Monday, September 1, 2008

“I did one tour”

Anne’s dad joined us for our ridiculously delicious and enormous brunch after the race on Sunday.
They were planning to travel through Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand after this and I spotted my chance to mention my own traveling days in that particular area a few years ago, and as I ordered my chocolate soufflé I opened with the “Have you been there before, sir?” and he calmly replied, “Yea I was in ‘Nam during the war”.
Not only is he the first person I hear referring both the country and the war in the combined contraction, ‘Nam’ in actual reality, but it also brings some perspective of life in general.
Here we are boozing champagne and eating food like no tomorrow on a Sunday afternoon, and this gentleman went to war at our age.
Then my chocolate soufflé arrived and bitch-slapped perspective back to now and it wasn’t even half as good as I hoped.

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