6 years ago, another version...

some of you may remember that this wednesday was veteran's day (& my mom's birthday, which had to come first, if you know what i mean *wink*). i'm not going to get into the politics of the wars going on right now. all i'll say is that if there is one thing that i will never forget: that my 'little' brother was (or is, does that ever stop?) a soldier.

6 years ago he was not able to attend my wedding b/c he was in fallujah. for nearly 18 months he was gone, one of the thousands protecting our country & innocent civilians in other countries. not a minute went by the day of my wedding that i wasn't thinking of him, not even kidding. every time i look at group pictures from my wedding i want to cry (which is one of reasons you will only see 1 group photo of our wedding in my house) b/c he was supposed to be there, but couldn't make it. b/c again, he was a soldier in a war.

there are hundreds of thousands of veterans & soldiers out there...i wish it didn't take a few days a year to get people to recognize them & their sacrifices. while my brother was gone most of my family couldn't bare to watch the news. but somehow i believe it was my dad who would scour the pictures coming from journalists & my brother's unit, to see if he could spot scotty in one of them. (a lot of pictures/videos were coming out of fallujah at that time...very violent year then). these are a few that we found of him & then ones that he confirmed would be him. (& scotty, i guess i should've made sure this was okay with you before putting these up. if not, uh, sorry, you can give me a wee punch later :o)

i have such mixed thoughts & emotions about the war on terror. but one thing is for sure, i will never stop remembering on a daily or hourly time that we are indeed at war & families are grieving their soldiers *every single minute*. after my brother shared some stories, pictures, etc my mind set will forever be changed. like my mom said on her facebook page, tears just start pouring when i see a video or hear a story or see with my own eyes someone in military clothes (such a good thing i don't live near a military base, eh?!), & especially of troops returning. i will *never* forget the surreal feeling of seeing scotty walk through the columbus airport after his deployment. i remember my sister & i just held onto him for quite a few minutes (as he explained just how many people gave up their better seats for him, bought him a beer or food, etc).

anyway, it's not necessarily my story to tell, but thinking about it all is enough to make me cry just remembering that time. SO, to all veterans--my brother especially--i admire you more than words can say.