They came over to help us pack up for the trip home. \u00a0Trang chatted amiably with Cindy as they wrapped carved wooden models of x\u00edch l\u00f4 (pedicabs, similar to rickshaws), vases, embroideries and other gifts given to us by our Vietnamese friends. Tuan helped me cram things into a large wooden crate built to ship our new prizes home. \u00a0Conversation drifted to what Tuan and Trang would do after graduation. \u00a0Tuan looked into studying in the Netherlands, but really wanted to go to the US. \u00a0Trang wanted a job for awhile, but she too eventually wanted to study in America. \u00a0A glance between Cindy and me cemented that idea that we would do what was needed to get these kids into graduate school in America.<\/p>\n
With a strange mix of feelings – eager to go home yet terribly reluctant to leave a city we knew well, with its coterie of friends and stimulating daily life – we left Vi\u1ec7t Nam. \u00a0Within seven months, I was back for my first visit. \u00a0In fact, we made three trips back in 2007. \u00a0Trang had moved to S\u00e0i G\u00f2n where she worked for IBM. \u00a0(Yes – the locals still call it S\u00e0i G\u00f2n, despite the official name of H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh City.) \u00a0Tuan was back in school working on his Master\u2019s degree at the University of Hu\u1ebf – and both kept talking about studying overseas, but neither could figure out how to do it.In the fall of 2008, we were once again in S\u00e0i G\u00f2n. \u00a0Trang joined us for dinner, then the three of us headed off to the hotel room where Cindy and I were staying. \u00a0It was time to put plans in action.<\/p>\n
There is an indelible picture in my mind – a picture I wish I had taken with a camera. \u00a0After Cindy and I laid out the details, Trang sat quietly in her chair, not saying a word. \u00a0I had carefully laid out the plans that would have Trang work as a graduate assistant at a university. \u00a0That would give her much lower tuition rates and she could pay for her own food and lodging. \u00a0Cindy and I would pay her tuition and books.<\/p>\n
But Trang sat there – very quiet. \u00a0Cindy and I exchanged anxious glances.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you alright, Trang?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. \u00a0I am okay.\u201d \u00a0But she still did not look up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you wondering why we are doing this? \u00a0What conditions we have of you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so we told her that we had one condition: \u00a0that after she had completed all the education she wanted, she would return to Vi\u1ec7t Nam. \u00a0\u201cAmerica doesn\u2019t need your brains, Trang – Vi\u1ec7t Nam needs your brains.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her smile erupted, and of course, Trang came to our nearby university – the same one where I had worked before my retirement. \u00a0We watched in amazement as she amassed perfect grades and did advanced work few of her American fellow students would do. \u00a0\u201cSend me more Vietnamese students\u201d was the comment I got from her department chair. \u00a0Her advisor had to tell her to do less work on her Master\u2019s thesis – her plan was more like a doctoral dissertation.<\/p>\n
Our hopes were being fulfilled, but we found something unexpected happening to us as well. \u00a0We found we had acquired a daughter – a daughter we never knew we needed. \u00a0I already had a son – a good husband and father to his own family that I was very proud of, but having a daughter was different.<\/p>\n
And I liked it.<\/p>\n
Then the next year, Tuan came over. \u00a0There wasn\u2019t a PhD program for him at the local university, but there was the perfect program at a university just four hours north of us. \u00a0Though he flew in to an airport far away from us, we were there to welcome him to America. \u00a0With Trang in the car, we took the two on a trip through middle America before he settled in to his studies..<\/p>\n
And Tuan took to calling Cindy \u201cMom\u201d, though he had a perfectly wonderful Mom back in Hu\u1ebf. \u00a0As time went by, more students came – Thanh, who had been Trang\u2019s classmate, \u00c1i Nh\u00e2n (say Eye Nyun) had been my first year student, then finally Kien (say Kee unh), whom \u00c1i Nh\u00e2n married and brought back as her new husband and another grad student.<\/p>\n
It was if we could no longer be in Vi\u1ec7t Nam, so we brought Vi\u1ec7t Nam to us.<\/p>\n
There is something very strange in this story. \u00a0Only the craftiest of fiction writers could have concocted a story where a wounded combat veteran returns to the land of his torment, only to fall in love with the country and its people. \u00a0Stranger still that he would regard the former students who came to America as his gift! \u00a0I suspect God had a big hand in the story plot, and I feel quite sure He has a smile on His face.<\/p>\n
I try to convey that idea – the idea that Cindy and I have been very blessed by our experiences during Vietnam the war and in Vi\u1ec7t Nam the country. \u00a0In my book, I\u2019ve written a story that is still unfolding – a story of redemption and love.<\/p>\n
Thanks, God – I am blessed.<\/p>\n
———————————————-<\/p>\n
Doug Young is the author of \u201cSame River, Different Water: \u00a0A Veteran\u2019s Journey from Vietnam to Vi\u1ec7t Nam,\u201d available at online booksellers and on order at local book stores. \u00a0The book includes 123 of the author\u2019s photos. \u00a0His wife Cindy is also a veteran of the Vietnam war, having served as a nurse at an Army hospital. \u00a0Readers can contact Doug at\u00a0This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.<\/span>” mce_’ + path + ‘\\” + prefix + ‘:’ + addy7857 + ‘\\’>’+addy_text7857+'<\\\/a>’; \/\/–> or on Facebook at\u00a0http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/doug.young.180<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the days Cindy and I had remaining in Vi\u1ec7t Nam were winding down in the late spring of 2006;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-and-style","category-personal-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9983,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9981\/revisions\/9983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}