I’ve come across a lot of veterans in my life: family members, friends, classmates, clients, students.
My great-grandfather (left) with his brother and sister, taken around 1918.
My grandfather during WWII
Each person has a unique story but shares similarities across the ages, the wars, the bases, the experiences back home.
I try to capture these in the eleven stories in my short story collection, The Futility of Loving a Soldier.
- A girlfriend explains why she knew her boyfriend wouldn’t come back from the front.
- A stranger reminds a veteran what matters in life.
- A wife struggles to trust her husband with their baby after he returns from deployment.
- Old friends search for a way to reclaim the dreams and plans of their childhood.
- A woman haunted by her experiences finds an unlikely ally.
- One man’s enlistment creates ripple effects for generations as four sons seek to make sense of what they and their fathers are fighting for.
The book also has a list of resources for helping veterans with physical or mental issues, as well as places that provide support for families.
What stories do your veterans and their families tell?
