The Breakfast Of Champions 1

Chapter 1

We met at church camp many years ago. I won't say what year; but I remember having to chase the dinosaur out of the dining hall a few times that year. Well, maybe that was the year before.

We were young and dumb back then. All of us were going to change the world. Peace, love and stop the war were common themes. Now we have calls for brotherhood, wrap that wrascal and get out of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, or the battlefield of the week. Yep, we really changed things.

Herpes, you remember that Love Bug was the sexual fear of the day. At least it will not kill you like AIDS. Then again, after some lonely shepherd spent time with his sheep I bet he felt like he was dying. It might have been a welcome relief. Can you say syphilis?

Where were we? Oh, yeah.

We both knew the other existed, almost. There was no friendship or other acknowledgement of existence. The next year we met again this time we talked a few times and had a few mutual friends.

I dropped off to visit one of those friends; they were going out and said I should drive around the corner to see Pat. Something was said between them about her liking me and that I was cute. Ok, I never thought about it.

At the time I was 6 foot 2, 180 pounds, my waist was a 33, and my inseam was 35. I had a large head; I think the only thing that kept me from falling over was my equally large feet. My hairline had already started to move, and I had a full beard. I was 18 and had been passing for 25 to 27 for years; but only when Dad wanted me to pick up cigarettes or a bottle. Just to keep things straight he was not an alcoholic or any problem like that. He just liked a drink every few days to help relax. 7 & 7 was his favorite.

I was out of school and working when the new draft was announced. My drawn number was in the low 70's. It was announced that by the end of January they would have called number 45. I figured that my number was going to be called by March so I started to look at my options. Army and Marines were out: I did not want to be shot at. I was too big of a target. The boats in the Coast Guard were too small; the Air Force still had to go into Vietnam and was constantly targeted, so I went Navy. My number was called for April; I was off by a month.

I signed up for 180 day delayed enlistment, 4 Days later I received a letter, it read "Greeting...." Notice they were cheep, only one Greeting.

So I went down to the draft board and told them they could not have me unless they wanted come to get me at boot camp. As they called to confirm what I had told them I was reading papers on their desk. The top sheet on one of the piles was a draft notice for a friend. One thing I need to mention at this time is that I can read upside down as quickly as I do the right way.

I went to visit my friend and told him he needed to get his student deferment set up, he was in college. The last I heard of him, he was a career Army officer as was his wife.

I spent April to July as a guest at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. When I left there I went to San Diego to serve as a Lithographer on an amphibious ship. It was 3 Months later we sailed away to visit the world.

Between boot camp and the time I headed west, I got to visit Pat and a few other friends. While I was away some of us would write. I saved most of the letters I wrote to mail when we were in the war zone, off of Vietnam; I just numbered them so they could be read in the order written. While in the zone mail was free, we also had tax free wages for that month.

While over there, we got to see Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Hawaii and of course Vietnam in the distance. We also crossed the Equator. We spent time in the Indian Ocean while Bangladesh became free, that took about 3 months. We returned to port in early February. We had the better part of our mail waiting for us, including much of Christmas.

The end of February found us off the coast of Vietnam. This time some of our Marines were sent into battle. I saw a few Viet Cong who were brought on board as prisoners of war, talk about scared shitless. I saw some of the casualties; including when I walked by surgery and saw them remove the bullet from one fellow's head. I found out later that he and I had spent time working on the mess decks together. He was a little guy, maybe 5 foot 2, about 100 pounds. He got drunk on liberty and had a bumble bee tattooed on his little head. He wanted to sting all the ladies.

I lost my taste for war that day.

The end of March and early April found us off the coast again. There were no missions this time. On the 5th of April the ship's chaplain dropped by the shop, asked if he could come in then shut and locked the door. He asked how I was and after I said I was OK, he said "It's your father; he has had a heart attack and died." My world collapsed.

He told me to pack whatever I needed and report to the personnel office. He would take care of all the details and report for me at muster.

About 2 Hours later the helicopter took off to fly another fellow I knew and me into DaNang air base. The plane took off at 9:30 PM and headed for home. We arrived in San Francisco at 9:00 the same evening. Can you say International Date Line?

From there I bought a ticket to home.

A few days after the funeral I started to visit friends. The first weekend I made it to see Pat. She had just gotten home. She was happy to see me but surprised, I was supposed to be on the other side of the world.

I told her about Dad. Then she told me about her dad, he was in the hospital. He had a heart attack on the same day as my dad. We talked for hours and became a lot closer. The next day she received my latest group of letters. Her father always joked about my sitting down and writing 7 letters at once to impress her. Her mother said the same thing happened when Pat's father was in Korea.

Each time I went to visit Pat it took 90 minutes to drive it. I grew up in a city; to get to see Pat I had to drive to the next city and drive beyond it into the sticks. She was still in school, so I drove up the next weekend to see her again. This time I went with her family to visit her father. He and I talked for a while about heart attacks and that he was sorry to hear about my dad. I told her father I was glad he was going to make it.

I got up there a few more times before I was sent back to the war. The ship was due back in the states about the time I returned from leave. We were extended over there, I had to fly back. We finally returned home in August, a month tour was turned into 11.

I had applied for a hardship discharge to help Mom with my younger brothers and sister. I was allowed to be transferred to the east coast so I was nearer, that was better than nothing. I got home to Mom about every 3rd weekend, and got to see Pat most times I got home. The next spring Nixon wanted to reduce the size of the military as we pulled out of Vietnam. I was offered an honorable discharge, I took it and ran.

I worked during the week and spent weekends visiting friends, soon I was just visiting Pat. I knew she was the one for me, I just hoped she thought so too. .

While things were going well there was a slight problem we have not discussed yet. There was a farm boy there that everyone assumed would marry Pat. We had met a few times, but he was not happy to see me around. He had his life, and Pat's, all planned out. She had no say in what was going to happen. He would build a house on the corner of the family farm, finish school and Pat would stay home and take care of all the kids. There was no convincing him it would be any other way. This did not set well with her.

We had talked about what she wanted and she told me what he expected. I told her that I thought he needed to change his expectations from those of the 19th century.

One bitterly cold winter evening we went for a walk in the corn field across the street from her home. We were holding hands and trying to stay warm, we had too much to say to be in the house with everyone else. After we crossed the top of a hill the wind hit us really hard and she got chilled. After we walked down into a valley I held her to warm her up. We kissed for maybe the 3rd time in our relationship. This one lasted for a while.

After we broke off the kiss I told her that I loved her, she loved me too. I asked her if she would like to marry.

She asked me when.

My reply was whenever you are ready.

We kissed and she started to cry then said "Yes!"

When we walked back into the house she must have looked different because her mother asked if she was "OK."

Pat said "Better than OK, he asked me to marry him."

I had to go home so I could work the next day.

Her mother said she needed to tell the other guy. He called that week to say he bought a new car. She arraigned for them to meet at the house on Saturday, at 6, to see it.

I was not to show up until 7 that evening so she could tell him about us. I was parked at the corner around 6:30 when he came flying up the road, almost ran the stop sign and just missed wrecking his new car. Can you say "Royally pissed?" Yep, thought you could.

I was parked in a store parking lot when he went by. I went in and bought us each a soft drink then drove slowly down to see her.

She was crying again, I held her and asked how it went. He was not the gentleman everyone thought him to be, he called her every name you could think of. Pat's father told him he needed to leave. Word got around that I had stolen his girl; I became a pariah in that community. He had nothing good to say about Pat until her little brother told him to stop or he would pay. Somewhere along the line he found God, became a preacher and married another girl. They have 6 kids, we run into all 8 of them sometimes at weddings and funerals. After 35 years he can finally speak to Pat with a civil tongue, he has not apologized to her and still won't speak to me.

Chapter 2

Pat moved out of her parent's house the spring after we agreed to marry. She moved in with some friends for about 4 months. Then she decided to move in with me. She had some serious trust issues she needed to work on; not with me, but with the actions of other persons in her past life. We proceeded at the pace she wanted.

We spent a year living in the sticks then moved to the nearby city. We rented an apartment there, until the landlord decided to raise the rent. He said all the work I had done to the apartment made it more desirable. I found a handyman special with 3 units and bought it. We settled on the house and got married 20 days later. I never want to do that again, there was not enough time to relax until it was all over.

When we returned from the honeymoon we started to work on our apartment. When that was finished one of the tenants moved out. We moved into their apartment and rented the apartment where we had been and did it all over again. The 3rd apartment we just needed to paint. That took 2 days between tenants.

While the kitchens were apart in both remodels we ate a lot of order in pizza. Usually there were leftovers for breakfast the next day. We also ate lots of subs or Chinese.

About 3 months after we were married she had to go into the hospital due to stomach issues. They removed her gall bladder and appendix. When she awoke from the surgery she found a little mouse with a Band-Aid over his tummy right where her bandages were. We joke from time to time that she just had to try the, for better or worse, part of our vows.

After 2 years we became happy parents to a baby boy. Just after that we were visiting her grandmother, she looked at me and told Pat "You know he grows on you. I really like him."

Pat overheard me mumble "Yeah, just like a mold." She smirked.

When our son was ready for school we decided the area was too violent to send him to school there and sold for a nice profit.

We found our new house while we were camping. The sign out front of the campground was used on a record cover years ago. Then someone stole it. We liked the area and went looking one day

The new house was 50 miles out of town, the opposite way from her parents. It was beyond a handyman special, it was just the shell. There were no improvements, just the front door and the back of the siding on the outside. OK, so the septic pipe was run into the house. It ended 2 inches inside. We paid half down, mortgaged the rest and paid for the interior out of the rest of the profit from the first house.

Pat and our son lived with her family and came up on weekends. She was still working at her job for the time being. I left the job I had and worked full time to complete the house. The first thing I did was hang sheetrock on the outside of what was to be our bedroom and sheets across the windows, we would need privacy. When we moved in we put all of our stuff in rows in the basement, then I took the rental truck to get most of the rest of the construction materials.

The first week there the temperature dropped into the low 30's. The second week we had a wood stove installed. Thank god there were no ceilings; the paint burning off the stove still filled the place with smoke. While working on the house I used the bathing facilities at a local camp ground, we called it the car wash. They had coin operated showers. Less than 2 months later we were to a point that we could live in the house full time. Over the next 3 months we had carpet and many of the finishing touches completed.

We turned our efforts to repairing the grand canyons in the back yard and other landscaping endeavors. That fall it was necessary to install storm windows. The place was mostly done. That winter Pat commented that she wished she had a view of the local river. When the ice broke up on the river I brought her a huge chunk, pushed it onto the porch and called her. She was happy. What can I tell you, it's the little things that make her happy.

Almost 8 years after our son was born we had a daughter; she was conceived doggy style in front of the wood stove on a cold winter evening. I can show you where if you ask nicely. I often eat dinner or read on that spot.

Over the years our children have grown and moved out to start their own families. Along the way we were almost always nearly broke. We spent the money on trips to museums, parks, the beach and mountains and other once in a lifetime experiences. We never had much except experiences, and those were exceptional.

Pat already had an Associates degree, but she dropped out of college after her belly surgery. She felt like a failure, I told her if she could pay for it she could go back. When she started back her grade point average was 2.1. 5 years later she graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biology, graduating Cum Laude. She worked for years as a teacher, but had to retire from that when her knee was replaced.

Since the children left home we have slowly begun to remodel the house. So far the kitchen and back bedroom have been done; the new deck across the front of the house is great. We are just finishing our bedroom. For the first time in 30 years we have baseboards and wall to wall carpet. I built oak cabinets and shelves into one corner and just finished building another bookcase to put part of our things on. By next week I should be able to get to my computer without climbing over piles of stuff, and we should be able to sit on the sofa again.

Sure, there have been some knock down – drag out fights over the years and money has always been tight but we remain committed. To each other that is.

We talked before we married, there would be NO cheating or the offending party would simply need to move on. She knows I found pleasure with a few others, before we became committed, to the best of my knowledge I have been her only lover. There are the times when the spirit is willing but the body will not respond, but when it is good it is very good. Hell, when it's bad it's still good.

Last fall the new management where I had worked for 20 years decided to let me have the pleasure of working elsewhere, so money is tight again.

Medical insurance was a real concern. Now she is on Medicare and disability, I now go to the local VA facilities, and the ones near me are top of the line.

I still have months of Unemployment available, but hope to be on disability before it runs out. Being a machine operator with bad knees and a bad back does not do it for me. In the last 20 years I have had 4 surgeries on my back. If need be I will become a greeter at Wal-Mart.

We are still, after 38 years together, very much in love and the best of friends. We do everything together. Last week the doctors told me there might be something wrong with my heart, I know there can't because be because I love her too much. It still has to be working just fine.

Last evening we had pizza for dinner, this morning we had cold pizza and flat beer for breakfast. Oh, Yes! The breakfast of champions.

This is pretty much the story of my life, so far. Names may have been changed or omitted to protect the innocent or punish the guilty.

Would I have done anything differently? NAH! I like where we are at this point in our lives.

We do have cold pizza occasionally for breakfast; we feed the crust to our dog. She loves pizza bones.

Thank you to all who have written words of encouragement about my ramblings. I wish you all well.

PTB