Memorial to LeRoi Moore

I know I haven't written in a long time. I've been wanting to write, post pictures, and all of the stuff normally associated with blogging. It was going to be happy and funny and all of the good stuff that happens to us in this place we call Hell's Back Pasture.

But I'd like to take a moment to write about someone most of you probably haven't ever heard of. He's not a fellow soldier or friend, but someone who has been a part of many people's lives and they didn't know his name. LeRoi Moore played saxophone for the Dave Matthews Band. More than that he arranged the compositions and gave his heart and soul to every performance that I've ever seen. His sound was woven into the soundtrack that plays inside of my head most of my waking hours. He died today. He had an ATV accident in the spring and was scheduled to do his physical rehab when he suddenly died from complications with his injuries. DMB has been doing their summer tour with a fill in sax player, but I have to think that it has to be emotionally numbing to look to the spot where your brother has been for nearly 20 years and see someone who hasn't payed the same dues with you there, knowing that he will never be there again.

I've never met him. Will never meet him. But I will miss him.

Independence Day...Taji Style

Today we celebrate our nations emergences as the premiere rogue entity of the world. Not many people at that time would poke their finger into the eye of Mother England. But, low and behold, our fore-fathers stood up to the injustices levied upon them. Against odds and allies unimaginable (France was the big stick we were able to swing), they prevailed and the beginnings of a great land of freedom and tolerance was born. Though we went through some pretty horrific growing pains (civil rights, enviromental destruction, the Omish), the genius of the constitution is that it somehow knew that the people and direction of our nation would change and it could grow and develop with it.

With all of the bad press that America gets these days I still believe the citizens of the USA have every good intention to help all peoples. To paraphrase former British Primeminister Tony Blair, "The true measure of a country is view the amount of people trying to get in, and the amount trying to get out." We have our problems and we argue amongst ourselves on how to fix them but at the end of the day we are proud of where we come from and we are happy to stay.

If there is one thing I hope the people of Iraq can develop is that same unity. The ablility to argue amonst your brothers but able to unite and stand side by side saying "This we'll defend."

As we enjoy our impromptu BBQ in the wee hours of the morning over here we will be thinking of you back home. Please have a beer on us.

A Short One

I know that I haven't written in about...oh...forever, but I'm back and hope to be able to do this on a regular basis once again. Let me just let everyone know that we all made it here safe and sound and are in the process of annoying the hell out of one another with our idiosyncracies. I think the hardest part of this "Thing" for any of us is what it does to the one's we love. With that in mind we all realize each one of us in some form or fashion volunteered to do what we do and hope by doing this our children and loved ones will never HAVE to do this. To the Sisterhood I say this, find the strength in each other that you normally find in us just as we learn to lean on each other over here. None of us can do this alone.


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P.S. Pictures to follow later....Jenn N., I'm up to about $50 in candids (haha)