Bookworm Room

I’m sorry posting today was limited, at best.  I had wall-to-wall appointments and meetings, and am now starting the carpool rounds. I also took time out to do something nice.

Some months ago, I was able to convince my 10 year old son that, rather than getting more stuff in his life, he should take some of his birthday money and put it towards a good cause.  He decided to order a package from Soldier’s Angels.  I knew that the order went through and the package went out, but that was all I knew — until today.  In today’s mail, along with the bills and junk mail was a little envelope from the 82nd Airborne, with just the nicest thank you note.  The writer asked that both my son and I write back, and we did.  My son’s letter was short and sweet.  He was also tremendously excited about the whole cause and effect (cause:  he gives his money to someone other than himself; effect:  he gets a letter from a real paratrooper), so much so that he’s vowed to donate more of his money to Soldier’s Angels.  My letter of course, because it was me writing, was looong (unlike my son’s short, sweet effort).  And so I slighted you for an active duty service person.  I thought you would all understand and forgive.

I actually was thinking a lot today about people in the military.  One of the appointments I had today was to take my son to the orthodontist.  I remembered that the receptionist’s son had been in the military.  She was delighted when I asked about him.  She told me that (a) he’s now out of the military and safely home; and (b) it was a really good experience for him, helping him to mature and become self-disciplined in a way he might not have otherwise.

I also discovered today that a young man I’ve known for almost 20 years is in the military.  You have no idea how surprising this was to me.  I knew him back when he was in his late 20s, and a lost soul.  He was a bright, good-looking young man, but with a father so brilliant and dynamic I think he’d sort of given up on trying in life.  Still, he was a patriot (as is his father) so, sometime after 9/11, he decided that he wanted to serve his country with more than just patriotic words.  He therefore enlisted in the Reserves.  And, sometime after that again, he found himself called up.  So instead of being the lost 29 year old I remember, he is a 40-something Army sergeant pulling his weight and, apparently, doing a very good job. He was in Iraq for two years, and is now in Afghanistan.  I was very surprised and impressed when his Dad told me this story, and urged his Dad to send him both my regards and my thanks.

Aack!  The time!  I must run and drive and shop and generally devote myself to the family.

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