94 days and counting

Mood: Sad :(

Today a friend of mine heard that someone close to him died in Afghanistan. He was mortally wounded while trying to rescue another hurt soldier.

It's all sorts of horrible to think about. I think about the people in the armed forces kind of a lot. I always wonder what war is like. And how scary it is to be there. And how much scarier it is to have that be normal. To not think about it anymore and just go about your day-to-day.

In the warmer months I like to go to the cemetery about once a month and feed bread to the ducks and fish. At first I thought it was weird to wake up early on a beautiful Saturday and dress nicely just to hang out at the cemetery, but I actually really enjoyed it. Whether or not that justifies the weirdness, I don't know.

After I run out of bread, I like to walk around the part of the cemetery with the military graves and pay my respects. I used to do the math and figure out how old they all were when they made the ultimate sacrifice to their country, but after finding dozens that were my age or younger, I found I could barely control myself from sobbing uncontrollably.

But I always go there and see them. I like to say that I'm "going to visit the soldiers." It just helps me take a giant step back from my own life and petty drama and take a time-out from stressing and instead give thanks and count my blessings.