It's the dead of winter here in Maryland.  We've had a lot of snow since December and even though the temperature actually went above 50 for a brief time today, there is still a lot of snow on the ground.  It's melting, and refreezing, and tomorrow should be melting again.  We are all just done with winter and are looking forward to spring.  But here's the thing:  I look out on these snowy streets and remember the week we drove to Ft. Benning to watch Thomas graduate from basic training.  We had about two feet of snow early in that week in February, and for a while it looked like we might miss the graduation because no one had plowed out our street and we couldn't get out.  Luckily, the day before we had to leave (or maybe that day?  memory fades but I've got it written down somewhere) they finally came through.  We drove through the evening into an ungodly hour of the morning in Atlanta (where the motel we stayed in looked like it might have hourly rates and regular visits from the police).  We got to Ft. Benning late in the morning but in time for all of the ceremonial stuff and in time to spend a good amount of time with Thomas.  We took him to a movie ("Daredevil"), ate pizza, let him sleep a little I think.  I think he was disappointed that we could not stay longer because it turned out he had more free time than he'd thought he would, but some needed to get back to work and we had a Blue and Gold dinner for the Cub Scouts for Matthew to get back to.  It was a lot warmer in Columbus Georgia than it had been up here (true today too I'm pretty sure!) and it was lovely to soak up some sun for a day or so.  But man, today I miss him.

 2014

Ninth Anniversary

Tomorrow is Veterans Day and the ninth anniversary of Thomas's death.  We will go to Mass, visit the cemetery, maybe order Chinese for dinner in honor of Thomas's love of takeout.

Tomorrow also marks my annual struggle with the conflict between observing Veterans Day and remembering Thomas.  Any other country in the English-speaking world, there would be no problem:  November 11th is Remembrance Day in the UK and Canada.  Here in the US, we have had Memorial Day at the end of May since not long after the end of the Civil War.  So tomorrow, I will feel somewhat out of step with the rest of the country, even though Veterans Day and Remembrance Day share their origin.

Obviously I wrote this on November 10th.  There was a lot I kept trying to say but it didn't work out, and now I think this was plenty.