The funeral of a soldier
April Fool's Day in smalltown USA was met with sadness and overall somberness today. Actually it started near 3 weeks ago. A local soldier was killed in Iraq on the 19th and was laid to rest here today. He was 26, married with 2 small children and 1 on the way. Not to mention that his Mother (who we work with at job 1) is a recent breast cancer survivor, that, while fighting for her life, her soul-mate and husband was killed in a very tragic trucking accident. Then a few months ago, her father died of cancer. Now this. All in about a 2 year span. Hello God, are you watching this?? How much can one person survive?The chaplin and the Sargent? showed up at job 1 - asking for the highest ranking official. You know that can only mean one thing. And that was the beginning.
The outpouring of the community and surrounding towns has just been astounding. From all the funeral donations and support from local businesses, etc, to the people at job 1 who have given over $6600 of their own bucks, only to be matched by job 1 to the tune of $13,200.
Todays activities were no exception. The 425 patriot riders just left this sleepy little town breathless. What an amazing group of people they are. They drownd out the protesters by reving their motorcycles. That was something to see. And the blazing trail of flags, popping in the wind. If I had to wage a bet, I guess there were over 600 flags just at the funeral. The entire route of the processional was also lined with flags. Something like 2000 of them or so lined the streets.
The 21 gun salute and the playing of Taps really made the tears come. The different branches of the military all there. There were some from what appeared to be his home unit as well. The patriot guard made a circle around the burial service, flying their flags and those with military history saluting. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I hope I never do again but I will say that I am forever changed by the events of the past few weeks. Forever changed.
The body was brought to town on Thursday and the patriot guard greeted it at the airport. They told all the riders to put their back foot pegs down because Wayne was "riding with us" today. It's really been something.
On a lighter note, hunky-dunky boyfriend is moving in. I couldn't be more excited about that. I have my very own McDreamy! :) How lucky am I? He bought me a diamond necklace on Friday - Just because. And he made dinner on Saturday - just because. And he loves me - just because. I'm lucky - just because.
Post op report - back to my life and then some! I recommend that surgery!
TBL update - down 14 pounds as of Thursday. You should see the baggy pants things I've got going! hahaha
� grizmom at
2007-04-01
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