Last Updated:
28 November 2008
Holiday Greetings!
In these United States of America, the official start of the run-up to
Christmas followed by the New Year is the Thanksgiving holiday celebrating the arrival in the 'New World' of the
pilgrim settlers who sailed from England to unknown lands in the good ship Mayflower landing in Massachusetts in 1620. So I begin this to you after returning from a sumptuous
meal at my dear long time friend Donna's home, in the company of her family who call me 'Uncle Sean' and treat
me with all the love and kindness they show their own kin. They are a family I have known from the first friendship
that developed between us in 1980, still very young at heart and life experience. The U.S. Army kept us apart for
fifteen years but fate sent me here to Spokane, Washington in July 2001 to become part of their lives and without
whom this would be a very lonely town even if nature does make it one of the most strikingly beautiful natural
places I have ever called home.
I miss Kathy as I have seldom missed anyone before, but it is just a
short period apart; never really alone again, and I am counting the days until I see her and to be with her again.
Sigh! After a week of autumn togetherness, culminating in a Polynesian joining ritual on the evening of 29 October 2008 we were joined, or as close to a
traditional marriage as anyone can get, we were married (if that word can be used to mean we became as one) by
my friend, my teacher and a master of the martial and cultural arts of the many peoples who call themselves Hawaiians,
Tahitians and many more of the smaller islands that dot the Pacific paradise I came to love, in a wonderful ceremony
adorned in traditional flowing robes and exchanging handmade in Hawaii tokens that symbolize so much that the sight and sounds of it make a church
wedding seem like formal and rigid event. Kathy went home early morning on 31 October, my anniversary of the 32nd
year I moved from England to America to begin a new life here, a much younger man, and without the lover I left
behind me. Five more months and I will see my lover and now wife again for her Easter break from teaching school
children in Norfolk, England. Kathy stayed for 3 weeks in the summer, her longest stay in the U.S. ever, and her 3rd in a year, this was
her 4th 'hop over the pond' to visit me and it flew by like rose petals blown in the wind, so magic and so very us. Where
to begin? Well if there were any lingering doubts in either of us that
this union would work out and improve over time, turning into the perfect relationship that we both need, then
in late October 2008 Kathy returned for a 6-day hop-over, prior to that 3 weeks got us both plenty spoilt but I
could easily turn that into 3 months or 3 decades, our caring for each other grows stronger with every visit. She
has began learning how to drive on our side of the road, at her pace, with 40 miles on the clock so far she shows confidence and the promise that by this
time next year (maybe) I can toss her the keys and off she safely goes with no worrying about her driving skills.
I sat next to her every moment coaching her every move less and less as she mastered the skills of driving on a
side of the road opposite to that of Great Britain. She even managed parking and reversing out of my (very tight fit) garage with little problems at a whooping 1 mph and no body-work needed or collapsed garage frames, luck, skill or Divine Intervention not with-standing! I'd
say her driving stills are coming along nicely. The helicopter flight on 9 August was the best adventure we did of the summer, taking off at 10am from Spokane's 1st airport,
now a private small air-field, a much smaller 1-tower set of landing strips, Donna (my best friend in town) was
up front, slight inconvenience
was the removal of the door on her side which made for a very windy ride up front, maybe a tad scary too, even
safely buckled in with seat belts, it was her first flight ever in a rotary wing aircraft or helicopter. In the back 2 seat were me and Kathy
in a Raven R-44 helicopter. We
took a 1.5 hour trip east over Post Falls, Coeur 'd Alene (Pro: Core de lane), a long leisurely loop-de-loop around massive Mount Spokane, we flew deeper into N. Idaho, and we could
see the Rockies in N. Montana off to the east. A beautiful day in the 70's when we took off and the 80's when we landed and had lunch with the
pilot, a young guy who knew his skills as well as any military pilot I've flown with. In fact this was a 1st for
me, the 1st time in thousands
of hours in almost every
military (U.S. or NATO) helo going, it was the 1st time I didn't have a gun (M16 or side-arm) was not on a mission
to save lives or deploy to a training area and I was certainly not wearing Battle Dress Uniforms! We followed the Spokane River back passing marinas and dams, boats and tiny
homes, that were actually huge
mansions but at 1K ft everything
kind of shrinks. The magic
of being inside a rotary wing aircraft flying at around 120mph is you do get TIME to enjoy stuff that just whizzes by in most fixed-wings from a Jumbo-Jet at 15K moving at speeds over 400mph to slower moving, ground hugging
crop dusters still moving
around 150mph. I wish to thank those who know me and come here for updates on my life. Thanks from both me and
Kathy for giving me very little e-mail to reply to during the 3 weeks Kathy was my guest. She managed to make friends
wherever we went, and we seemed to go out to do something different almost every day. On Friday 15 August Donna took Kathy out and I stayed home, they had a
good time and ate in one of our best restaurants (The Steam-Pipe) with a distinctive art-deco/Victorian
theme. Kathy met and interacted with new and genuine friends who could see the person in her they liked, not just
the pretty visage and trim sun-tanned
woman who turned plenty of heads and is a very beautiful woman, but more importantly the spark of vitality and inquisitive charisma that is a magnet for folks (both male and female)
looking for friends without attitudes, prejudices or snobby ways. None of those come close to the genuine warmth
and caring person they found alive and well inside the woman I love without reservations of any kind. It was a vacation where the August heat held off until the last few days reaching
100F and with 2 hours per day swimming or sun-bathing by our private and quiet pool she managed to look like a bronzed beauty. But it was the simple chores
like eating when we felt the need to munch not when the clock chimed DINNER! Doing laundry together we got down to a fine art, and shopping was a constant exposure
of Kathy to the folks I share this town with, most very polite and always willing to chit-chat or lend a hand.
That type of freedom with no rigid schedule made for a very kick
back do as we pleased type of vacation. Except for a certificate,
a ring, a name change and all the trappings we have both decided we are already as married and in love as those
who cohabit in perfect relationships and it is better for now to keep us in a ongoing honey-moon (of sorts) which may last a decade or 2 before we need the trinkets and
ceremonies to do what? Make us love each other more, we manage that all by ourselves with every trip Kathy makes
to spend time with me here in her 2nd home, which is NOT a "Me casa
su casa" deal, I put her on my lease so she is a legal resident of this apartment complex just as I am with
one slight difference,
I pay for the upkeep of our
home whether Kathy is living here or back in England, which I think is only fair having her own very nice home ready for any visit I may choose to make
there, I seriously doubt I would get charged rent by the week! Kathy now has all the rights and all the privileges
of any other tenant
of this place to not be a visitor (14 days then move on) or trespassing if we take an evening walk together or
take my mobile radio controlled [rocket firing] hi-powered model hot-rod/tank ATV BUGGY and race it all around the complex,
which we did and she shot me with 3 big-ass plastic missiles, yeah
we had a lot of fun, didn't have to get all dressed-up even once and blended in a treat with the population of
this still somewhat Wild West frontier
town. Most importantly as far as we are both concerned is over a prolonged lo-key plenty of down time vacation,
we have learned much more about
each other than we ever
did in our E-17 London teenage days that seem so long ago
but we still act like love-struck teens when we are alone so at least that part of our maturity and respectability
is flexible. We have the ability to morph into in a second if the need arises, like dealing with the the no-nonsense
and disinterested new manageress of this place, who gets put right back into their servile position with just a few well chosen words that
come so naturally and calculated out of our mouths to politely remind her with all due courtesy who pays for her
job, leaving her with some words I'm sure she has to check in the dictionary after we have left to figure out if
that was praise or chastisement! No threats needed, as a team me and Kathy have mingled with people who make her
tactics look crass so we put
them in their place smiling as we do it and only the smartest figure out much later it does not pay to rumble with
law abiding/rule quoting intelligent Limey's like us :-) An hour
later finds us locked up inside with the fans cooling us as we romp & play around the place with me playing
the Big Bad Wolf and Kathy 'Little Red Riding Hood'. The sensual is
not for this home-page
but suffice to say like fresh spring wine
we have both matured into full bodied
enjoyment of each other in all the ways that count to make this relationship complete in all ways. My friend Andrew
completed a hand engraved story-board (haranga in Tahitian) wooden
Polynesian style story of Kathy's
life from birth thru present which we shipped FedEx back to her home a few days before she flew back. That was how the first few days were spent, Kathy
would come up with an event or memory, I'd sketch it out on paper and when we had maybe 25 panels done, her life
from birth through today was engraved onto native wood from Tahiti. He also made her a wonderful ornate walking stick and a Chinese charmed necklace with a prayer/good luck coin
on the end, so unique and so very
rare. It was the best vacation of my life with the only person who could make it so utterly complete and feel so
right that like a wolf missing his mate I look at this empty place, sigh then I pine for more, but realize I may
have to wait out some time before we reach the 1/2 a year in America and 1/2 in Norfolk, England which is Kathy's
other home proper. The very
best of both worlds my friends is all I can sum this part up with until we get to make more adventures and quiet/intimate
moments for each other in the fall of 2008. That leads me to this next section quite well!
ANNOUNCEMENT!
The very best news I have for the folks who come here to check-up on my life, now I'm not slamming out 10 e-mails
a week to 4 or 5 folks (sorry)
but spending most of my cyber-time sending
and receiving audio-video YouSendIt
files to and getting from my fiancé Kathy in England, well on 29 October 2008 I will no longer be calling her my fiancé anymore, she will become my wife (wahine male hou) and I her husband (kane male). At 6pm on that Wednesday evening
we will be joined as man and wife by our Tahitian friend who has the blessing of a high-ranking Kahuna, (a high level priest of the Polynesian faith, spirituality
and culture who resides in Bora Bora,
Tahiti) to join us in an ancient,
traditional and very real ceremony
of exchanging Tahitian vows of love and marriage. Dress will be traditional, a robe of sorts that is being crafted for us by his students,
a lei (necklace of Tahitian flowers) for each of us, and each of the 4 other very special people in our lives here
who will be coming to bare witness, see a sight seldom seen except in movies or for real in the islands that make up Micronesia, and of course the braided piece of fiber we will tie together signifying the
bond we will make, 'tying the knot'
for real takes on a very real part of this formal ceremony, repeating
the words in his native tongue, which for all purposes that have nothing to do with a justice of the peace, a priest of any faith who claims their God is the only way to a happy life, and the dogma of converting to anything but a practical approach
to taking our love one step further, by making it official only in each other's hearts, souls and minds, and should
we ever visit Tahiti we would of course be called husband
and wife and expected to cohabit in our home there... if we ever decide
that is where our paths lead, or more likely me staying right here and Kathy (no name change to Murphy as a surname)
will return to England and visit with me here whenever she feels like cohabiting with her husband, or me taking
a trip to her home where we would be just common-law wed folks, same deal here too, so no official rigid anything to complicate what already works
well. The mark of that event will live on in the memories of those we invite and the many photos/video that it
is sure to produce. Our 'wedding certificate' is the flower leis we wore that night kept pressed and preserved for our lives. Not the type of
'normal wedding' and a slip of paper that in the U.S. or U.K. would make us legally married and will not be part of this very private and
very special event in our paths
through life. Yes it is different, rare and very unique, but then again so is the long-distance love and life we both choose to live apart and at times...
together. There will be Polynesian
music, dancing for anyone who feels like a little hula practice, it will be catered so our guests
will eat well and by 9pm we will bid the last of them a good night MAHALO
NUI! The man who will marry us will be wearing his traditional skins,
tokens of nobility and adornments of the chieftain and master of both artistic and martial arts he teaches both
in Tahiti and here in Spokane where he teaches these skills to many students who call him Sensei, or Master, which
he is in any Dojo/school here,
or when he returns home to be amongst his clan which is amongst the more noble, ancient and respected ones of the
islands the French do not control
and a place where the trappings and luxuries of westernized living are not what drives their in tune with nature lives. A noble and honorable clan with much love and wisdom that is passed
down through each generation in songs and dances and stories, a much more laid-back and genuine race of people
it has ever been my honor to live around for the 7 years of my life I lived on Oahu, in Hawaii and fell in love
with the real Polynesians, not Waikiki Beach and Don-Ho, which
is not Hawaii, that's
what the tourists who flock there pay big bucks to see and miss the whole idea that to meet and get to know real Hawaiians
you have to get off Oahu and live around them on the other 5 islands that make up the chain, with the big island
with it's volcanos being the only
island called Hawaii. A place I once saw a strange white dog, that me and my unit training there could not figure out was doing up in a place
where no living creatures
thrive, but came out of the mists
and looked at us then like it was not held down by the gravity we all are, bounded effortlessly away through the
air back into the morning mists. Pele the Goddess of the Hawaiian people sometimes shows herself to humans, either as a beautiful young woman dressed
in a way Hawaiian women did hundreds of years ago, sometimes as an old woman in tradition garb, or if an eruption
is about to happen, as a white dog. HELLO!
Later that day Mauna Loa (White Mountain) blew it's first huge eruption in late March 1984, it's first in a decade
and that still trickles hot lava into the sea, making that the only U.S. state that grows in size every year. When
we called in the sighting to figure out what a dog that none of us could even agree on what breed it was but was
as large as a small pony was doing in an impact area for live fired weapons, where the only things that are even
there are rocks and sand with not a blade of grass growing nor a drop of water for miles. We expected a dog-catcher,
but the mayor of Hilo called a Kahuna
and she was sent up from Hilo up the roughest road in the whole state, 'Saddle
Road', to investigate a documented sighting of what she and I now believe my unit saw that morning, was the only deity I call upon in prayer. Yeah,
I am a strange one all right,
but seeing is hard to dismiss what over 120 of us G.I.'s did that morning. Hard to explain but imagine seeing Jesus
or Buddha on your way to work! Some of our troops became euphoric and disoriented just by the sheer power that we all felt emanating from this apparition, a few passed out and our only Hawaiian troop
lost it and lay prostrate on
the ground praying in pure Hawaiian words, refusing all orders to budge, he was yelling at us to show respect, it was pretty wild that morning
to do much but show awe. My epiphany
of conversion from an agnostic to what they call non-Hawaiians who embraces their beliefs, a kama'aina, or one of them who by choice and their acceptance of me as not a 'haole' pro: how-lee (a non-Hawaiian, non-affectionate term/outsider of any race, mostly Anglo) is now aaina or one with them and one with the land of the Polynesian people. So for me this ceremony
has a deeply profound meaning,
but I do not plan on trying to
convert anyone, including
Kathy into believing that all a unit of 120 infantrymen and their senior medic (me) saw that morning was anything more than a huge white dog moving like no other could
and living in an area where there isn't even vegetation, water or a home/farm for 20 miles in any direction! That's my story and helps give a reason to
why I chose this atypical way to marry, or more accurately, to join with the woman I love, in a way she has no
problems with, because for her it just fulfills a promise I made to her at the age of 19 in the slums of London's
east-end, that I wanted to marry her, and back then she said she would love to, and over the past year or so that
union is still one she desires as much as I do, and as much as anyone who knows us and sees us together thinks
we are made for each other, it just is so obvious in all we say or do that others are delighted to see me so lit-up and happy when Kathy graces my humble
home, now her's too! So here
we are some few years
later making that promise come true in a way neither of us ever dreamed it would in the here and now. I will send out pictures of this changing point
in our lives to all I stay in contact with. Mahalo and Aloha! (Thanks and greetings). Aloha Aku No,
Aloha Mai No ~ I give my love
to you, you give your love to me. And to back-track, this is how we came
to find each other after 3-decades of nothing but memories of the other but no contact or even knowledge of the
other alive or dead. In late October 2007 after four years of long distance phone calls and daily cyber contact, planning since January 2007
which was beset with delays
and changes, I was reunited with the first love of my life, a still very
foxy British lady who stole my heart at age 15 when the East-End of
London was our humble home and start in life, and 1979 the last time we saw each other. She came back into
my middle-aged life and within a few years became the main focus of that life I lead. Kathy, I guess we were destined to fall deeply and completely in love
again and never knew or planned it even when we both rediscovered each other thru a mutual friend in November 2003:
Mike I owe you M8! I introduced you to the gal you went on to marry and 3-decades plus later still are
with a fine family and two late teen-age sons to show for that union, when you told me about Kathy in an e-mail
late in 2003 little did you know what door you had opened and where it would lead to in October 2008! In those
wonderful golden and brown sunny days of October 2007 Kathy gave
new meaning to my life and changed its direction. I have never been so happy nor felt so comforted by your company, your warmth, your unconditional
love and your natural charm. Kathy I love
and miss you as I update this page months after our last embrace as I watched you walk away through the airport
gates to return home from that last trip. October 2007 was a wonder-filled and tender
week of getting to rediscover each other again, finding some of us had remained much as when we first met and so much more we had both become. But even
six days (after so long
apart) was too short but to skim the surface of who we really have become and I think she left knowing more about
where I live than who I had become, and vise-versa. That pure joy far exceeding the sweet
taste of a 1971-1979 union we
enjoyed in our youths, grew up and apart through the trials and hardships of very different lives, significant others who faded out of our lives and now has come full
circle to rekindle a relationship
that had me counting days until your return on Easter Sunday 2008. For the 1st time in decades I am deeply in love again with my soul mate and best friend
all rolled into one, and it feels totally exhilarating! Stay safe, have fun and be happy until I can hold you in
my arms again and be complete with the only woman I desire to share my love, my life and soul with. It was worth the long wait to find you in the full wonderful bloom of womanhood. Kathy my lover,
you excite me with every
breath or thought of you in ways I have never felt with any other, nor could with anyone but you again. On Easter
Sunday 2008 Kathy revisited my life for a 12-day stay, her second trip
out to see me after a LONG 5-month wait. The main purpose of that trip was to catch up on more of the normal chit-chat/living together we did not have
time for in only 6 days of October last year. Catching up on many parts of our lives (time-line) spent almost 3 decades apart is exactly how the trip
played out. No real agendas except to live and love around each other as normal couples do. March went out like
a snowy lion and I know Kathy finally saw that snow she: "Loves
so much" as half of her stay was freezing nights and almost daily snowfall or rain. That trip also came to a close as I kissed and hugged her again, we waited
for an hour at Spokane airport just enjoying those last few magic moments together and talking softly about the more simple pleasures
that living together brought us both this time around. I could very easily get used to Kathy as a full time presence in my life without complacency ever
becoming a normality. I think we would both enrich each other's lives by that, but those days may be years away,
or we may always be in love but never know the continuous love so many other couples take for granted.
A word of caution to anyone trying to reach me via e-mail.
My private e-mail account has changed to a Google-based one and it has been a change for the better where e-mails are making it to and from me with
few of the total blocks and drops Sisna.com was notorious for with a policy of arbitrarily blocking-out entire legitimate domains like (British) ntlworld.com, and it then added G.B.'s largest Internet Service Provider btinternet.com to it's (very
flaky) swallow & destroy ALL inbound e-traffic to it's nefarious list of blacked-out ISP's, with the very LAME excuse that: "Too much Spam is coming from
them!" Even South Africa seems to be on their hit list. The ONLY reason I even stay with such a shitty company is the competition is
more expensive and even worse
in many areas. The change so far to the new e-mail system has allowed many previously blocked legitimate ISP's
to send e-mails to my new Gmail account so if you were having problems before, give it a try and see if it comes
thru, if it still blocks you, then Yahoo
will let you thru, that e-mail address is listed near the end of this page and is one I've had as back-up for 10+
years. Please do not assume
that just because you sent me an e-mail I even got it, or know you did, it would be wise (unless you know I receive all your e-mails to my new private Gmail e-mail address
and you get all mine with no
drops) to make that e-mail one that generates a 'Return Read Receipt' if you use Outlook Express to send me e-mails. Most of my e-mailing friends is by using YouSendIt audio-visual files at 1MB per 1-minute of a face
and words moving in real time on your monitor full screen size beats black text on a white back-ground e-mails
with a few JPG's attached once in a while, it is so
much faster and much
more personal than texting anything to anyone but business who still require that type of input from me. Sorry,
but I do not have all the dead time
I used to have to type out pages of text and become a prisoner to these computers I have, not when I can say a
lot in 20 mins and even on a
56K modem that 20MB file downloads in 5-10 mins tops and covers more than 20 pages of text and 4 hours of work
it takes me to do the same on a key-board. Sitting upright for that long does painful
damage for my (Scoliosis) back problems and exceeds my pain threshold.
Please give it a try, the link
to join up with them is on each YSI
A/V file I send out and you could get a free account with them allowing you to send up to 1GB (1,000MB's) or 1,000 minutes or 16 hours of chit-chat a month of your audio-visual files to anyone you choose with very little computer skills required
above novice to make it happen, and they don't even have to have anything special on their end to view and hear
your sights and sounds or cam-corder home video files but Windows Media
Player, standard with all PC's Windows 98-XP and also compatible with
Macs too! If you have a web-cam and a stick-mike, $50 investment
tops, try it before
you dismiss it please. You
may find it makes staying
in contact a lot easier, faster, much more fun and does not require hours per contact typing out words. That is the topic of the next paragraph.
I'm using an audio/visual program called 'Debut', an Australian nice bit of power web-camera
software from NCH. With a decent
web-cam & mike it allows me to send audio/visual e-mails to you or
you back to me! It allows me to
record quality audio/visual
files in most formats, (WMA, WMV, AVI, etc.) for as long as I wish. For file attachments under 10MB's I can attach them to Outlook Express and send them thru my ISP as e-mail attachments.
BUT if I go over that limit my ISP
gets to be a ROYAL pain in my
cyber-ass, and love losing my larger
e-mail attachments reminding me that they are not in the File Transfer Protocol [FTP] business. For
larger files I use $10 a month
professional FTP online service called YouSendIt (Pro) which gives its users 40GB a month of uploading and downloading capabilities without the need to stick to rigid ISP file attachment limits which
they host for Pro-users for 14 days
or 500 downloads. Amazing that I now send audio/visual (almost) 'real-time' messages to friends around the globe and most can reply in kind if they have the
free software, DSL, a web-cam and a mike. This is a tool for DSL or faster than 56K modem users and Windows XP or better users, plus Mac
uses too! The data moves too fast for anything slower than normal DSL,
or @ least 1MB/sec transfer speeds. This is a BIG step up from the 'View
my Web-Cam' found in Yahoo, AIM
or MS Instant Messenger programs with much better sound and picture quality & duration. You may get a compressed A/V send/link in your Inbox from me as many others already have and loved the technology that jumps out of your screen & thru your speakers, or even your big-screen T.V. with an S-cable link! A much
easier, faster & more personal way
for me to stay in contact with owners of P.C.'s or Mac's. I have 'e-known' some folks for years and this is the first chance I have to show them what I look and sound like, vice-versa. Big
frigging deal, right! But it is
sure good to see & hear
my cyber-friends for the 1st
time, I welcome Mike L.! Download their free Lite software and activate a free account, then with a decent
web-cam and a mike you can be sending any types of files up to a 100MB a day limit which they host for 7 days on their servers or 100 downloads, 1GB a month [still
free] up or downloading limit for their (free) Lite software package. Hit send and an e-mail to the recipient that the file is ready for downloading
from a URL (e.g. http://YouSendIt.com/download/123456abcde ) arrives in that person's Inbox within seconds, you get a CC copy for your confirmation too. Decent U.S. toll-free phone customer support M-F 7-6 PST, HQ's in
California. Get a decent brand
USB 2.0 web-cam ($50) & a noise canceling & echo
suppression $20-30 plastic stick mike then you too can be making time consuming typed-up e-mails with (maybe) a still picture on it seem way-obsolete. Forget spell-checking! Not limited to web-cams, if you own a cam-corder, then transferring your home made
movies into your computer is not that hard and once in your computer sending those files is exactly like using
a static web-cam, in 'My Documents'
somewhere! Also moving non-A/V data only files is as easy. Just be careful about copywriter rights which YouSendIt Terms of Service prohibit, good way to lose more than your account sending boot-legged copieZ
of hot movies from one place to another! No catches, bugs/malware, no nags, ads, pop-ups or anything that normally comes with VoIP voice
only pay-for services offer for more than I pay for audio and video combined! YouSendIt.com will soon be opening a string of offices in
Europe as its popularity sky-rockets. Follow this link to DEBUT for the free hi-end, e/z to use software designed to capture and mesh audio and video into a standard format
like Windows Media Video (WMV or
*.wmv files) or other even more
high-definition formats (REAL Player)
that produce higher quality sound and vision, but make for larger file attachments. It does not require much above novice level cyber-skills to get it up and running, but make sure you
have at least 1GB of RAM
with a >1MB/sec upload/download DSL connection or file transfer will be slower/not possible. It uses Windows XP or Vista to record & send to your heart's delight. For folks who want to move even more than
2GB a day or 100GB a month, YouSendIt
offers pay-for business plans
that boggle the mind
about how much data they will transfer, securely and with no
lost data. One e-mail to services@news.yousendit.com will get you hooked-up. Once you invest you may not want to go back to normal text e-mails!
The section that covered my medical status which used to be here has moved
back down this page (1/2 way down) to where it belongs (for now), with healing or critical issues and lengthy medical
explanations it does not belong as the first item of news in my life which I consider worthy of head-line news on this huge home page. I get to see the V.A. at least every 2-3 months, and any changes in my
medical status is posted in that section. As it stands now I have asked the V.A. to change providers, a 1st in
11-years of being treated well by reliable physicians, a year of my current doctor has led me to understand that
even after 25 years in the trade, practicing medicine had not made her proficient it. So on 19 February I fired
her! I now have a new V.A. primary care provider, a Physician's Assistant, our first meeting was on 20 March, and
my medical care has returned to normal, as I close the book of dealing with my last provider who IMHO treated her
patients very much like a disinterested/overworked grocery bagger in a supermarket check-out lane. With more disabled Vets entering an already stressed
& overworked/understaffed V.A.
I do not see access to care or quality of it improving beyond the current level, maybe even getting harder to obtain
as this nation goes into it's 7th year at war since the WTC towers fell. I have cut back on visits to the V.A. allowing that time to be used by those fresh back
from war who may need help more than I do, so my only reason to hit the V.A. is for times I get sick or scheduled
appointments as they roll around. My way of helping even if it only frees up a few hours a year to those in dire
need of heath care.
Well we have a new president elect Barack
Hussein Obama, coming in as the 44th President of these United States
of America, it's first man of color and 1st ex-Muslim now Christian (?) 47 year old ex-Senator from Illinois. An
unknown person a year ago to most Americans, a guy with some strange relatives doing some weird stuff back in Mother Africa, but most presidents did have some skeletons in their
closets as they walked up the steps of the White House to take power
after being elected. Coming in with a promise of 'Changes ahead for America' but fuzzy unexplained ones so far. Oh how many very bad folks rose to power using those words to charm a disgruntled
public as America is now after 8 years of G.W. Bush and entry into 2 wars both stale-mated, plus 9/11 and al-Q hatred still awaiting a chance to repeat
that attack in a much
worse way if allowed to. He has a load of heavy issues to deal with, an economy that has not been so bad since
the Great Depression that led
the world into World War II, we shall see what he pulls off pretty fast I think. I hope it is a palatable dish
we end up eating for our voting fervor. With both the Senate and Congress now Democratic party heavy, in majority
he should have no problems
passing any laws he wishes, I sure hope he votes Veteran friendly as his voting record shows he did in previous
years, but sadly he has never
walked this earth in the uniform of the military who protects the United States of America, nor ever swore the
very solemn oath that all servicemen and women do or did. God help us
if this all turns out bad!
In Requiem of a Real Hero and True Patriot who was my Friend in Life.
Last summer I bade farewell to a dear and trusted friend, my mentor and
fellow Veteran of WW II, Korea and Vietnam. George D., passed on 12 June 2008 aged 81 of a sudden stroke, leaving
a hollow feeling in my life. The day he was stricken I responded to his home and rendered what first aid I could
to him until the para-medics arrived to take over, then I never saw him again. One of the finest America patriots
I have ever known, who I first met in 2001 when I rolled into my neighborhood and he came out to shake my hand.
From that day our friendship grew stronger with every encounter. We enjoyed a friendship that made each encounter
a learning experience for me and him, as we discovered how very much alike us old soldiers are, but his experiences
far surpassed mine in
all aspects, and became
a deep bonding relationship for us both. Rest in peace my friend, and know my life has now become much less with you no longer enriching it with your wisdom,
your clarity of vision and your honor. On 2 July at the Valley Assembly
of God Church, at 11am the family and friends of George met for a 1 hour
ceremony to pay homage. He received full military honors by a burial detail of Airmen/women from Fairchild Air Force Base, the colors of our nation were
handed to his grandson, and a 21-gun salute was fired, taps was played and a light luncheon/gathering followed.
I was honored to be asked to read an eulogy I had prepared for him, but my simple words came nowhere close to expressing
the deep bonds of affection
and respect and love that permeated that chapel.
Now what follows is only a small portion of my autobiography, my entire life would take up enough space
to fill a thick book
or a 100GB hard drive, so I have hit only on pivotal episodes which still takes even a speed reader 2-4 hours to
read from top to bottom. Some of my story goes to the grave with me c/o non-disclosure forms I signed that limit (for very good reasons) what will never be included in this narrative or any other to even those closest to me while I live.
If wading thru this
much data is too much time for you to get an idea of who I am, some of what I've done, where I've been and the
events that changed my life & that of others, then log off now, U have been warned and I won't get my feelings
hurt if you check out, or choose to: 'Save As Web-Page Complete' and go over it @ your speed off-line later. I keep this page updated at least monthly ;-}
Right now in Spokane, Washington, U.S.A. this is the current weather:
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My life and story starts in the beginning; London, England.
I was born Maurice
Sean Murphy
on a wet and chilly late winter
morning in 1957 in a large public
hospital in the inner London borough of Saint Pancras, next to Westminster,
or very close to the sounds
of the London Clock, 'Big Ben' is the largest bell inside & up-top of that large clock tower (connected to the British Parliament complex, the Houses of Lords & Commons) as it is correctly named, and the entire ancient structure, an iconic land-mark of any London post-card mistakenly called 'Big Ben'
even by those who grew up there and
know the difference, making me officially a Cockney by birth
or so the ancient tradition goes. I am an only
child of that cursed union and have no children of my own.
My ethnic make-up is 1/4 German
and 3/4's Celtic. U.K. citizen
by birth (London) but Irish by citizenship from my immigrant Irish dead-beat father. My Mother's name was Monica, the last and maybe the prettiest, most reserved
yet very self-educated daughter of seven children (five girls and two boys),
born to my mostly Irish and Scottish
(Celtic) Grandmother Catherine Sullivan, and my (1st generation German
immigrant to England) Grandfather
Ernst. I have an uncle Terry, now the Patriarch of that line , and aunts Aurdry, an old bitter broken woman with a vile temper (both out of my commo
loop indef.) and younger by 10 years Aunt Bernadette still alive today. I remember times when they all were alive
and the interactions I had with each one. My Grandfather fought against the Germans in World War One, probably trading fire with some of his own kin! He was gassed and survived four long
years in the trenches. His trade
was a coal stoker, a hard life until he married my grandmother and together they leased and ran a inn/boarding-house
for sailors and merchant marines. WW I was something so terrible to endure for 4 long years of bloody trench warfare that he never talked about it to me or anyone else, I don't think he could bear to remember the carnage so he blocked
it out with fits of rage at times for no good reason, then cried like a baby, something known today as Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder, but back then called 'shell-shock' a badge of cowardice that could get a solider shot for incapacitating
fear. My Grandmother told me that a rat
was considered a good meal by the starving British troops. The
rats grew fat on the un-buried bodies of Tommy and Kraut alike that no one could recover so they just lay out in
'No-Mans Land' for months and
rotted, a smell so strong
it also drifting to G.B. when the winds blew from the east. The first battle of the Somme (in France) was so loud
that it was clearly heard across the North Sea back in England, lighting up night skies for days and
worrying my grandmother and many other wives to misery that no letters had come back from her once dashing/charming young lance-corporal husband in months. They lived in South Shields in County Durham in the north of England when my grandfather came back a very different person, quick to anger and stern with anyone. During the next World War the youngest, including my Mother
were evacuated into the country-side , in her case a country hamlet
Vicarage, to avoid Hitler's
Blitzkrieg which was bombing any city, especially the prime targets of the dock
lands and rail-heads of the river Tyne where my Grandparents
still owned and ran a boarding house
for dockers, Royal Navy sailors
and merchant seamen. My grandfather 40+ was too old now for recall to duty, but as required of any able bodied
male he became a member of the Home-Guard
helping out after German air-raids or manning 'pom-pom' guns (derived name for the sound they made with each volley), heavy anti-aircraft machine guns designed
to bring down Nazi bombers. My Uncle Donald
became a Merchant Seaman at 16, and
went off on convoy duty from England to Murmansk, Russia.
He survived several direct torpedo
hits from U-Boats on the vessels
he served on, sending many to the bottom, and leaving him afloat in a lifeboat for days in the freezing Barents Sea. Convoys who stopped to pick-up
survivors often joined their comrades in disaster. He could not survive the alcohol which took him in the end many years later, a broken man. He was buried at sea over the wreck of the Titanic
by the Captain of the Q.E.II, arranged by my aunt Vera, his twin by birth, and a good person who I loved dearly in her sorrow filled life. On my Mother's side of the family, Ernst remains
the only soldier I know of
in my lineage, until me, some 60 years later when I became one, but in a very different Army. I remember him as
a bitter old man who died of colon cancer when I was still young. My Grandmother
was a wonderful person who I loved
dearly. I was raised very close to the Common Gate Pub
in Walthamstow, (the urban mess that is part of the expanding Cockney East
End of) London E-17, England.
My Irish born father's first name was also Maurice Patrick, so very
early in my life my Mother, in her wisdom, called me by my middle name:
'Sean' and it stuck throughout my life. It is the Gaelic name for John. It is the name I still go by to all my friends and family, except when dealing with official 'stuff' or folks.
I should have dropped the Maurice part when I became a U.S. Army Combat Engineer, then a Combat Medic,
then a U.S. citizen. Oh well! That
name alone got me into more
fights after school as a kid.
It originated as 'Moorish'
or 'Dark Skinned' and dates
on record from the Muslim Moors
who conquered most of Spain, until Christian Knights (Crusaders) chased them all the way back to their deserts. That name had one benefit I didn't fully appreciate at the time. I was getting good at fighting and soon earned a reputation for it.
"Hey More-Rice where'd
you get that pansy name from?" WHACK!
Two years of formal training
in Shotokan karate (later in my teens)
made me an even better and effective weapon. The rigorous training eventually taught me that walking away or
avoiding a needless confrontation is a good tactic too! I had many
occasions to defend myself over the years and can still drop most with no frills moves that would end fights real fast. Thankfully it's been years since I last had to use it on anyone. Violence (IMHO)
is the last option of dialogue. All kids scrap; I just seemed
to have to more than others
with names like plain old John Smith.
Clan Murphy in Gaelic comes
from the ancient tribal name Muirchu,
meaning sea warrior or pirate, depending on who is telling the story. The English waves of invaders couldn't pronounce the word so they morphed
it into Murphy a name of English creation as so many Irish names are today, and the real Celtic language or names
were prohibited to even be spoken under pain of death from Norman then Plantagenet then Tudor kings and a brutal
Liz I to Oliver Cromwell, the only (non-royal) dictator and ruler
of England after a bloody civil war (1599-1658) found itself rued by 'Ollie' when he had Charles Stewart II's head lopped-off
at the Tower of London for being a tad too anal and in the bad habit of dissolving parliaments that were supposed to represent the English people (landowners, not the tenants who were just worker
bees with no rights to do much but put up, shut up and do as they were told), or who (unless they were the king's
landed and titled court gentry "Yes Sire!" sycophants) saw no use in waging very bloody wars in distant Europe, getting issued armor,
sword, and shields the off they went following the local knight wherever the king sent them, or staying home, farming
the lands, paying taxes for royalist armies off fighting all takers over trivial matters and staying broke at home
in England wondering WTF their
monarch was up to and why the
only thing coming home was bad news or broken veterans of those follies. The (Catholic) Irish people were never
much more than bonded chattel to their hated (Protestant) English masters until Eire found freedom circa 1921 following centuries of revolts and bitter defeats, but still leaving 6 counties up north under the rule of the British (Protestant) crown but still full
of Catholic Irish who had lived there from birth thru death since Saint
Patrick or Padriag, a Roman pilgrim & Christian convert who sold them all on the proper way to worship God, in Latin
of course not even understood by any but the rich educated classes of Europe or the Romans whose mastery of it
was total. Padriag is also
credited for casting (Wizard stuff) those nasty snakes out of the island, or so the fable goes, more likely any snake caught by a starving peasant was a meal so they were probably consumed into extinction, not cast-out! That religious hatred made growing up in the
1970's an exercise in avoiding IRA
bombs in major U.K. cities with London (my digs) a prime target. N. Ireland violence filled our evening news and hunger strikers became (Catholic
Irish) martyrs when in fact
most had a lot of innocent blood on their hands and weren't in HMP Long Kesh, Belfast
for shop-lifting, generating more agro each time one died, or a Brit Paratrooper shot a brainwashed kid for throwing a petrol bomb at a patrol. Murphy (in Gaelic Muirchu) is a masculine surname that pre-dates Christianity meaning 'sea-warrior'. One of the ancient kings of the clan was always
present at the Halls of Tara,
the place now called Newgrange
where a highly civilized Celtic culture once ruled Erin that rivaled ancient Greece at its climax. It marked
all who bore it as originating from southern Ireland around modern day County Cork in Eire where around
500BCE their Bronze-Age men-folk made a decent living raiding Phoenecian traders and later Roman galleys. Enough history to fill a
library, seldom taught
(correctly) in British vetted history books, but facts on my home page
that is already way
too big, to convince you that somewhere way back all of my clan had a common royal ancestor. "Every Irishman thinks he's a king or descended
from one!" were not kind words but they mocked only a much deeper truth.
That 70-year [abbreviated] snap-shot
of my family history is but the very start or prelude of my own life's story, which now follows:
ANGLO-AMERICAN seeds are sown,
and take root.
I detested the poverty I was
born into and soon realized after exposure to American culture (almost from infancy) that there were better places or ways to live than my
miserable part of England.
By age 10 I had already seen almost every touristy item that London had to offer, some many times, so please excuse
me if I take for granted the Tower of London, containing the Crown Jewels, the changing of the guard at Buckingham
Palace or Tower Bridge that still spans the Thames. I had seen and
lived with the freedoms and luxuries
of the United States throughout
my most formative first years and then later into my teens without even leaving Britain. My first exposure to American 'norms' was when I lived/visited with my Anglo-American
God Parents and their first two
children; my cousins (big-sis)
Cathy and (my age) Liz, in Banbury,
United Kingdom. Normal working class Americans who took for granted a life-style not common (or
even affordable) on most British salaries. These were constant extended visits throughout the late 50's and early 60's to bases like Mildenhall or
Lakenheath. My uncle and God Father,
Manual Eduardo 'Eddie' Facundo; a Hispanic American patriot was a young handsome Tech-Sergeant stationed
at a U.S. Air Force Base 2 hours ride by train from London. He
married my Mother's elder sister, my God Mother, Bernadette. So
for periods of many months unbroken
we were a combined family and
life was happy. Or so I thought, and forgot about the mean
guy Mum never talked about. My own father was rotting
in one of the most notorious prisons
in England called Dartmoor. Not a place for mere shoplifters! By U.S.
standards an San-Quintan for the
worst of the worst. For what I
don't remember but our trips to Banbury
ended shortly after his release. Then my uncle Eddie's tour was up and he took his family back States-side to a new duty assignment in Texas
complete with his new son, my cousin Eddie Jr. They went on to have two more boys, David and Patrick over the next few years. They left
a lasting impression on me and
a void that was very hard to fill. I stayed in mail and sometimes even phone contact with them in America throughout the years, and dreamt of emigration. I didn't see them again until 1972, aged 15,
and again in 1975 at age 18. Both trips were for two-month vacations spent in places from San Francisco's hippy
havens, camping trips all over Northern
California's many beautiful lakes, mountains,
National parks and forests. great concerts galore, to the wonders of Disney Land
in Los Angeles! Blasting rock from to Rod Stewart to Zeppelin! Much of summer 1975 further saturated me in U.S. culture, and I literally drank it up with honorable men like Ed O'Shea.
A Korean War Veteran and ex-Prisoner
of War. He earned this Nation's 2nd highest military
award for valor; the Navy Cross,
awarded to him once he came home, an empty shell of a human after years
of North Korean captivity and torture. Bastards! Then there was CRAZY Vietnam Veteran Bruce Liker, U.S.M.C. sniper. "Reach
out and touch someone!", 1-shot, 1-kill with over 100 confirmed to his credit and his tormented memory/flash-backs! The
combination of Uncle Eddie, Ed
O'Shea and Bruce Liker made a U.S.
military experience something I had to pursue, but I would have to return to London and wait another long
year before I could follow that path for real. Too much to tell in depth
on a Home Page I AM trying to stop becoming an e-book ! Stop now for a sec please, or revisit when you have more time. This is an ongoing autobiographical account of my life, and it gets heavy later. I weave new events around old
when I remember or experience more, so this stays current and at times pedantic for the regulars. A dear friend
recently asked me to put all my "new stuff" in one easy to get at place on this page, something I have given much thought to, but as time goes by, more of my past
comes back to me, and serves only to expound on my life with events new and dated. To stack only new events up front would confuse any
1st-time visitor and make this site even more disjointed than it already is. Like the Star Wars prequels to the
the originals, it has a time-line but to study me is to know me and if I do not rate that much of your time, then
find a good fiction book that tells a quick exciting story in 300-pages. If you get tir