Memorial Day Weekend

Hi, everyone. It's been a wonderful week at home with the family, and it felt good to disconnect for a bit. I've been eating everything that isn't nailed down, and my vegan wife is certainly doing more than her part by buying and cooking all kinds of meat, vegetables, donuts, ice cream, etc., etc. I think all she did the first couple of days is cook and wash dishes. My mother also came over and cooked a ton of good country food. I'm definitely making up for lost time when it comes to food and sleep, and I've been chilling and playing frisbee with my son.

The Trail hasn't been far from my mind, though. While I've been home, I've been making an under quilt for Forest and a lightweight sleeping bag for myself from some down throws we found online. Right now, it looks like a duck was murdered in the house. I tried to vacuum the feathers, but the more I tried, the more they just flew around the house. Looks like we'll be seeing them for a while.

I also got to call my girls and catch up with each of them. They haven't had much time with me for far too long. My oldest is graduating tonight, and they will both be coming down for the weekend to visit. My sister is having a cookout to celebrate, so I've decided to wait until Monday to get back to the Trail. My wife will drop me off on the way to take them back home.

Now, all I have to do is get through the fireworks and airshow planned near my house over the weekend. For most people, that's an exciting time and great way to spend a holiday. I used to enjoy fireworks myself and heck, I used to be a pilot. Unfortunately, like it is for so many veterans suffering from PTSD, now it's just a rapid transport straight back to the place where my bad memories live. Even when I know the sounds are coming, they still take me by surprise and leave me shaken. The ironic thing is that the event is billed as "a spectacular, patriotic salute to our military heroes!" If they only understood the effect it has on living military personnel, maybe they'd think of a different way to commemorate our fallen.