I've had the stitching blahs today. I did work on the Greek key belt for about 45 minutes. I usually love to stitch and watch professional football. Not today. Part of it is the book I picked up yesterday from the rental collection at the Vero Beach Book Center. I usually read myself to sleep. It takes me a long time to decompress (I try to solve all the problems of the Western world!), so I get through quite a few books in a month. The title is "Home Front" by Kristin Hannah. She usually writes beachy sorts of chick lit books. This is set outside Seattle and has a heroine who is a National Guard Black Hawk helicopter pilot. She and her best friend (copilot) are deployed to Iraq in 2005. The story is about how her family copes without her, how she and her friend handle Iraq and its perils and her eventual return to the US. Lots of discussion of post traumatic stress disorder and amputations. It's a compelling story that is heart-wrenching.
My 2nd oldest brother did 3 tours in Vietnam flying helicopters. The only time he'll talk about his experiences is to tell a funny anecdote or some bonehead move a superior officer made. Nothing about the day-to-day reality. That's too close. This book illuminates some of that, but in Iraq.
I think a lot of needleworkers are avid readers. I wish someone would do a study. It could be that the personality type drawn to stitching is also attracted to reading. You think?
If you'll forgive a personal comment, your brother may talk to folks from his old unit he flew with or that rode with him. That's how Beloved operates. He talks freely with the people he ran missions with, otherwise he doesn't. Your brother's work may have been secret anyway. Vietnam era soldiers take that seriously still.
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