I've Been on LEAVE

“Whoever you are,
whatever unit this is…I want in.”
-GI JOE, the movie

November 1, 1988

Holly was being her loveable toddler self when I dropped by at mom’s house today.   To my surprise, mom had other guests, too.   My nieces, Lauren and Ashley, were there enjoying mom’s pasta lunch.  They were happy to see me.

“Uncle Mike!”  That’s becoming a regular phrase these days.
I happened to be wearing the ideal t-shirt, too (Mighty Mouse).   The girls are all at that love-the-cartoons stage.

Ashley began to get moody.Mom said, “Oh she just needs a nap.”

Ashley wasn’t in a cooperative photo modeling mode either.   She’d duck and cover whenever I tried to snap her.   I did manage to get a sneak peek while she tried to use mom as a hiding place.

Lauren was entertaining her cousin, Holly, in the patio.   Lauren was willing to pose, patting Holly on her bald head.  Ha-ha…that was funny.

 I said to mom, “Well, I’m going home to check my mail.  I want to catch up on some letter writing, too.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll come back tomorrow.”
November 2, 1988 The next day I witnessed Ashley in creative mode, brushing the hair of her newest doll.


Holly started to cry.
I wasn’t in the mood for loudness.   Ashley became moody once she learned that I was leaving for an extended bike ride.“Don’t worry,” I said, “I’ll be back before you go to dance class, ok?”
This seemed to reassure her as she nodded shyly.

As soon as my mom lifted and carried Holly she suddenly stopped crying.  Is that all she wanted? 
"Someone please pick me up from this floor."

I kept my promised.  I returned and took a photo of Ashley in her dance gear.  She was happy and ready to dance.





November 7, 1988I had received a few postcards over the last few days.  One from Johnny in Southern California; one from Paloma in Southern France and the biggest surprise was from Michael Munn, the US Marine I had met from Honolulu, Hawaii.
I received a JOHN WAYNE postcard today.   It wasn’t from John Wayne’s granddaughter though (how disappointing).   It was from Johnny in Los Angeles.  It was postmarked Santa Ana, CA.  Johnny wrote:
November 3, 1988

Hi Michael,I presumed that you like JOHN WAYNE since you have a mammoth poster of him in your room.   I thought this was a perfect one for your postcard collection.   …hope you sill like the new job and all.   I hope time flies by until I see you again!   Johnny

Paloma wrote:Agde le 5/11/88
Dear Michael,
First of all, THANK YOU for JonathAn with an ‘A’.   I thought this was never going to happen.  Nice cards…lazy bum!   See…I can’t walk by a bicycle without thinking of you.  My English is really poor.   Tonight I am tired and I really hope you don’t think I always am.  You are just so mean with me all the time.   I don’t know why.   I’m just such a nice girl. 


How do you feel knowing you have a baby girl out there?  I know it isn’t nice for people who can’t have children but I wouldn’t like that…but again…I’m a woman and it’s very different.   A baby really is a part of yourself.   I believe I’ve made Jonathan alone and Alexandre just helped for the delivery…

Michael Munn was simply a sexual fling I had while in Hawaii.  It just sort of happened.  Eye contact, romance, lust are my recollections of the incident followed by dialogue in which we both seemed to question 'now what?'.    He was a Marine and I never really thought I’d hear from him again.  We exchanged addresses and telephone numbers.  Initially, we exchanged a few letters but it never continued.  He is stationed in Honolulu.   I was surprised to receive this ALOHA postcard from him out-of-the-blue. 

He kept it brief and he signed the postcard in a very incognito way.  He addressed the card as MJA, too.   I was really attracted to him but I doubted I’d ever see or hear from him again.   I don’t have a photo of him but I did find an image of a guy in a crew-cut who sort of looked like him. 
Michael Munn wrote:
MJA,
Hello.   How are you?  It’s been sometime since we’ve wrote.  I’ve been on leave and am now back in Hawaii.   I hope you are fine.   Write soon and take care of yourself.
XOXO
M. Munn

He was almost tempted to write the experiences off as nothing more than young, idealistic romances.  But he knew that was NOT the truth.  He knew that what he had experienced was real.-BETRAYAL of Love and Freedom
a novel by Paul Huljich, Based on a little truth