Faces of the Fallen

This Memorial Day weekend has had so much more meaning for me than in the past—more than a long weekend and bbq’s. It hits home in a much more direct way now.

I was in Washington D.C. last week with my 8^th graders. Knowing that seeing the memorials and Arlington would be more difficult this time than in the past, I was feeling a bit hesitant. I wasn’t sure how having the fossas (Sean’s and my affectionate term for my students) around would affect things. While there, I learned of an exhibit called “Faces of the Fallen” honoring those who were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq at Arlington in the lobby of the Women in Service building. Our tour guide, knowing that Sean had served in Iraq last year, suggested I go alone while he took the students up to the Tomb of the Unknown.

I wrote this letter to Sean on the plane on my way home.

“I wanted to write about the Iraq Wall and tell you what it was like. I guess like you, I’m still synthesizing what your deployment meant to you and to us, or more accurately, what it means.

I’m so glad I went to see the wall alone. I wasn’t expecting it to hit me quite the way it did, and having exuberant fossas around would have made it all the more difficult.

Each soldier's portrait had been rendered in a different style by different artists. Faces—so many—some in oils, pastels, even sculptures, but none larger than 6”X 8”. Most had flags, dog tags, coins, religious medals, cards, or notes on them—from people who loved them, and some from school children or people who had visited and wanted to leave some tribute, something behind.

They were organized in chronological order by date of death—starting in 2003 through Nov 11^th, 2004. I walked by them, wanting to look at the faces, but afraid to look too closely. Each face had a story behind the hero depicted, a family who loved and lost that soldier. I think it was the first time other than with you that I let the tears fall about your deployment and how much it scared me.

There were very few people there. A few walked by me, and a couple were sitting facing the wall of 1300 pictures, soaking it all in. It was very quiet and reverent.

I was able to find a local Eagle Scout, Abraham Simpson, who one of my students had known. I heard his story on Veteran’s Day last year during the speeches. He was killed just 4 days before Sean Sims, in the same place, Fallujah. I found him at the very end, one of the last pictures. Though the sheer number of pictures was overwhelming, I was disappointed not to find Jessica Housby. I went back to the entrance hoping to find someone to ask, and that’s when I discovered that the pictures just stop at November 11^th. I walked back along the wall again, letting it all sink in when I turned the corner at the end of the exhibit and found the Women in Service Notebook with Jessica’s picture and biography. She believed in what she was doing and in why she was in Iraq.

My students often ask me what I think about the war, and I struggle with what to tell them. I thought when you got back, I’d be able to think more objectively about it. But it is still so wrapped up in how I feel about you—how proud I am that you are who you are—so generous, brave and honorable.

I’m glad I saw the exhibit, though it was harder that I expected. It was healing. Is deployment something people “recover” from? In some sense, I hope not. I know deeply how blessed I am to have you in my life.”

L
http://facesofthefallen.org/main/home/

One of my students wrote this lovely poem--appropriate for Memorial Day.

Freedom
America,
A powerful figure rising from the new world
Symbolic of protection and security
The Stars and Stripes,
Its standard,
Ensign of freedom
Its soldiers, the protectors of freedom,
Make the ultimate sacrifice
For the hope of freedom and justice
America,
Born up by eagles’ wings,
Spread freedom’s wind,
Across the sky.

--Scott Z.

Backyard Adventures Hidden Treasures

Expand your horticulture experience at the Central Valley Botanical Gardens year-round. Children and adults of all ages love to pursue the mystery of the pirate's hidden treasure, narrowing their search within tropical foliage, in-between lush green plants, colorful flowering bushes, and around sharp cactus. Looking for a challenge? Can you spy "a fire hydrant, a school bell, bananas, and an assortment of tikis"? Can you name the assortment of palm trees and leafy vegetation? Do you know their common or scientific names? It's not easy-- but visitors of all ages will have a whole lot of fun trying. With the pictures found in the Central Valley Botanical Gardens (below, or stop by for a real treasure hunt), award-winning photographic team, Sean and Lara are masters of the art form. Visitors search for subtly hidden objects on every beautifully composed and photographed page (there are three pictures to choose from). At first glance the setting seems like any other quaint residential village. Take a second look and discover that it's in fact a very realistic model, with giant palms filling the backyard, gargantuan statuary nestled among the boulders of the residential island, and hidden relics of a lost age. The result is stunning, a surrealistic adventure.

The "I Find" legacy continues with some of the pictures that require a lot of searching to find all of the objects mentioned in the rhyme. A future background note will explain how the sets for the treasure hunt were built and photographed.
Central Valley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2006 Backyard Adventures, Inc.

“I Find Challenge”

• Two Manhole Covers
• Three Water Meter Covers
• Which one is a king and which one is a queen?
• Which one is a cardboard or ponytail?
• How many types of granite can you find?
• Can you name the Phoenix species?
• Where is the (pot) basin hiding?
• Can you find the bird feeder?
• One rustic water pump
• Four tall tiki torches
• Three oak barrels
• How many copper lanterns are there?
• How many railroad ties can you find? How about rails?
• How many telephone poles can you find?
• Two small metal containers
• How many different palm trees can you find?
• How many prickly pears?
• Can you spot George and Martha?
• Fire pit or BBQ?
• Bananas?
• How many agaves?
• Can you find the aloe?
• One Happy Mask
• Eleven silver lanterns
• Dwarf or normal?
• Two palm tree tikis
• Two large cement tikis
• Two small cement tikis
• One school bell
• Four small tiki torches
• Eight half barrels
• Three oil drums
• How many umbrellas?
• A yellow fire hydrant
• A duck
• Three colored pots
• Can you find the hops?
• Two iron wheels
• Pool or pond?
  
  

Welcome to the Central Valley Botanical Gardens

The Backyard Adventures team began developing the Central Valley Botanical Gardens in 2003. Now the gardens span nearly 7,500 square feet with sweeping tropical vistas interspersed with statuary, benches, and a large sandstone waterfall. Approximately 200 kinds of plants from all over the world make up the botanical collections, many landscaped into a series of themed gardens. Some themed gardens include annuals and perennials, cactus, chilies, and a fantastic succulent collection. Come and see the fourteen species of palm trees, from Phoenix to Bismarckia, individually.


Free tours of the gardens are available with paid admission or membership. Tours are given Tuesday through Friday between noon and 2:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday between 11:00 am and 6:30 pm. Please bring a tropical beverage to enjoy at the large pool area. Appointments are preferred. Please check in the Entry Pavilion for exact tour times and availability. There are also docents available in the tropical gardens during public hours.

The Little Care Package Box Disappeared from Starbucks

I used to be concerned with all the happenings from the Middle East prior to my deployment last year. The year was 2004. I read Yahoo and Drudgereport on the latest happenings, I listened to the talking heads go on about Mosul and Fallujah, and the talk was about why we are there. I never in my right mind thought I would get to visit these historic and beat-up places. I even wrote an essay to a writing contest about Fallujah, when our Marines were taking the city back. I can't find the essay and it was a great piece on a soldier's sacrifice.

In 2004, I was concerned with my career, running, and working in the backyard of course. I was in marathon craze as well that year (participating in five marathons, five half marathons, and a relay). My previous job didn't light my fire either, and running was the release from the treachery of the keyboard. Maybe I am destined to work outside? October 28th arrived with a phone call a day after drill. Sean, you need to come into the unit tomorrow! "Why?” I asked!
"You are being cross-leveled to a unit in Virginia."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, you are going to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then to Kuwait with a medium-sized trucking company," was the response.
Everyone was excited at the unit for me. About half the soldiers and senior leaders have never been overseas and they were a little envious or interested what it would be like to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom. So much for a marathon every other month! So this is when my life changed to pre-deployment status and I got my wish to work outside.

A year and a half later…

Post-deployment mode started in December. I was so happy to start a life that was not sand-related. I was excited to see my family, my girlfriend Lara, and Kosmo was wiggling to see me. I had a vacation in New Zealand for a couple weeks, San Diego, Lara and parental time, and I recovered from the dust and the sand. I was go go go upon my return. Now, I am back in the rat race with the rest of America. I have to do bills again, I have to commute, chow is not at 5:00, 11:30, and 17:00 any more, I have to get in the car to go to the PX (i.e. the local supermarket), and I don't know what my convoy clearance number is on the way to work. How am I going to get out of the garage without asking if I have communications, strip map, convoy tracker, weapon, protective mask, and my convoy clearance number? Furthermore, I am bombarded about immigration issues, which politician is stealing from us today, skyrocketing gas prices (again!), Bush Lied and People Died mantras, wiretapping the people, some Iranian freak that wants to annihilate Israel with nuclear weapons, Brittany pregnant again, Oprah who lost ten pounds and gained it back in a week, and who won American Idol? Post-Deployment is hard to adjust to, when all we got was Fox News in the chow hall and Stars and Stripes that was a day or two old. At least CNN wasn't played much at chow. I went from go go go to can you copy this and deliver that, and meetings as well. Boy, I love meetings! Why do we meet so much in business? So bombarded by world events, catching the latest program, and discovering that I can go out of my garage without being shot at, makes me ponder the pals that are still over there. I was just forgetting my experiences overseas when while ordering my favorite mocha, I noticed that little care package box at Starbucks disappeared..

It struck me today at Starbucks when I noticed that the care package box to American soldiers disappeared. It was there on the counter a few days ago to collect money to send coffee to our troops. Now, no mention of our troops, or supporting them, or any mention of Iraq, with exception to the roadside bomb that went off in a story in the New York Times found on the rack. I remember getting care packages every few days from the family and pals. It was one way to connect with loved ones, with people that supported me back home, and people I didn’t even know that felt they needed to cheer me up in some way. It was one of the best motivators I had overseas. I was struck in the back of the head when the care package box went missing.

I miss doing my duty sometimes, but don't miss the bad people, the hot weather, and the camp politics. I believe it is just starting to get hot over there now. The co-workers are complaining that it is too hot in the office. Don't they realize what it is like in a truck at 130 degrees in dust and sand? After reviewing weather.com, it is 100 – 108 all week in Kuwait. It is usually cooler up north, which was one reason I like going on missions. For some reason Kuwait is much more miserable than Iraq when it comes to the heat. I don't know if it was the humidity or the lack of vegetation. Being back at the real job, watching Survivor, going to the supermarket, working in the backyard, and going on with the daily life, I have become complacent about the activities my pals are going through overseas in Iraq.

Thoughts as I sip my mocha…

After driving dozens of missions behind the wire, chatting with people for all over the country, and all over the world for that matter, seeing places like the Ziggurat Ur, the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley, and the Cradle of Civilization, being in a place that few westerners ever see, I miss the activities and adventures. I know it was miserably hot and the adrenalin when you drive on ASR Sword was unbelievable and intense. But being in an office for four months since I have been back, the sense of purpose in this world for me has diminished. Yes, I enjoy the backyard and I get weekends again, but I feel small. I am one person who is insignificant in the rat race again. I am not needed to go on the mission tomorrow, to go support this company over in Zone 6, go to Camp Buering to get ready for the mission up north tomorrow, helping the third country nationals fix their trucks, and being busy and productive. Sitting in the office, instead of strapping vehicles on back of a 915 in the middle of a desert, changing tires on MSR Tampa, getting food for the third country nationals, getting to my tent at O’dark thirty, finding time to email Lara and the family, and now I have to find time to pay bills, get a haircut, find new tires for my vehicle, while worrying that I might miss Tribal Council tonight. Seeing that little care package at Starbucks sparked my memories of care packages, driving on long and dusty roads, and coming back to camp to gossip about the happenings on the latest mission. What is my convoy clearance number again?

With coffee ingested…

It is hard for me to comprehend being in the middle of a battleground as I drove hundreds of miles to desolate bases. It is equally difficult for me to sit in front of a computer monitor for hours on end filling out applications for my company. I don’t have posttraumatic stress syndrome, but I might have the need-to-be-outside syndrome. Furthermore, I am not calling my unit to go back either. I am just pondering the memories of an experience that was sparked while sipping a vente café mocha, while my pals are endure similar adventures on gun-trucks and convoys up north. With these thoughts swirling in the bottom of my white coffee cup, I need to talk to Starbucks and ask them if I can bring back the little care package coffee donation box. I think it would help me and others remember all our soldiers and their accomplishments in a dusty desolate place like Iraq.

When I'm tired, at least I'm not hungry
When I'm tired and hungry, at least I'm not cold
When I'm tired, hungry and cold, at least I'm not wet
When I'm tired, hungry, cold, and wet, well… at least I'm not being shot at
And when I'm tired, hungry, cold, wet, and being shot at…
Well, it can only get better from there!

2006 Book Review Column

Sean's Reading List

Reading List 2006
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz
The Taking (Evil Rain Book) by Dean Koontz
Velocity by Dean Koontz

Required Reading List
The Brendan Voyage: Across the Atlantic in a Leather Boat by Timothy Severin
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed by Leo Janos and Ben R. Rich
Enduring Patagonia by Gregory Crouch
1906 by James Dalessandro

Upcoming Reading
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
Forest of the Pygmies by Isabel Allende
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende
Atomic Iran, How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians by Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D.

Lara's Reading Lists

Reading List 2006
Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? by Eleanor Updale
Why I’m Still Married edited by Julia Alvarez
City of the Beasts by Isabele Allende
Forest of the Pygmies by Isabele Allende
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabele Allende
Irish Crystal by Andrew Greeley
The Sixth Lamentation by Will Brodrick
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Ocean Between Us by Susan Wiggs
Montmorency On the Rocks: Doctor Aristocrat, Murderer? by Eleanor Updale

Upcoming Reading
You’re Wearing That? by Deborah Tannen
Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay
Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas
The Miss Read Books (The Village School, etc.)
The Singing Bird by Roisin McAuley
Ex Libris by Ross KingYear of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
Thread of Grace by Marry Russell
‘Til Morning Light by Anne Moore
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

You Are Invited to a Shower

A baby shower is perhaps the most sought after occasion by any parent-to-be! The excitement has their hearts pounding, and the joy of welcoming the little guy or girl is seen in their sparkling eyes. A baby shower is also a moment that is special, not only to you but also to all the guests who come to shower their blessings on a little bundle and share the happiness with you!

We are Tickled Pink and Blue, and Grey…

Please come and see the new addition to the family. Recently, guests have moved into the house and have enjoyed a comfortable living. They have been here since I have moved into the house, in fact. I have found it necessary to clean their room once since I have lived here, and I welcome George and Martha to the happy home that I have created. Now they are having a family of their own. Since housing is so expensive in California, they plan to stay, freeloading. I don't have the heart to throw them out just yet, but I promised a baby shower to welcome the newborns.

We are so proud.

Proud Parents of Quadruplets Plus
Weighing:

490 - 714 grams

RSVP

Saturday at 2:00 P.M.
The Proud Parents--George and Martha
555-1212
A baby's a joy, whether a girl or a boy.
You're my loved ones so dear;
The baby shower is near.
I hope to see you there!

Kids Say The Truest Things

One of my dance students, Elizabeth, whose dad is a Marine overheard a conversation between her mother and me. We were talking about her father's current deployment. He was in Iraq in 2003 for 9 months when Elizabeth was 5, and has just begun a 7 month deployment. Elizabeth remarked that this time, her father would miss her 1st Communion, her birthday, graduation from 2nd grade and wouldn't be back until she was a 3rd grader! Then she looked at us with that amazingly mature look she gets and said, "Miss Lara, this war has been going on as long as I can remember!"