May All Your Dreams Come True But One

This is Eddie: gun-owning Republican, Vietnam veteran, and born-and-bred Bostonian. I met him whilst sitting on a bench in Copley Square, trying to covertly snap some photos, until he sat down next to me and blocked my view.


One of those great non-stop talkers. I had the pleasure of hearing everything from his childhood memories of the early efforts to integrate Roxbury and Dorchester; to his musings on the inherent racism of the city of Boston; to his philosophical waxings on the stupidity of identifying any ethnic group in the country as anything other than plain old 'American'.


He also told me that a few years back he almost died, prompting him to list the ten places he wanted to visit before his time was up. Already knocked six down, too, although Australia's still left, as is his number one destination, Alaska -- not a bad effort. Right now Eddie's studying at culinary school, having abandoned the job he held for the past thirty-odd years at the U.S. Post and being eligible under the umbrella of his V.A. benefits. What a true Renaissance man.