Memorial Day, 2007

I haven't posted for quite a while! My son returned from his second deployment on September 7, 2006. He came home - physically relocating to under my roof when he was released from the service shortly thereafter. It has been a time of readjustment for all of us. That is not a bad thing - just a thing. He needed a place to stay short-term while he lined up his life (and finances,) and I think he needed a place to find his balance again, a shelter where he could let go of some of the sharp edges that surely come for all GIs after combat deployment.

He moved out Friday (yes - only 3 days ago) and it is a little strange for ME!

This man, my son, my little baby son who is a man in ways that some men will never be is back on his own and I want that for him and he wants that for him. It's just that even though I have been SO READY to have him move forward again, I have to now find my own balance from him having been in a combat deployment - twice.

This few months has been reassuring that he is really indeed alive and breathing on the planet - which I needed!

So, now he is out again and won't be here to tell me to stop watching the news and reading blogs related to Iraq, the mililtary in general, the war, etc., etc. because I don't need to know about that. Yes I do. He is simply trying to protect his mother by telling me that, I know. And I do need to know. I need to know that there are some people who really do love and appreciate our GIs, that I am not alone in that feeling.

This day - this Memorial Day - let all of us remember, let all of us honor, let all of us appreciate those of our brothers, our husbands, our fathers, our sons - and also our sisters, wives, mothers, and daughters - who have sacrificed so much so that we may be free. Of course, that means ALL of our military men and women, and particularly let us honor, appreciate, and remember our GIs who have made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their very lives that we may be free. A stand for freedom anywhere is a stand for freedom everywhere.

Thank you and God bless you to those of you who serve. Thank you and God keep you to those who have served and lost their lives from a grateful wife of a Viet Nam vet, a grateful mother of an Iraq vet.