25.12.2014 Views

American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

250/439<br />

One day, those roses just went too far, tearing at my side. I decided<br />

to take care of them once and for all: I picked up my lawnmower,<br />

held it up about chest-high, and trimmed the mothers (the roses and<br />

the trees) down.<br />

“What! Are you kidding me” yelled Taya. “Are you trimming the<br />

bushes with a lawnmower”<br />

Hey, it worked. They never snagged me again.<br />

I did do some genuinely goofy stuff. Having fun and making other<br />

people smile and laugh has always been something I like to do. One<br />

day, I saw our backyard neighbor through our kitchen window, so I<br />

stood on a chair and knocked on the window to get her attention. I<br />

proceeded to moon her. (Her husband happened to be a Navy pilot, so<br />

I’m sure she was familiar with such things.)<br />

Taya rolled her eyes. She was amused, I think, though she<br />

wouldn’t admit it.<br />

“Who does that” she said to me.<br />

“She laughed, didn’t she” I said.<br />

“You are thirty years old,” she said. “Who does that”<br />

There’s a side of me that loves to pull pranks on people, to get<br />

them to laugh. You can’t just do regular stuff—I want them to have a<br />

good time. Belly laughs. The more extreme the better. April Fools’ Day<br />

is a particularly tough time for my family and friends, though more because<br />

of Taya’s pranks than my own. I guess we both like to have a<br />

good laugh.<br />

On the darker side, I was extremely hot-headed. I have always had a<br />

temper, even before becoming a SEAL. But it was more explosive now.<br />

If someone cut me off—not a very rare occurrence in California—I

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!