Boys Who Care for Our Boys

Our neighbors around the corner have a little Christmas crafts fair at their house every year - they're very talented and social, so they're the right kind of people for this project - and at their house, they had a little station set up, with Christmas cards, pens and envelopes, and a sign encouraging people to write a note to a veteran.  It turned out they were collecting these good wishes, from otherwise-anonymous people to patients at the Walter Reed veterans' hospital in Washington, D.C.

I didn't point it out to the boys - they discovered it on their own, and got right to work.  I think whatever poor, convalescing soldier got Ian's card was probably very touched by the extensive illustration of animals drawn along the edges of the card - a classic Ian enhancement, with his wishes and signature in the middle of the page.

Daniel was a bit more timid about things, and I was very moved by his intensely concerned question, ,rendered in a whisper to me so that nobody else would hear, as to what was appropriate:

"Do you think it would be okay if I said, 'Thank you for your service to our country?"

I went out on a limb, and told him I really thought that would be more than okay.

(November 29, 2015)