Time to get back to my story. Aside from election stuff, it's been pretty quiet out here.


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Remembering that September, three years ago now!, we concentrated on getting Matthew back to school and I worked fairly often at the fabric store. I have now lost my calendar for that year which is really annoying because I keep a lot of information in my calendars so I can't give exact dates without more digging than I want to do right now. Sometime at the beginning of the school year, I realized that the principal who had been at the middle school since Anna was in 7th grade (initially as an assistant principal) had opted to move to the central office of the school district. I did not know his replacement at all well though she had been in the school the previous year and in general I felt much less comfortable entering the school. Some of it was undoubtedly just being very self-conscious about Thomas's death and the reaction or lack of reaction that I had gotten from the school. I can imagine the staff throwing up their hands and asking what I wanted from them. I don't know what I wanted. Thinking back on it now, I realize that they, like me, were operating without a manual and that this situation was not fair to anyone.

So that was hard. I also had this minor surgery unfortunately involving anesthesia and recovery which interrupted my training for the Team River Runner event in November. And we were planning our trip to Fort Lewis. Matthew really did not want to get on a plane, which was tough, but we did manage to convince him after much heartburn. We chose to fly on Alaska Airlines because they had a nonstop to Seattle from Dulles. My old friend Anne is retired from the Air Force Reserves but had done two years in the Army on active duty when we were all very young so she knew Fort Lewis. She offered to take care of Matthew if he decided he couldn't handle the memorial ceremony because she could go on and off post without the paperwork involved for visitors. My sister offered to host a party of sorts on the Saturday after the event, inviting our extended family and our friends and acquaintances from western Washington and Oregon. We began to get our ducks in a row and prepared to meet Thomas's Army friends.