart.
He has spoken about that since then and said that some of the female nurses became too close to patients, and many of the nurses experienced serious psychological problems because of this. Some of the medical professionals had repercussions from what they witnessed day after day for an entire year. Lee has talked about the young "new grad" nurses who came to Viet Nam totally unprepared for what they would witness, and many of them were just devastated.
Our dear friend OJ ,who had been our sponsor at Wm Beaufort Army Hospital in El Paso became addicted to Morphine. He had started using drugs because he had terrible nightmares, and could not sleep. That addiction lasted until 1983 (15 yrs) at which time he became involved with the law and was placed in a Drug Rehabilitation Program. We are still the closet of friends, he finished the program successfully and was able to work at the Veteran's Hospital to be able to support his family. Our friendship has lasted for over 40 years through good times and bad. They are both wonderful Christian people whom we truly love.
It is time for me to get back on track now. Sometimes I think I have nothing to say and then a whole bunch of thoughts will come flooding to my memory. I guess I definitely have the "Irish Gift of Gab" or what some people refer to as "Blarney"
Earlier< I had spoken about the harrowing trip I had with my brother-in-law to the airport. The night before we had a HUGE, ENORMOUS snow storm. In the morning , my car was literally buried. I had to actually climb up on the roof of the car to start shoveling the snow out from around the car. Luckily, I got up at the crack of dawn in case something like this happened. It took me a long time to get the driveway cleared enough for us to get out. My clothes were soaked from perspiration. I got the kids all dressed, my suitcases, which had been packed for days all packed in the trunk, not the kids though , they sat in the back seat. I also had a suitcase of new clothes for Lee. He had lost considerable weight over there. When he left home he weighed right around 200# and when I saw him he weighed 167#. Lee is easy to buy for, he is always happy and pleased with whatever I pick out for him.
So, after all the shoveling,etc we set out for Lee's brother's house as they were going to take care of our children. I actually wish I would have driven because my broth-in-law was cautious to a fault, and drove so-o slowly. I looked at my watch continuously and was to the point of accepting the fact that I was going to miss my flight. Finally, we arrive at the airport. My dad was standing outside of the airport, I could tell he was angry. "Where the hell have you been.? he said. You're going to miss the flight. I dropped my suitcases, and I really did not care if I ever got them or not. I just ran as fast as I could to the designated terminal. The ladder had been taken away,(remember this is over 35 years ago when passengers were boarding the plane outside) the plane was starting to leave the terminal. All of a sudden, much to my astonishment they rolled the ladder back and escorted me up the stairs, and took me to my designated seat. I was so thankful and so relieved that my eyes just filled with tears which were streaming down my face. This was my maiden voyage on a plane, and of course I could hardly have picked a longer flight, especially when I am flying solo. The man seated next to me looked like he was in his 40's, and he appeared very pleasant. I told him where I was going and that I had never flown before. Turns out that he was a businessman, and of course he flew all of the time. He said "you know that some of us who fly frequently, have a tendency to take it for granted, and we forget about the people who have never flown before." When we arrived in Chicago's O'Hare Airport I was incredulous just at the utter size of this airport, especially when compared to Rochester where I left from. The man next to me asked if I would watch his bags while he went to freshen up, sure I said, I won't be meandering around this huge airport, thats for sure. Then I went to the restroom also just to pull myself together after my hectic start earlier. My seat mate watched my things for me which I appreciated so much. We talked a long time and I told him a lot about Lee and our life, etc. I was filled with excitement, but also very anxious regarding the stories that I had heard. Apparently, the soldiers (our guys) were brought to the airport by bus. Sadly, some of the woman waited fruitlessly for their man to get off of the bus. Some of the soldiers never came and had apparently been killed shortly after making plans for their wives to fly to Hawaii. As we approached the baggage area to look for my bags, someone tapped me on the shouder. It was Lee, and I was so-o-o happy to see him, and be in his arms again. He looked great and had a huge smile on his face. I introduced him to the man sitting next to me on the plane, and like a flash the man disappeared. My first trip had been made so much easier by him, and then I didn't even get to say thank you.
It was a beautiful day in Honolulu, sunny and warm. The weather I had left was still blizzard like conditions and very cold.
Lee hailed a taxi to drive us to "THE PAGODA HOTEL' with a floating restaurant. WOW!! pretty ritzy for us. The taxi driver drove like a maniac and I truly feared for our lives. So my attention was pretty much on our safety and I was praying that we would arrive safely at our hotel. Lee's interest were worlds away from mine, and suffice to say he was in an extremely amorous mood. He told me afterwards he wasn't even aware of the taxi driver.
Time to wrap it up for this evening, it is almost midnight already!!
Next time we take you on the most wonderful 5 days of our lives. We tried to cram every fun thing into those days. Actually, I think we did have an incredible time. We stayed out all hours of the night, we went to bars and shows, things we had never experienced before. It was MAGICAL!!
Regardless of what has happened today, don't forget to kiss your husband goodnight and tell him you love him . Men love this stuff, and you will feel better too Try it!!
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