4th-in

I remember one time while perusing the high quality items at Wally-World, where an older gentleman, with if memory serves was a U.S. Army hat on with "veteran" on it stopped to chat with me while I was looking at a notebook computer, which is what I have been known to do ever so often.  He chatted about a variety of things, and I gathered that he simply wanted someone to talk to.  My mother, who has taught to respect my elders, allowed me to listen to the man for about 10 minutes, all along trying to find a way to politely walk away, which for the first few attempts I failed at miserably, as that he kept talking.

Finally, I said in the nicest way that I was glad I had talked to him, and finally began to walk away.  Now, normally I would of said "whew", but for whatever reason, I turned around, and the fellow seemed a little sad as he turned and walked in the opposite direction.  99% of the time I would of ignored it, but the dude did tell me about a time (believe he served in Vietnam, from what he mentioned during his many well spun tales) he did take a bullet...and not for dinner.

So, even tho I wanted to leave, what stared the conversation was him wanting my opinion on what notebook he wanted.  He wanted to keep in contact with his son and grandkids.

I turned around, and I guess that the only reason that this came to mind to me was today happened to be the 4th.

"I would go with this HP here," I believe remember saying as I walked back and got his attention.  He actually had a decent grip on computers (unlike some parental units I know....wink), and he knew about things such as Skype, emailing, and so on.  Computer was a good deal; nothing fancy, just enough to handle video chat and basic computing.  He thanked me, and he smiled.  I smiled back, told him to have a great day, and headed out towards my other favorite destination, Best Buy....:)

I guess the only reason that this just hit me, besides the fact it is a big ol' patriotic holiday, is that well, this was a guy who grew up in a time where we were more outwardly divided that we are now.  Yet, he wanted someone to speak to, and in hindsight, his stories were pretty interesting, as that I love history.

So, to all the men and women who are like this fellow, and because of his experiences I can sit here on a computer and say what I want and just have my friends cut me of (grin)....Happy 4th of July, and thank you.

And I hope that he enjoyed his computer.