Christmas Love - 40 Years Ago in Vietnam

Karla removes the Christmas cards from the mailbox, and sees a tattered white envelope with red and blue edges. She realizes it's an old Air-mail envelope. It's addressed to her dad, but the postal mark- could that be right? - was from 40 years ago. Talk about your late delivery.

"Dad, you got a letter today." I think it must have gotten lost for a while though. Looks like it was from Vietnam..."

Tom looked up quickly. Since moving in with his daughter, he kept to himself. Karla kept telling her father she was glad he lived with her, especially now that it was the holidays, and they would both be lonely, but her dad saw things differently. Ever since Karla's mom had died, her father's attitude had worsened. Basically he was becoming introverted, grumpy, and an all-around stick in the mud. So you can imagine Karla's surprise when Tom jumped up, snatched the envelope out of her hands and immediately tore it open. As Karla watched him reading, she saw a bevy of emotions come and go. Astonishment, fear, happiness, and then sadness- all played over his face in the time span of a minute.

Karla asked her dad who it was from, but he merely clutched it tighter and said, "Doesn't matter now; Too long ago."

The next day, while Tom was out, Karla sneaked into his room. She remembered her Dad's similar antics years ago. He had told Karla it was for her own good- that finding her cigarettes overruled her privacy. Karla laughed to herself- "Sorry Dad, but it's for your own good." She then looked through his socks and that's where she found it.

The English was scribbled and you could see that it had taken great effort for the writer. Still, the overall message was easily interpreted, even with the errors.

My Tom. I love you. I not happy you leave. I know you return for me. You said so. I believe you. We should not been alone that way. My father so mad. Said Soldier bad, hurt me, hurt country. But I know- you good man. You be my man. I sneak letter to friend who send for me. You must come back. You must send money to get me to you home. I cannot stay here. I shame my family. I carry you child Tom. If you no return, I will die. Father said I go away- must take enemy baby. Come back soon Tom. -Nguyen Kim-Ly

Karla couldn't believe the words. The letter had been written over 40 years ago. She knew her Dad had been in the Vietnam War in the late 60's but he never talked about it. She just figured it had been too awful to relive the details. Maybe it was more than that- maybe this Kim woman was the reason he refused to talk about those days. One thing was for sure- she was going to find out. And whether her father liked it or not- she was not going to let him just sit there and rot away. For all she knew, she may have a half-brother or sister out there somewhere.

But how do you find someone who lived 40 years ago in a remote area of Vietnam with no current address and no idea if she even wants to be found?

You hire a private investigator, that's what you do! And Karla soon discovered that Kim-Ly was actually living in New York. Karla got the phone number and arranged to meet Kim-Ly. Karla learned that she had fled Vietnam while 8 months pregnant and gave birth to a son she named Tommy. She worked in sweat factories to make ends meet but they had survived it all. Her son was now a successful Doctor. Kim-Ly then answered the question that Karla was dying to know. Kim-Ly said she had tried many times to find Tom, but with only an APO military box and a name, she hadn't gotten very far. She had always loved him though and never married.

Karla told Kim-Ly he had never received the letter. Kim-Ly replied, "That makes sense, because he would have come for me. We were in love."

Karla went home and told her father about the secret visit she'd made. Tom shared that he had tried to find Kim-Ly as soon as he got back to the states. He sent letters to her home, and they all came back unopened. He figured she didn't want him anymore. And of course, he had never gotten the other letter informing him she was pregnant. Kim-Ly's father must have intercepted his messages so that she wouldn't run away to be with him.

Tom had never stopped thinking about Kim-Ly. She was his first-love. To know he had a son- and that they both lived here in the states, well it was almost too hard to believe. He knew he had to see her. And with Karla's blessing, they decided to set up another meeting- this time for Christmas Day.

Two weeks later, Tom heads out the door for the airport. Today was the day that Kim-Ly was arriving. Karla was surprised to see her Dad wearing his old Military uniform. First because she couldn't believe it still fit, but secondly, because she had never seen it before.

Apparently that uniform was all Kim-Ly needed. Because as she got off the plane and started down the terminal, she instantly saw him. She ran up to Tom, threw her arms around his neck, and said, "My Tom, My Love".

Karla then heard her father whisper back, "My Kim-Ly, I told you your soldier would return. I'm just sorry it took me 40 years to do it."

As Karla looked around the airport, she knew this was going to be a Christmas full of love and new beginnings.

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