New Year's Eve

Here's my hero. Still safe, still alive. I'm counting the weeks til he comes home. 

Our first date was a New Year's Eve party in 1977.  My then boyfriend was being a flake and I needed a date for a party to which I had already RSVP'd.  My dear friend Paul was the only person I could think of that I could ask to be a place-holder on such short notice.  Thankfully, he didn't have other plans already and he took me to the party.  At midnight we kissed and that was it for me.  I was done, his kiss won me over and I broke up with my idiot boyfriend a couple of days later.  Paul and I didn't officially become an item until March, but we celebrate New Year's Eve as our first date/begin of relationship.

We've now been together for 28 years, and in all those years, this will be only the second New Year's Eve we will spend apart.  Pretty lucky, considering he's a soldier.  I did get a chance to IM with him today though.  He has been at a remote location the last two weeks and has been unable to e-mail.  I wish I could say his time in the remote had been uneventful, but it certainly was not.   An IED claimed the live's of two people he had come to know, as well as injured four other soldiers.  Paul's Apache was dispatched to escort the med-evac helicopter, search for the "trigger" guy, and later, to collect the remains.

My heart goes out to the families and friends of the dead soldiers.  I cannot imagine how incredibly hard it would be to receive this sort of news at any time, but especially during the holidays. 

Tonight my plan is to spend this last Holiday apart with our children, to kiss them and hug them.  I will light candles for the military members that spend this night in harm's way.  I will ask God to watch over them all and to give comfort and peace to their families.