Saturday, March 14, 2009

Twenty Year Olds

I came across two 20-year old males today. The family went to see one fly into town this afternoon. His plane was an hour late and we milled around with his family and probably seventy other people. As word that his plane landed came, we all formed two lines, and people raised their flags. I didn’t bring a flag, just a thank you note and a small gift.

Someone said, ‘there he is’, and there he was in dress uniform, at the top of the escalator. As he came down, the airport erupted with applause. He seemed taken aback and awkwardly clapped along. Then he was received by his family. His uniform was inspection ready, he had perfect posture, and he was a very powerful man. He was seriously injured and had spent the last nine months in the hospital.

As I gave him our letter, I noticed a very new tattoo on his neck, which seemed odd for such a clean-cut man. I do not know what this was for but suspect that it was a memorial. His eyes were blue and appeared dilated. He had the thousand yard stare, and told me thank you in a very professional voice.

The other one has adopted a feminine voice and is giggling with some girls behind me.

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