Yesterday was Veterans' Day, and I found myself thinking about someone I try not to think about. See, when I was in Nam, I had this Spoon buddy. Now we had different religious beliefs, and we wouldn't have been friends in another situation, but in Nam, the guys you were stationed with came to mean the world to you.
We were stationed in Danang. There was a lot of action, and a lot of good men died. We got word in January of '73 that the war was finally gonna end, that Nixon was getting us the hell out, finally. I told my Spoon buddy that when I got home I was gonna go to college, and maybe teach high school. My Spoon Buddy told me he was gonna open up a restaurant and serve 50 varieties of rice, and everyone would eat it with spoons. I said I didn't like to eat rice with spoons, and actually tended to use a fork for borderline utensil situations. He gave me this funny look--hurt, confused, and angry--and said he was gonna take a walk.
That was the last time I saw my Spoon buddy alive. He stepped on a mine a couple klicks outside the camp, and it cracked his stem right up the middle. It was tough to see him that way, and tough to know that he died thinking I was mad at him. I mean, I never got to say goodbye. It still hurts, you know?
Anyway, I eat rice with a fork.
Posted by Chris at November 12, 2003 08:17 PM | TrackBackDo you know what funky things a super long title for an entry does in a blog...scary. Not the spoon buddy. The spoon buddy haunts my every meal. Thank goodness you do not need utensils for root beer..oh no what about a root beer float. Now this post might seem somewhat disrespectful to veterans but what about GWB (sorry root beer man don't be offended by the comparision.) Scroll down in the article to find the second bill "W" signed on Veteran's Day.
Posted by: WonderWomanWhy at November 12, 2003 08:35 PM*sniff*
I'm sure spoon is in spoon heaven, online, reading this blog entry right now saying, "Of course I knew you weren't really mad- I just needed some time to accept you for how you are...a freakass-eatin'-rice-with-a-fork-never-mind-that-your-best-buddy-is-a-spoon-and-could-die-any-day-now-I mean-geez-this-is-a-war-y'know-even-though-it-was-never-officially-declared-such"
And he probably worries that you're worried that he thought you were mad at him when he died. He probably also feels sorry for you and everyone else who's not up in spoon heaven yet since they're having a barbecue later on and it's gonna be some tasty stuff there- and it's gonna be great 'caus you can eat and eat and never get full or fat or even need to use utensils. And there aren't any newspapers.Probably.
Posted by: Dana at November 12, 2003 09:16 PM