Alaric593
Well-Known Member
I started using an app called Stoic that's is well worth its attention thus far.
A question I was asked today brought up a memory that I ought to take care to remember more often.
I was on my way to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii pre war, for symptoms that alluded to a serious enough condition that the Army believed a month in paradise was warranted because the hospital in South Korea couldn't figure it out.
We stopped in Japan to pick up more passengers and one was a gorgeous woman who was my age now, so 23 years my senior at the time. I was ill, not blind.
Oddly despite many seats available on the military aircraft, she came and sat next to me and was looking at me for what seemed like eternity so I turned my head and said hello. She said the same and told me her name was Chelsea and asked me if I was doing alright because I looked exhausted
I told her I was but a little nervous because I was on the way to the hospital in Hawaii and thus far the Army doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.
She said she understood and she talked with me the entire way there doing many things to keep me calm. She held my hand and assured me that everything was going to be ok, rubbed my shoulders, put her hand on my knee.
Being an 18 year old Airborne Infantryman, I took all of this the wrong way and you'll understand how later, and thought I knew enough that she was likely an officer's or the wife of someone important, so I didn't act on anything I was thinking, and she really was keeping me calm despite the hormone driven thoughts so I enjoyed it.
We landed in Hawaii and as we stepped on to the tarmac, she again stared at me and said, you know what. If you need anything at all while we're here, please call me and she gave me the phone number of where she'd be staying on base and she gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek.
At this point, I knew damn well my career would be over if I actually called her because I wouldn't be able to control myself. I thanked her and we parted ways with no intention on seeing her again.
During my hospital stay that lasted 28 days, she visited me every single day but one. Not for long, ten minutes here thirty minutes there. After the kiss, I was quite nervous around her but she didn't seem phased by it at all and I really enjoyed her company.
On my last day, she didn't show up to see me which was disappointing but I thought for the best because I then didn't have to control myself.
Fast forward a few months later, I'm home on leave. My father told me a Major Thomas called for me about a week before. I said I didn't know a Major Thomas. Nervous at the prospect of some random field grade officer calling my father, I asked what did they want?
He told me that she told him about our time in Hawaii and was just checking in on me to see if my health had improved. In all the time I spent with her, I didn't even think to ask if she was a soldier.
She also told him that she had terminal brain cancer and had only a few months to live and thought he should know what a fine gentleman he had raised because I didn't attempt to hit on her the entire time. He thanked her and asked if she wanted to leave her number because I would be home on leave soon. She told him no, she was going to be in surgery at the end of the week and wouldn't be able to talk for awhile.
I found that she died a few weeks after her surgery when trying to return the favor to check in on her.
RIP Major Thomas. I will remember you more often.
A question I was asked today brought up a memory that I ought to take care to remember more often.
I was on my way to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii pre war, for symptoms that alluded to a serious enough condition that the Army believed a month in paradise was warranted because the hospital in South Korea couldn't figure it out.
We stopped in Japan to pick up more passengers and one was a gorgeous woman who was my age now, so 23 years my senior at the time. I was ill, not blind.
Oddly despite many seats available on the military aircraft, she came and sat next to me and was looking at me for what seemed like eternity so I turned my head and said hello. She said the same and told me her name was Chelsea and asked me if I was doing alright because I looked exhausted
I told her I was but a little nervous because I was on the way to the hospital in Hawaii and thus far the Army doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.
She said she understood and she talked with me the entire way there doing many things to keep me calm. She held my hand and assured me that everything was going to be ok, rubbed my shoulders, put her hand on my knee.
Being an 18 year old Airborne Infantryman, I took all of this the wrong way and you'll understand how later, and thought I knew enough that she was likely an officer's or the wife of someone important, so I didn't act on anything I was thinking, and she really was keeping me calm despite the hormone driven thoughts so I enjoyed it.
We landed in Hawaii and as we stepped on to the tarmac, she again stared at me and said, you know what. If you need anything at all while we're here, please call me and she gave me the phone number of where she'd be staying on base and she gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek.
At this point, I knew damn well my career would be over if I actually called her because I wouldn't be able to control myself. I thanked her and we parted ways with no intention on seeing her again.
During my hospital stay that lasted 28 days, she visited me every single day but one. Not for long, ten minutes here thirty minutes there. After the kiss, I was quite nervous around her but she didn't seem phased by it at all and I really enjoyed her company.
On my last day, she didn't show up to see me which was disappointing but I thought for the best because I then didn't have to control myself.
Fast forward a few months later, I'm home on leave. My father told me a Major Thomas called for me about a week before. I said I didn't know a Major Thomas. Nervous at the prospect of some random field grade officer calling my father, I asked what did they want?
He told me that she told him about our time in Hawaii and was just checking in on me to see if my health had improved. In all the time I spent with her, I didn't even think to ask if she was a soldier.
She also told him that she had terminal brain cancer and had only a few months to live and thought he should know what a fine gentleman he had raised because I didn't attempt to hit on her the entire time. He thanked her and asked if she wanted to leave her number because I would be home on leave soon. She told him no, she was going to be in surgery at the end of the week and wouldn't be able to talk for awhile.
I found that she died a few weeks after her surgery when trying to return the favor to check in on her.
RIP Major Thomas. I will remember you more often.
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