applause on the roadtrip

i helped my friend with her veterans tribute last night ....
part of my participation was to read a poem during
the ceremony ... i searched for the perfect thing to read ...
i thought about writing my own, for various reasons i
knew that wasn't the right way ... i used several search
terms to try and find something which would express
the gratitude without all the patriotic cliche stuff ... a lot
of the poems and posts i read were dark, i was focusing
on vietnam vets ... some were too mushy and some were
downright illiterate ... some i tossed after reading the first
line and some made me cry ... as i ran out of time, i found
the perfect thing ... it sounded as if i could have written
it, it generated the gratitude, peace and forgiveness i
wanted most, there was nothing hypocritical about it
coming from me ... my discernment tools must have
been on target, because after i finished reading it, i
heard a loud round of applause ... i take that as a sign
of my successful attempt to touch the audience with
the vibration intended ... here is what i read, and if any
vets are out there, reading this, it is dedicated to you,on this veterans day, 2011:

Quote :

From a Viet Nam veterans' wife

Richard, (my husband), never really talked a lot about his time in Viet Nam other than he had been shot by a sniper. However, he had a rather grainy, 8 x 10 black & white photo he had taken at a USO show of Ann Margaret with Bob Hope in the background that was one of his treasures.

A few years ago, Ann Margaret was doing a book signing at a local bookstore. Richard wanted to see if he could get her to sign the treasured photo so he arrived at the bookstore at 12 o'clock for the 7:30 signing. When I got there after work, the line went all the way around the bookstore, circled the parking lot, and disappeared behind a parking garage.

read the rest here (scroll down to read the letter at bottom, not the one at top): http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/annmargret.htm