Monday, August 29, 2011

Point of Personal Privilege:

From "Blue Star" to "Back to School"



A purely personal blog post to end the day.

It's called a "Blue Star Flag" and they give it to you to hang up when you have a kid on active duty in the armed services. And it hung in our dining room window for six years. That would be Six. Years. And now it doesn't anymore.

(And yes, the response to that versicle is "Thanks Be To God.")

We took it down a few weeks ago when my Jamie (AKA Staff Sgt James Russell) completed his enlistment contract and left the helicopter hanger for the classroom.

And since today is "Back to School Day" for him I was thinking about all the other "first days of school" over the years: In short pants with a yellow lunch box in Kindergarten at St. Paul's Parish Day School in Ventura. At the bus stop heading off to Alta Loma Jr. High when I was in seminary down in Claremont. Football "two-a-days" before classes started at Buena High back in Ventura. Ventura College. Emory Riddle. And now Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green KY.

Good job, Jamie! And a Very Happy Back to School Day!




5 comments:

JCF said...

TBTG for Jamie's safe duty completion (thank you Jamie, for your service---I say this though a pacifist). Good luck at WKU! [I love that part of Kentucky (though I don't know it well): beautiful!] Bourbon bottoms-up! ;-D

Wormwood's Doxy said...

I am grateful to him for his service to this country--and also grateful that he is done and safe. Blessings on this next phase of his journey!

Pax,
Doxy

Ann said...

Yay -- for Jamie and his moms.

IT said...

So much for the argument about Godless Homos destroying American family values -- you're a lesbian priest with a soldier son, thus a veritable poster girl disproving their bile.

We're glad he's home safe, at last!

uffda51 said...

Thanks to Jamie and all who served and still serve, and their families.

Six. Years. War-time years. Longer than WW II. While at the same time, the great majority of Americans were not required to make a sacrifice of any kind and the wealthiest Americans saw their taxes cut.

"Thank you" seems woefully inadequate.