Time Marches On

I want to take a moment to discuss the events of our Veteran’s Day Weekend, since the last year has been spent leading up to this. We go in to Bryan early Thursday morning. We headed straight for the library, hoping to get a chance to meet the President George H.W. Bush. We did…and…in my exceptional brilliance, I turned the camera off, instead of taking a picture, and he was gone. Whisked away, by the spooks. I want to look cool and talk into my sleeve. But that’s another story. Then we wandered around town, checked into our hotel room, visited some friends, had dinner, and then went back to the room.

Friday was spent setting up computers, and waiting for the rest of the family to show up. Saturday was the reopening of the George Bush Memorial Library and Museum. We stood out in the sun for way too long and watched the former president jump out of a plane. After several people talked, and the president spoke, they finally opened up the museum. We went in and walked through. Then we got to the “Voices of the Gulf” section. To sit there and hear Doug’s voice was awesome, and unnerving at the same time. It is quite the dichotomy. On one hand, I am so proud of him to be a part of that. On the other hand, it is quite disturbing to hear the things that he has told me late at night in the privacy of our home being told to anyone who walks in and wants to listen.

Then we got to the memorial. Everything was fine until he saw the first person doing a rubbing of a name. It was one of those moments that there are no words for. And as Murphy’s Law would have it, my decrepit camera couldn’t take a picture of that moment. I guess in a way, it is something that I will just have to keep pictured in my head. I wish that I could share the feeling of what I saw, but I can’t. We left and went back to Bryan , ate, and relaxed. Then we had dinner at the VFW.

Sunday was the day of the parade. We met a lot of people and made a lot of friends. I couldn’t help but tear up when Doug told me about some of the people he met and their stories. This world is really full of a lot of amazing people. Sadly, all we ever hear about are the bad ones, but the good ones are out there, you just have to find them, and be willing to open up and talk to them. Everyone wants to share their story; they’re just trying to find someone to listen. I hope a lot of people listen to Doug’s; it is a pretty amazing story.

The whole weekend was one of those events in your life that really makes you step back and think about what is really important. It’s sad how much stuff is not important but takes up a lot of our time and energy in our lives.