H.’s story
We’ve made friends with H. She’s about our age. She was a “boat-person” and escaped communist Vietnam with all of her brothers and sisters. I think they are 8 or 9 all together, and they all live in the USA except for H.
We were doing a Let’s Start Talking lesson one afternoon in October when she told me part of her story, the story of the end of the Vietnam war. Her father was high up in the military and was in the USA when Saigon fell. The family begged him not to come back, but he said life was not worth living without his family.
The authorities met him as he disembarked the plane. They put him directly in prison. Two years later, the mom got a call from the prison telling her to come for a visit. Her husband was dying. They had a few hours together before he quit breathing.
I often think about that man. I think about what he said and about what he did. I think about H.’s tears after all these years. They fall for a father who died a long time ago, for the wounds are still fresh.
We were doing a Let’s Start Talking lesson one afternoon in October when she told me part of her story, the story of the end of the Vietnam war. Her father was high up in the military and was in the USA when Saigon fell. The family begged him not to come back, but he said life was not worth living without his family.
The authorities met him as he disembarked the plane. They put him directly in prison. Two years later, the mom got a call from the prison telling her to come for a visit. Her husband was dying. They had a few hours together before he quit breathing.
I often think about that man. I think about what he said and about what he did. I think about H.’s tears after all these years. They fall for a father who died a long time ago, for the wounds are still fresh.
December 8th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
What a sad story………….the story itself as well as the grief that lasts a lifetime. But, also, what a story of love……………..
December 8th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
I’m glad she’s found friends who can share the GREATEST love with H.
December 9th, 2006 at 1:54 am
I never heard that story. Tell H, B says “hello”.