I don't have a lot of memories of my time in the military here, military related that is, other than having reconstructive surgery at the military hospital here in Okinawa. I had some seriously hideous GI reflux, heartburn, enough heartburn to light up a small city it felt like, and around Christmas time in 85' I had a procedure called a "nissen fundoplication"
Now before and after getting out of the hospital a buddy of mine in the Marine Corp and his Okinawan (Japanese) girlfriend and I had gone out a number of times together, sightseeing, going to clubs, out to dinner, things like that. Well while I was in the hospital she came and saw me. Her name was Mutsuko, and she gave me a couple of books and some flowers and wished me luck and at one point or another she asked me if I had a girlfriend. I told her no, and that I wasn't particularly looking either, but if I met someone it would be nice. And she invited me to her birthday party. I got out of the hospital and was on medical leave for nearly all of January of 86' and her birthday was January 12th. A day that forever changed my life.
Well Mutsuko was having her birthday party at a bar across the street from Camp Foster, the base I was stationed on at the time. "Motherly's" was the name, while the building still exists today, the bar is long gone. The party was going full swing when Mutsuko introduces me to a college classmate and friend of her's. The rest as they say is history, that is still being written today!
We met on January 12th 1986, we got married in Wisconsin on June 13th (Friday), 1986. From that day on I never have felt as if Friday the 13th was an unlucky day. Nope! It's forever implanted in my mind as one of the best days of my life! Sorry can't share any pictures of the occasion as my wife and kids are reading along here and, well, my wife doesn't want to see her smiling face shining back up at her from here.
Needless to say, I was smitten, she was my age, 22 when we met, petite, about 153 cm, which is a bit over 5 ft tall and weighed, maybe, 45kg, which is just under 100lbs. Next to her I was a giant, I stand a shade under 6'4" or roughly 193cm tall and at the time weighed about 95kg or about 210 lbs. (I had lost some weight because of my stomach surgery)
She was the cutest woman I had ever seen, and she spoke lightly accented English, while not perfect, but light years beyond my limited vocabulary of Japanese that consisted of literally a handful of words and catch phrases. She had graduated from a local junior college that specialized in teaching English, and her English was good, very good. I was in love, good looking, funny, smart, and spoke English too!
The days flew by, we dated on weekends, and within 3 months I asked her to marry me, she said yes! I didn't come here looking for a girlfriend, let alone a wife, but you never know who you'll meet or where!
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