It will be Memorial Day this weekend. It's going to be hot. I would like to go to the outdoor Mass at Gate of Heaven but we will not be able to take Richard's mom this year--she's just gotten too frail. We will have a barbeque in the afternoon, mostly in air-conditioned comfort I am sure!

I took Kolbe the Golden Retriever for his walk around noon today and saw a car parked outside the entrance to the park with Iraq and Afghanistan stickers (and a service branch sticker I couldn't see). Entering the park, I could see a woman wearing Army shorts and t-shirt walking her dog up the hill and realized I knew them (slightly)--Nugget the dog and Kolbe have bonded in the past. I asked Nugget's owner if the car was hers which indeed it was. And then I told her about Thomas. Sometimes that's kind of a heavy burden to lay on someone, but she seemed able to deal with it. We talked about his service, about where he'd been and what he was doing when killed, about how it must have been instantaneous really.

Nugget's owner (we never did exchange our own names, just the dogs' and Thomas's) is on her way to retirement. Thank you for your service, and thank you to all of the servicemembers, past and present who read this.