To know somebody....

I didn't realize that I actually knew somebody (unconnected to my sister, that is) who was serving in Iraq. Baghdad, to be precise. Oh, I know my sister's fiancee, and a couple of her exes who are over there. But I mean somebody, unconnected to my sister. I only found out he was over in Iraq, in Baghdad, on Monday. Ironic. DH and I were talking about him. He is the younger brother of DH's best friend. We were just talking about him. Find out today that he died on Monday. His name is James.

Here's the link: http://newsminer.com/2006/09/21/2164/ James is a good soul. He is smart, he is kind, he is funny, and when I knew him he was naive. That's a good thing. In fact, my first memory of him is at our first meeting. I had given birth to my daughter only a couple of weeks before, and DH's best buddy invited us to dinner at his mom's house. Met the family, chatted with Mom, and sat down to eat. There we are, sitting around the table, and Mom asks me how I'm feeding my daughter. I responded that I was breastfeeding her. Mom nodded her approval. As soon as James realized what we were talking about, his face went 12 shades of red in 3 seconds flat. He wasn't more than 15 years old, then. What a subject for a 15 year old boy, huh? *smile* He was a good guy. I'm sorry I didn't know sooner that he was over in Iraq. I'm sorry for his family, for Dh's best friend who is now missing, permanently, his brother. I'm sorry for a 2 year old little boy who will not know his Daddy. Except by stories people tell of his goodness.

The real irony, he is a medic. He didn't die in combat, he died of a heart attack. At 24.

Have a Blessed Day!