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Sunday, April 19, 2009

my brother

Well, I see my brother made it to my site!!! And said such nice things about me.
Well big brother, I think about you, too!!
I love to scrap book and scrapped this about my brother
a few months ago.
I had the idea when helping mom pack to move and
found a letter he wrote me when I was 6
and he was in vietnam.
The letter is part of the scrap page,
the pictures are him as a little boy and
how I remember him as a young man when I 
was a little girl.
My journaling on the page says:
PETER
MY BROTHER, PETER
WAS IN VIETNAM WHEN I WAS BATTLING
CANCER IN 1969.
I'VE OFTEN WONDERED WHAT THAT WAS
LIKE FOR MY PARENTS BUT DIDN'T
THINKD OF HOW HE HANDLED 
BEING AWAY FROM THE FAMILY
DURING SUCH A HARD TIME
WHILE PACKING TO MOVE MOM TO THE MANOR
I CAM ACROSS THIS LETTER WRITTEN TO ME
BY MY BIG BROTHER WHILE WE EACH 
FOUGHT OUR OWN WARS.
I DIDN'T KNOW HIM AS THE LITTLE BOY IN
THIS PICTURE, ONLY AS THE MAN, YET
HE LOVED ME!!!
Hope you like it, Peter,
I will treasure this letter forever

7 comments:

  1. I CERTAINLY REMEMBER THOSE UNCERTAIN TIMES WHEN MY BROTHER WHO I WAS SO CLOSE TO GROWING UP WAS FIGHTING A WAR AND MY BABY SISTER WAS FIGHTING A WAR OF HER OWN. THANK GOD WE ALL MADE IT OK. IN READING "PETER" I KIND OF GOT A LONELY FEELING BECAUSE I KEPT ALL THE LETTERS HE WROTE TO ME AND MY GIRLS. UNFORTUNLLY HURRICANE JUAN CAME AND TOOK SO MUCH FOR US INCLUDING THE LETTERS. PETE, HAVE I TOLD YOU HOW PROUD I AM OF YOU? I KNOW YOU HAD A ROUGH TIME BUT I THANK GOD THE DAY CHERYL CAME INTO YOUR LIFE. SHE MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN YOU AND I THANK HER FOR THAT.

    LOVE YOU BOTH
    RONNIE

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  2. I have a "Brother" Story, too. I remember once when Peter was in the Marines, in Viet Nam, and Rosie and I were in the "back" picking blackberries. The two of us were sitting on one of those large pieces of cement from the Oilfield days and we were eating berries and talking about Peter. Feeling a little melancholy in realizing how much we missed him, I walked into the kitchen with my head down and as I approached the kitchen table, expecting to see Daddy, either smoking on a Lucky Strike or a Camel Cigarette and/or tediously knitting yet another cast net, to my suprise I saw a pair of unusual boots. Inside those boots were a weird sort of pants tucked in side and inside those weird pants was my Brother Peter, who was home for only a short weekend. I remember jumping up in his lap and hugging his neck so tight that I probably choked him...and then the party began!! What a wonderful memory that is for me, Pete. When I think about it, in my adult life (Yes, I am an adult..hehehehe), God truly answered Rosie and I's prayers on that day. He even went a step further and protected you from harm so that you could return to the family who loves you so much. In case I never said, Thanks, Brother, for the part that you played in our freedom and our lives..I love you!!
    Your sister,
    C

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  3. Sorry I can't respond to all these very nice loving comments right now, but maybe one day soon.But it's vey nice to finnaly here some thing good and positive about what I tried to do. Right,wrong,or other wise I did what I tought was the right thing at the time.
    LUV
    Peter

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  4. HEY PETE,
    YOU KNOW WHOEVER IS BEHIND CREATING THIS GREAT BIG WORLD OF OURS MADE JUST ONE ERROR AND THAT'S NOT GIVING US THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE THE PAST. I WISH I COULD GO BACK AND RELIVE MY CHILDREN'S LIVES. I WOULD DO SO MANY THINGS DIFFERENT. BUT AS MY OLDEST DAUGHTER TAUGHT ME RECENTLY, YOU CAN'T GO BACK AND YOU CAN'T DWELL ON IT EITHER. SO, PETE, KNOWING YOU CAN'T GO BACK YOU HAVE TO LET IT GO AND HOPE FOR THE BEST. EVERYONE, I DON'T CARE WHO THEY ARE, HAS A PAST THAT THEY ARE NOT PROUD OF. JUST SOMETHING OR SOME EVENT THAT STICKS SO VERY HARD ON THEIR MINDS AND HEART. I THINK I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, REMEMBER I WAS PART OF YOUR LIFE AT THAT TIME. JUST LET IT GO AND IF YOU CAN'T PRAY TO GOD THAN JUST TALK TO WHOEVER WANTS TO LISTEN. YOUR WIFE, IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, A PROFESSIONAL, OR GUESS WHAT, YOUR FAMILY IS HERE FOR YOU AND ALWAYS WILL BE. JUST KEEP THAT IN MIND WHEN YOU ARE READY WE WILL BE READY TO LISTEN AND TALK.

    LOVE YOU,
    RONNIE

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  5. Just to lighten the load, y'all...Peter is in bad need of a SPELLCHECK...HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

    I'm off to Talledago to endulge in your recommended meal, Brother, and will enjoy every bite of it with you on my mind. Promise to send you pictures next week. (;-)

    All my love, Ya Sista,
    C

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  6. I've got a great Peter Veitnam story also. The whole time you were over there Peter, I became convinced that you were not going to come back home to us. I was about 11 or 12 or so and I can remember being so mad at Mom and Dad for letting (like they could have stopped you or the Government) go over there. All I could understand at that time was that if Momma or Daddy would have said "No, Peter you can't go and that's that!!", he would not have been able to go. I can remember watching one of the only three TV channels we had at the time. (Opps...telling my age again) They would constantly show people being blown up and stuff. I can remember as a young child how horrific that was for me to watch. I just knew that one day, I would see my big brother being blown up or something like that. What makes it really sad, is that I would tell Mom and Dad all the time that it was going to be their fault, cause they let him go. For eighteen (18) long months I believed that, to the point that when Mom and Dad sat down with just me (I can remember this like it was yesterday, or maybe day before) and told me that Peter was coming home, I told them that it was not true and I didn't believe them. While you were in Vietnam, Peter, I had been prescribed eye glasses that you didn't know about. Momma and Daddy made arrangements to pick Peter up at the airport and they told me they would prove to me that he was still alive by taking me to the airport with them to pick you up Pete. I was the only one allowed to go with Mom and Dad to the airport and I felt very special being able to have that privilege. I still didn't believe you would be there, alive, but I was excited to be able to go. I can remember the whole way there, I was not thinking about seeing Peter again, cause, like I said, I was convinced that he was not alive; I was thinking about being able to go to the airport, cause I had never been there before. Ridiculous, right.... Remember now, I'm only about 12. Peter came off the plane in his Dress Blues and Mom and Dad went running to hug him as soon as they saw him. I just froze in my tracks. Still not believing, I walked up to him and hugged him, no big deal right? Peter, I'll never forget you picking me up and saying, hey lil one, you got glasses while I was gone, and I busted out crying!!!!!!!!!!!! I had at that moment realized that he made it home, and made it home alive. On that day there was a bond that was formed between me and you, Pete and that bond still exists today. Of course, the bonding continued through the Safari days..... your coming up the steps at that first door on the left, when I had highschool class the next day, waking me up at 3:00 in the morning, just you just needed to talk. Many more times also.....that as WE KNOW are not proper to post here. But WE KNOW right? I will always treasure that day at the airport and all the great (and even bad) times we have shared together over the years. I'm glad that we decided two years ago that we would not let anything ever come between us again. I Love you with all my heart and always will. I am proud of you and have always looked up to you. I hope you all enjoyed this little story that I am not sure any of you have ever heard or realized, not even you Pete.
    Love you all & have a great weekend.
    Rosie

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  7. Oh, Pete, by the way, you do know I am always here for you too, don't you??
    Love ya!!
    Rosie

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