Dusty

If you can watch this without a little snot & tears, well, I just will think you are a cyborg or somesuch nonsense.

I think of this family often-little things (or big) like flags, camo, Highway Patrolmen (I never waved at them but now I do because a)they are just trying to do their jobs-keep us safe and b) it might be Jerome, his Dad; my goofy old man-lab (Yellow Dog) that takes off for days only to return for food and sleep that has been through hell and back after getting in a fight with a barbed-wire fence; White Pickup Trucks (especially with dirt bikes in the back)(I drive one-so this is EVERY day I work); Mommas & Baby Boys; Navy jets flying overhead; the names Dusty or Rachel; seeing my 16 year old twin boys that remind me we are only 2 years from their ability to join the military; hugs from above-mentioned sons and wishing I could bottle one for Rachel Lee and her family; my little girl wrestling and making karate-like kicks at her brother (s) because I bet this has happened at the Lee household more than a few times; watching my boys sleep; watching Matt with above-pictured Yellow Dog and how much he loves to just pet him and put his nose in his fur and just hang out together; loser teenaged dropouts and how damn lucky they have it without doing jackshit while we have brave young men like Dustin losing their lives every day we are in this messed-up war. I have never met his family. I know some folks from Stonewall, but I got hooked on this when the story hit about his passing-then again when Lex was adopted, and again when Lex received a Purple Heart.

In the off-chance that any member of the Lee family finds this, please know it is with the upmost respect for you and Dustin that I made this post.

Semper Fi.

Good Friday will be one year since he was killed in Fallujah, Iraq.