That photo. What an impression.
Reading what your husband says shocks me. War is a horror that I have experienced from afar; it's been almost fiction for me. I'm slowly approaching half a century of life, so when your young husband was in Vietnam and then when the war was finally over, I was still waiting to be born.
I think a book like the one you plan to write has a lot of humane value; one of the most transcendental books for my literary formation has been precisely one about the Vietnam War--or rather about the truth of war and what it's like to write about it: The Things They Carried, written by Tim O'Brien, a veteran like your husband. It's a book of short stories; I remember the first one I read was "How to Tell a True War Story" and I was hooked.
I hope that white page cooperates with both of you. Best of luck and I look forward to reading your book, which is sure to be among the good ones. Although I suspect there are no bad ones.
♥️
I find the picture startling, also. He is so young, and he looks numb to me in that photo. He was numb. By that time they had driven all resistance out of him. He just wanted to come home.
War. I also only have seen it from a distance. It never makes sense to me. I don't know why it's such an entrenched part of human existence. Century after century. Culture after culture. We go off blasting each other.
I haven't read The Things They Carried but it's on my reading list now.
I'm determined not to let the white page get the best of me. I've learned to start writing. Fill the page. If what I write is no good, I can erase it and start over. The blank page can be the greatest enemy, so I just fill it up😇. Thanks so much for your comment. Let's hope war remains a distant experience for both of us.
I can only imagine what this photo makes you feel.
Filling up the page is a good strategy, I think. Of course, it's a lot better when we wrote just came out right. Let's hope for the best, the best for your book and for a world without war--which is a dream but one worth dreaming.
I think that if you get to read The Things They Carried, it might be a good warm-up.
🌻🦋🌻