BM: Câu chuyện tình tuyệt đẹp

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Câu chuyện tình tuyệt đẹp

Tôi xin ghi lại câu chuyện này và vài hình ảnh trong đêm February 13-2015 để chia xẻ với tất cả các cặp vợ chồng và tình nhân trên thế giới này. Ước mong rằng TÌNH YÊU luôn luôn là sức mạnh giúp cho chúng ta mãi mãi đi cạnh nhau trong cuộc đời.

Vợ chồng ông bà Gerge Lumm và Hoàng Kim Hà.

Tối thứ sáu 13 tháng 2-2015 vừa qua vợ chồng chúng tôi (Duy Hùng và Xuân Lộc) có tổ chức một đêm ca nhạc ở nhà hàng Thanh tại thành phố Newark.

Trong khi đón tiếp quan khách, tôi để ý thấy một người đàn ông Mỹ trắng cao và ốm khoảng độ tuổi 70 âu yếm dìu một người đàn bà Việt Nam nhỏ bé với chiếc xe lăn vào ngồi bàn số 1 ngay trước sân khấu.

Hơn nửa giờ sau, nhận thấy bàn của cặp vợ chồng này vẫn chỉ có 2 người, tôi tiến đến cạnh ông Mỹ để xin phép sắp thêm khách vào bàn của ông. Ông ấy nhẹ nhàng trả lời: "Cô có thể cho những người khác share bàn của tôi, nhưng phải để trống phía trước để vợ tôi được nhìn rõ trên sân khấu". Cảm động trước sự chu đáo tận tình của ông Mỹ dành cho vợ, tôi gật đầu hứa sẽ giữ khoảng trống phía trước mặt cho họ.

Ông George đang âu yếm dìu bà Hà ra về.

Nhưng bất ngờ hơn, ông Mỹ nói tiếp: "Tôi tên George Lumm và vợ là Hoàng Kim Hà. Chúng tôi lấy nhau năm 1967. Cũng khoảng thời gian đó tôi đã được gặp nhạc sĩ Phạm Duy tại Vietnam. Rồi năm 1975, 3 ngày trước khi mất Saigon, tôi lại gặp Phạm Duy tại đảo Guam. Hôm nay vợ chồng chúng tôi đến đây là để được nghe Phạm Duy Hùng -con trai của Phạm Duy- hát." Quá cảm động, tôi trả lời: "Tôi là vợ của Duy Hùng, rất cám ơn sự có mặt của vợ chồng ông đêm nay. Câu chuyện của ông rất là đặc biệt, nên kể lại cho tất cả mọi người đều nghe"...Tôi liền đến ngồi cạnh bà Hà để hỏi chuyện thì mới biết là do ảnh hưởng của bệnh tật, bà không thể phát âm rõ ràng, nhưng khả năng nghe của bà thì bình thường. Khi tôi hỏi bà muốn nghe bài gì của Phạm Duy, bà ấy mỉm cười trả lời: "bài Sức Mấy Mà Buồn".

Sau đó Ban Tổ Chức đã mời ông George lên sân khấu để kể về câu chuyện tình của vợ chồng ông. Họ đã sống bên nhau 48 năm và có với nhau 5 người con. Buổi tối hôm đó càng vui hơn nữa khi Trưởng Ban Tổ Chức Ban Hoa Hậu San Francisco là cô Liên Nguyễn xổ số tặng quà cho khách thì vé của ông George trúng được chai rượu wine. Nhiều tràng pháo tay thật lớn đã vang lên để chúc mừng hạnh phúc của vợ chồng ông George trong mùa Valentine.

Vợ chồng ông George và ông Lê Xuân Nhuận

Tàn buổi tiệc, nhìn bà Hà ốm yếu nhỏ bé trong tà áo dài Việt Nam được ông George âu yếm dìu bước ra về, mọi người hết sức xúc động. Một câu chuyện tình tưởng là bình thường nhưng ý nghĩa rất lớn lao: vượt thời gian, vượt không gian, vượt khoảng cách màu da, văn hóa, ngôn ngữ. Vượt qua cả chiến tranh trong quá khứ, và vượt qua cả bệnh tật trong hiện tại... Tình yêu quả thật là phép nhiệm màu đã gắn liền vợ chồng họ suốt cả cuộc đời.

Ban Hoa Hậu San Francisco/ Xuân Lộc là người cao nhất, đứng thứ 3 bên tay phải.

Ba của tôi, ông Lê Xuân Nhuận -thi sĩ Thanh Thanh- đã xin chụp chung hình với họ. Ngày hôm sau, ba tôi đã viết trên Facebook:

"On Friday 13th Feb 2015 there was a special Music+Dance party at Thanh Restaurant in Newark City. Here people merrily met two outstanding persons:

Mr. George Lumm, an American who served during the Vietnam War. He loves Vietnam and Vietnamese music. He married Hoang Kim Ha, a Vietnamese beauty, in 1967; met Pham Duy, a Vietnamese well-known musician, the first time in Saigon, capital of the former Republic of Vietnam, in 1969, and the last time in Guam, in 1975. George pushed the wheelchair bringing her wife to this music+dance party because he wanted to see Pham Duy's son, Duy Hung, who performed here this night. At the same time, he wanted his wife who has lived together with him for 48 years and given birth to five children, to fall in line together with him with the Vietnamese Americans who were eager to welcome the American traditional St. Valentine's Day (February 14). George carefully managed to have nobody sitting between the stage and Kim Ha to obstruct the sight of his diseased wife, whom he has faithfully taken care of for so many years. George–Kim-Ha love story on the eve of this Valentine's Day deeply moved the heart of everybody present there.

Cũng ngày đó, Valentine Saturday February 14-2015, ông George đã gởi cho chúng tôi đọc câu chuyện tình lý thú của ông:

Love Story of Hoang Kim Ha & George Lumm

I first met my wife when I was a Staff Sergeant in the First Infantry Division (Big Red 1), based at Dian, Vietnam. I first met her when she was 22 years old and I was 23. About a year later, I asked her to marry me. She said that she thought that would be nice, but I first had to get her parents’ permission to marry her. I asked her what in the world she was talking about. After all, she was over 21 years old and should be able to marry who and when she wanted to. She replied “Oh No! In Vietnam, even if you are over 61, if your parents are still alive, you must get their permission to get married.” I thought to myself that this was some kind of customary thing and I determined that it would be best to comply, so I said that I would stop by her home and speak to her parents that evening. She made it quite clear that I would have to talk, specifically with her father. Well, when I started walking down the small road that led to the Hoang family home, all the children were yelling “My, My”, which I did not know meant “American, American”. By the time I reached the house, everybody already knew I was coming. When I knocked at the door, Ha’s mother answered it and informed me that her husband had just left a few minutes earlier, with some friends. I said OK, I will come back tomorrow and left. The next day, I again went to their home and, again, Ha’s mother answered the door. This time she said that he was called away to some meeting or other. I replied, “OK, I will come back tomorrow”. The next day, I returned to the house and, again, Ha’s mother answered the door. This time she said that her husband was ill and had gone to the doctor. I again said “OK, I will come back tomorrow. Every day I went to the house and every day there was some kind of excuse that I could not talk to Ha’s father. I simply just kept going back every day, for over nine months. I was thinking that it was pretty obvious that her father had no desire to talk to me and that he must be a pretty stubborn man. Well, I decided that I could be just as stubborn. Then, finally, after nine long months, Ha’s mother answered the door and said “Oh, yes, my husband is expecting you, please come in.” This certainly messed up, what had become my daily routine for the past nine months,and I really became nervous, now that I was finally going to be able to talk to Ha’s father, who I did not think I would like and, who I was sure would not like me. I decided that I simply had to get this ordeal over with and entered the house. I was expecting to see only Ha, her mother and father and her brother and sister. Oh my God! There were a whole mess of relatives. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. After introducing myself to Ha’s father, Mr. Hoang Dac Hy, I said that I wanted to marry his daughter. His immediate response was “No good, very bad idea!” I asked “Why”. He replied, “You both are different nationalities, different customs, different religions (the Hoang family was Buddhist and I am Roman Catholic) , and different beliefs about family and life, in general. I responded, “But that doesn’t matter, we love each other”. When I said this, he became very agitated and said “You stupid Americans! You love one day and then divorce the next.” Well, we continued to argue back and forth for over an hour. Then I finally said “What is the real reason you oppose our getting married? Is it because I am an American?”. He replied “Well, that does not help things any, but the main reason I do not want my daughter to marry any American can be summed up in one word”. I asked, “and what word is that?’. He replied, very strongly “DIVORCE”. I said, “Oh, I am Catholic and do not believe in divorce”. He replied, “I know Catholics who have been divorced”. I then said, “Oh, but the Church frowns upon such things”. He then said, “Frowns upon it? Ridiculous! In Vietnam, there is NO DIVORCE”. Now, we both had lost our tempers and I replied, “I do not believe you. Do you mean to tell me that if two Vietnamese get married and after six or seven years, they do not even talk to each other, or sleep in the same bed, that they never get a divorce?” His response was, “Absolutely Not”. I said, “I simply do not believe that.” We were about two feet apart from each other, ever since we started talking (arguing). At this moment, Ha stepped between us and looked up at me, straight in the face,and said, “Oh No. Absolutely, no divorce! MURDER, maybe, but DIVORCE never”. Well I tried my best to win over her father, but I did not get very far, but at least he gave me permission to visit their home as often as I wanted to, as long as Ha was never alone with me. I took him up on his word and continued to visit the family every day. After a few months later, when we both seemed to understand each other’s feelings and beliefs, and after not succeeding to dissuade my wife from wanting to marry me, he finally consented. I still had the very strong feeling that he did not like me, but I was greatly relieved when he finally consented. The wedding party took place several months later. First I had to agree to comply with all Vietnamese laws and customs, as well as my requirement to comply with American laws, in reference to getting married. I still remember our getting married at the Vietnamese Police Station, at the Vietnamese governmental offices, at the U.S. embassy and the Catholic Church. I thought to myself, well, even if we ever contemplated divorce, it would be nearly impossible to do so, since we had been married four times. I also remember having to lead a parade of people, all bearing gifts, going to the Hoang family home, to present Ha’s parents with gifts, before the wedding. We were both extremely happy when we were finally married. I must admit, that after we were married, her father and I became extremely close. He was closer to me than my own father and I grew to love him and his wife just as much, if not more, than my own parents. Needless to say, the “D” (divorce) word has never come up in our 48 years of marriage. I can not help but remember “MURDER, maybe, but DIVORCE never” and I really am glad that I forgot that. Every couple will argue at times, but I do believe that that is part of marriage and never a reason to abandon the vows we made to each other to stay together until death do us part. I got out of the Army in October, 1969, but after being discharged in the United States, I returned to Vietnam and we lived there, happily, until April, 1975. We were evacuated to Guam just three days before Saigon fell to the Communists. There is another story about how we were able to take out 27 Vietnamese people with us when we were flown to Guam, but is for another time. There is part of this particular story documented in the book “Tears Before TheRain”, which documents many stories of different people who managed to escape Vietnam, just before it fell. God truly blessed me in leading me to my wife and her family. As a result, I learned and love so much about the Vietnamese people, their customs, traditions and beliefs. I especially appreciate the Vietnamese beliefs in relation to FAMILY.

My wife has given me the experience of, not only undying love for her, but for all the Vietnamese people.

The Vietnamese , I believe, have the best culture, traditions,and love of family, as well as of each other, than I could ever find anywhere else on earth. We pray daily for the Vietnamese people and ask God to help them through their suffering under a Communist Government until, in his time, they may again be free people.

Chủ nhật, February 15-2015

Xuân Lộc

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