Part XLII

Riding a bus from Ft. Leonard Wood to St. Louis was strange for me this time, because, for one thing, I was wide awake the whole time. For another thing, I felt like a different person. I was not a different person, but I felt like one. I was excited to show this new face to people and for some reason expected people would be awed by the new Private Walters. In St. Louis, I boarded a plane for San Jose and settled into a flight which was a little longer than the bus ride. My friend, Mark, picked me up and we went to his house where his mother had graciously invited me to stay during my leave. My mom and her new husband Ted had moved back up near Bear Valley in the Sierra Nevada.

That night, we attended our old High School's Christmas Choir concert. This was sort of a Christmas homecoming tradition and when it came time for Handel's Messiah, Mr. Stretch would call all the alumni up to sing with them. It was a lot of fun, but it was the last year I ever went. Afterwards, we all went out to Lyon's Restaurant and sat around for hours talking. One of the younger girls, who I guess would have been a junior now, invited me to her Christmas party the next night and having nothing else to do, I accepted. Claudia's party was an odd mix of choir people and the nerdy kids I used to mock. I don't remember very much from the party, except for leaving early. To my surprise, Claudia called the next day to ask if I noticed and had any interest in her neighbor, Missy. Missy had been a JV cheerleader my Senior year, so I sort of knew who she was, I lied and said of course I noticed her (I didn't even know she was there) and of course I was interested (I hoped she looked like what I remembered). Over the next couple of days, Missy and I talked on the phone for nine or so hours. It was that kind of young romance that you just can't get enough of. It was all nerves, being on your best behavior, trying to impress the other. We saw each other once before Christmas, but mostly it was a phone romance.

I spent Christmas day with Mark's family, beginning a tradition of spending Christmas with my friends' families. The day after Christmas, Mark and my friend, pat, drove me up to see my mom. It did not hurt that Mom was living next to one of the better ski resorts in California and that Mark's girlfriend was there with her family on vacation, but still they took me to see my Mom. We went skiing the next day and I remembered how to ski just short of when we went home, the rest of the day I spent in a frustrated mix of falling down and fearfully lacking control as I careened down the hills. In the afternoon, we drove home to Mark's house, about a four and a half hour drive.

Back in the bay area, I got back to work on my phone romance (I have to come up with a phrase for that, I am thinking phonmance) with Missy. One of my old team mates from football and drinking buddies, Ed, was having a party for new Years that everyone was going to. His dad was stationed at Moffett Naval Air Station and we enjoyed the party there. I went with Missy and her friend, Anna in a cab and they were hammered before I even picked them up. I remember very little about the actual party, except that Missy and I became more of an item after that night. Late at night, I drove Ed's car to get the girls home. Times were different then and when I was stopped by Shore Patrol at a drunk driving road block, they let me rest on the side of the road until I passed the test. The other passengers in the car were passed out, so it was either take me to jail and find someone to get the others home, or let me sober up a little. One may think that I had little luck when I was growing up from reading my story, but there are many times it could have been much worse and this was one of those times.

On January 2nd of 1986, I boarded a plane at the San Jose airport and flew to San Antonio TX, passing through Dallas-Ft. Worth airport on the way. I had this picture of Missy in her cheerleading outfit which I kept like it was an idol and a ribbon tied to my dog tags which had some sort of sentimental attachment, though I can't tell you what it was. It was that kind of Puppy love crap that I know I will have to help my kids deal with in a couple of years. My attachment to Missy was probably the worst entanglement I have ever gotten myself into, in my entire life, and that is saying something. We had a couple of days getting used to our new surroundings before our next round of training began. On January 6th, 1986, I began in 6th platoon, Charlie company, 2nd battalion of the US Army Academy of Health Sciences at Ft. Sam Houston TX.