You just never know…

My dad is not someone I would ever consider a “world traveler”. In all the years I’ve known him I only remember him leaving the state we live in once, to drive to somewhere in New England (Cape Cod, I think) so we could have a family visit with my aunt (my mom’s sister) and her new husband. I don’t remember much about the trip except that my parents still seemed so young and full of fun. I remember that I had to stay with my aunt’s in-laws so the adults could go out for the evening. They were going to dinner and to see The Graduate and it was far too racy for little me to go see.

Beyond that I only recall him going on disgruntled family trips to the Shore where we would get up too early in the morning and drive too long to get there (or too long for a little kid anyway).

In thinking about this though it occurs to me that my dad was in the “Korean Conflict”. He went to Korea. He did. I know he talked about it and somewhere in all those boxes now in storage there are trinkets gathered from his time there. He may have even passed through Germany on his way to or from Korea.

After this realization I started to look at some of the older guys I run into in line at Dunkin’ Donuts a little differently. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that there are younger guys out there that have been to Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan but my thoughts here are not about war but about leaving the US. The generations that have come since Korea and Vietnam are of a generally more well-traveled group of people.

I never looked at my dad as someone who went anywhere because, well, he DIDN’T go anywhere. I also never looked at my friends’ dads as having been anywhere. I sometimes wonder if my best friend’s dad ever leaves a one mile radius of his house, I’ve never seen him further from home than that. But I’m pretty sure that he, too was in an overseas war.

Think about it, that sweet old greeter at the local Wal-Mart just may have been in Korea or Vietnam or who knows where courtesy of the US Armed Services. People didn’t travel globally the way we do now so for many people the primary way to see the world was because they joined the Army. I’m fascinated by this concept. I want to start conversations with strange men waiting in line at 7-11 (if they meet the age demographic profile) and find out where they’ve been in the world and why.

Ten years ago I had no intention of going anywhere. Instead of joining the military I joined a global corporation. I needed the job just like those guys probably needed the military benefits. I didn’t really think they’d send me away so often or so soon but they did. I bet when some young kid sees me on line at Dunkin’ Donuts on a Saturday morning they don’t think of me as a world traveler. They don’t envision me walking through downtown Tokyo on my own or watching a dog follow its owner into a porn shop in Zurich. I probably look like any other middle-class mom (and I’m not even a mom) standing in line for my iced coffee and whole wheat bagel.

You just never know where people have been but I think the most surprising ones are those sweet old guys who let you cut in front of them in line at the grocery store or suddenly offer to buy your cup of coffee for no reason. Those guys who never left the lower 48 again once they ended their military service 30, 40, 50 or more years ago have a whole stockpile of stories that I’ll just never know and some of them would probably prefer to forget those times anyway, such a shame but it’s their memories to cherish or forget.

But next time you see some sweet old guy handing you the sale flyer at Wal-Mart, or for that matter then next time you see some average looking middle-aged woman in line at Dunkin’ Donuts, take a minute to wonder where in the world they’ve been and what in the world they’ve seen, I bet you’d be surprised.