08/17/2025
The “Emotional Hangover”………
It was one of the earlier Fort Fest’s, when, at the end of the event, I took a moment to finally sit down, late on Sunday, in the museum. No one was in there. I was exhausted.
As I looked around at the displays,…..I began to think about all of the amazing people and the life experiences that they brought to that event. I could see and feel the impact that this event had on me and so many of those people who had attended,……I was suddenly overwhelmed.
I started sobbing. To the couple that came in at that very moment, I’m sorry, but that,
…..was an emotional hangover.
For the last several months, I’ve been on a journey after finding a box of reel to reel tapes that my Dad sent home from Vietnam- some to my Mom, some to his parents.
Each night, for many evenings, I would get this “phone call” from my Dad, and that is what it felt like. I put on a tape and I heard about places and experiences he had been or had that day.
…….There was so much that I wished I had known more about or had asked him about when he was alive, but I was hearing it now, in real time,….it was magically 1967.
As amazing as it was, I could only do one tape each night.
Listening to my Dad, who has been gone for 18 years, telling me about what he saw that day in a land far away, what the weather was, how he missed home, talking about my Mom, and his plans for when he was finally “short” (I find out that means when he was almost done),…….it was almost too much.
Often, I could hear the distinct sound of a Huey helicopter in the background…..
When the tape (and the “phone call”) ended, I’d find myself wiping my eyes. I’d package up the tape that he had carefully put in a machine in Vietnam in 1967,….now probably for the last time.
That,……..was an emotional hangover.
Sometimes, it does take a few days to process what happens at Fort Fest,…..but we do it every year,……so why is that?
Fort Fest is a turbo charged stick of dynamite wrapped up inside a nuclear bomb of emotion, clothed in patriotism, sprinkled with mourning, doused in appreciation, fondness, camaraderie, friendship, loss, and triumph.
It is every emotion that you could possibly have, all at the same time, for three continuous days.
It could never be longer. My heart would explode.
THAT,…….is an emotional hangover.
There is ONLY ONE similarity to the real thing………,thinking back to college,………much like a real hangover,…….usually a few days later, you turn to your friends and say, “That was AWESOME”.
Thank you to all who came, planned, participated, re-enacted, camped, contributed, helped, or volunteered. May God find you all with safe travel home, and may he reward you with a peace in your heart…..that YOU helped make a difference.
Until next year,.....
We’ll see you all back at Fort Fest 2026, Northwest Ohio’s Most Unique Festival.
Good night, Fort Jennings
(Sleep well, Brigadoon)
