Sunday Morning Coming Down

[robby]

I just finished an incredibly busy and stressful time, with order deadlines looming and the funeral of my Dad. I even came and worked late Tuesday night after coming from the cemetery. On Friday night, I slept all night on the couch because I was too tired to go to bed. Of course, then Saturday, I felt lousy all day, but finished everything on my list. I went out for beer and pizza last night, and listened to an old timey bluegrass band (which was cool because they had a fat old guy in a baseball cap that could sing fast in that high pitched hillbilly droning style), slept in a bed, and feel normal again.

I'm at work for a few hours to paint some cases, for an order going out Monday, but I'm done with the extreme work, and now Pogi and I go home and BBQ.

My girlfriend's gone for the weekend, so I'm watching Pogi. He's a joy, and he is convinced that he's my dog. I walk him and ride him around in my pickup truck. This morning we heard, then saw the flock of turkeys in the canyon, and later happened upon a juvenile turkey around the corner from home who gave Pogi a good chance to check him out. The turkey went from strutting in the street, to standing on a wooden fence, then flying onto the roof of house.

Comments

[69-tears.livejournal.com]

Closure is definitely a good thing, Robby.

Can you share your dad's obituary with us? As you know I used to write obits and I think they are a wonderful tribute to a person's life. I never found them to be depressing, always fascinating ... sometimes you read the coolest things that a person did as a hobby or where they were born and how many other places they lived ... but if I'm being too nosey, I totally understand. (((HUGS)))

[robby.livejournal.com]

My sister is writing the obituary but I'll post it when it's ready.

He was a veteran of WW2, and served in Europe in the 80th Infantry, with Patton's 3rd Army. He saw a lot of combat, was wounded just before the Battle Of The Bulge. He didn't talk much about the war, and wouldn't watch "Saving Private Ryan" because he'd seen enough of the horrors of war. He was very much anti-war because of these experiences.

[69-tears.livejournal.com]

Cool, I'll be looking forward to it.

My boyfriend's pop is a WW2 vet too. He'll watch war movies though ... he'll watch anything on the American Movie Channel :)

How did he meet your mom?

[robby.livejournal.com]

They met in college after the war. My mom said that on campus, right after the war, half the guys would hit the dirt if a car backfired.

[robby.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if maybe your b/f's dad didn't see so much combat. The real experience probably takes the 'fun" out of war movies.

[69-tears.livejournal.com]

I'll ask him ... but even if he did, he's a pretty tough little dude, as nothing seems to phase him much (Dennis is nothing like him) ... I'll ask him when I see him later in the week and get back to you on it

War Is Hell

[robby.livejournal.com]

My dad once told me they had a guy in their unit that always offered to march the captured German soldiers back through the lines to the US Army headquarters. It turned out that this guy was actually just taking them over the hill and killing them. They stopped letting him handle prisoners after they found out.

Re: War Is Hell

[69-tears.livejournal.com]

That's insane!!!

I heard crazy stories from people I knew who were in Vietnam and even the Gulf War ... it's weird how war affects people, some were very strong about it and seem to have led normal lives afterwards, others seem a bit off, like they are always somewhere else when they're speaking to you, even while looking you straight in the eye ... one friend totally took a turn for the worse after the Gulf War, he turned into a very different person.

Re: War Is Hell

[69-tears.livejournal.com]

And I bet from all those who told me stories, they're omitting a lot too as to not upset me.

Re: War Is Hell

[69-tears.livejournal.com]

Okay -- I got the scoop about Pop's war experience ... you were right, he was more on the sidelines, which was pretty damn depressing too because he was always in the rigorous training which went on and on and on and one of his friends got killed during training. He has a lot of good memories though because he got out of Newark, New Jersey for a bit. He does say that a lot of the movies are inaccurate.