Friday was the State Championship track meet at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Alyson competed in the triple jump and all 4 of us drove up to watch. It was a hot, humid day and pretty hard on the athletes. One of the girls running the 2-mile collapsed near the finish line from deyhdration. Alyson had a solid performance-not a PR, but close to the distance she's been jumping lately. She ended up finishing 10th overall. She wasn't thrilled with the result, but we are all really proud of her--we kept reminding her that 3 months ago she had never triple jumped and here she was at the State Meet! Pretty awesome!
Saturday morning we got up and went to the state veteran's cemetery to place American flags. We joined Nick's boy scout troop and many other boy and girl scouts to place flags on the graves of over 19 thousand service men and women from Maryland. It's the second year that we've done this and I believe it'll be a tradition for us from now on. It's incredible how much meaning there is in Memorial Day when you are surrounded by so many who served.
This afternoon we are going to a combination 40th birthday/farewell party for a friend who is deploying to Afghanistan next week. He's leaving behind his wife and two young daughters. Please keep him in your prayers as you think of it.
And speaking of serving, last week one of our dearest friends retired after 20 years in the Army. He and Dave first met waaaayyyy back in PLDC, before he was even married and when we only had Jarrett! We connected again in Germany and began a lifelong friendship with them that has meant more to me than I can say. Louis was a Ranger and deployed many times, including two year-long (actually one was 15 mo.) tours in Iraq and the second time as a company commander. He is the kind of leader who cares deeply for his soldiers and the Army will truly miss him. Patty is the quintessential Army wife--supporting her husband, managing her household and her family (while homeschooling!), caring for families, and giving everything she could for the soldiers. She even sat up nights with injured soldiers who were sent back to the hospital in Germany so they wouldn't be alone.
Thank you for your service, Louis and Patty. And thank you for your friendship.
One last thing I would like to say is thank you to Jeremy Monroe, Lcpl, Marine Corps. Jeremy gave his life in service to our country in October of 2006. He just turned 20 years old. Jeremy is the grandson of my dad's cousin. He left behind a family who loved him and a country who owes him and them a debt of gratitude.
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