A R I A

Big Night Out

It seemed like we were spending all of our time in Dakar, Africa. The hotel food was fast becoming unpalatable, and we wanted to expand our horizons and check out a local restaurant for dinner. We had heard of a restaurant that was supposed to be friendly with good food, so we headed out on foot to find this palate pleasure palace. It was a long walk; there weren't any restaurants close to the hotel.

We arrived at the restaurant, and it didn't take us long to realize that we were out of our element; we felt underdressed for the occasion. After being seated, we anxiously proceeded to look over the menu. We attempted to decipher the French menu and then motioned to the waiter to come to the table. It became quite evident that we were on our own since he didn't speak English.

Not a problem, we knew what some of the words meant. So with our interpretation of the menu, we were ready. The waiter returned to the table to take our order, and we pointed to the menu selections. To make it easier, we both ordered the same thing. Needless to say, the waiter had a confused look on his face, but took the order and left.

We were riding high, a big night out in a very nice French restaurant halfway around the world far from the big city of Fairborn, Ohio. I can't remember all of the conversations at the table, but what I do remember is how enjoyable it was.

The waiter returned with our exclusive French dinner of spaghetti and French fries. Now we had a confused look on our face. I can still hear the laughter as we made fun of ourselves on the walk back to the hotel.

This event took place in early 1980. It wasn't until 2000 that I remembered this happy moment in time. I had come across the ARIA reunion web site earlier and was thinking a lot about my time with ARIA. I was primarily thinking about the upcoming memorial service for ARIA 328. The person that shared that special dinner with me that night was Glenn Resides. Whenever I think of Glenn, my first thought is how his love of family permeated his being. He was a good man.

Staff Sergeant Glenn Samuel Resides Junior
Born 23 November 1955 - Aged 25 Years
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

Randy L. Losey