In My Own Words

It’s always so nice to hear from one of our Warriors. We’ll go for days or weeks without hearing anything from any of the troops we’ve adopted, which is fine considering that they’ve got much more important things to do than write letters to someone they’ve never met and likely never will. I’d rather they spent any spare moment they may have communicating with their loved ones back home. Anyway, back to the subject…after days or weeks of no mail, we’ll get letters or e-mails from two or three troops at once. This is one of those times.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of the Soldiers from COP Keating – you remember the ones who lost everything except what they were wearing?  He thanked us for thinking of them and said the outpouring of support from so many people all over the country was awesome.  They have already received almost enough of the basics that everybody has what they need, and their morale is very high at this time. I got the impression they hadn’t really realized how much they are appreciated and loved by their fellow countrymen until the chips were down! I love e-mails like that; it really shows how much of an impact even the simplest things can have on our Heroes.

Today I got a letter from Capt. Cammack. It’s funny; I’ve been under the assumption that Capt. Cammack was a “he.” I only know one other person named Carmel, and that person is a “he.” The letter I got today was on personalized stationery, though, and Capt. Cammack’s middle name is “Ann.” I don’t believe I know of any male named “Ann” (although I used to babysit for a family whose Dad’s name was “Vivian”) so I’ve come to the conclusion that this particular Soldier is a “she.”

Anyway, everybody is doing well; they’ve used up all the cushy toilet paper and almost all of the liquid soap. They’re counting the days, I guess, but there’s still time to send them something. More soap? Some more cushy toilet paper? Hmmmm…maybe just some candy and snacks…

I baked bread literally all day yesterday. We were out of bread, and I had a big order from one of Jennifer’s co-workers, so I made 12 loaves of bread and 6 dozen dinner rolls. A batch of roll dough makes 2 dozen rolls; the order was for 2 dozen garlic and herb, and 1 dozen each of white and wheat. So when all was said and done, we had two loaves of wheat bread, two loaves of oatmeal honey bread, and a dozen each of wheat and white cloverleaf dinner rolls for home consumption. When the last batch of rolls came out of the oven, I mixed up a batch of brownies and stuck them in the oven, and while they were baking I washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Then I sorta sank down into a chair and rested for a bit…I was too pooped to pop, but when Jennifer delivers the bread & collects the money, I’ll have $50 to go in the troop support account. I’d say that’s worth it.

I reckon that’s enough rambling for now. Thanks for reading my blog, as always. Feel free to comment any time.