Family weekend

This weekend was my dad's big party up north. He retired after serving 40 in law enforcement! We had such a great time being with family and friends, it was hard to come back. On the way back from Nutrioso, we stopped in St. Johns. I wanted to see my brother in law's grave with his new military headstone. He died in 2004. He was also a Gulf War veteran. We are pretty sure that untreated and undiagnosed PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) were the biggest contributing factors to his suicide. It's difficult to ever understand what our service men and women go through in service to their country until you have been there and done it. So many are coming home with these special problems and are not getting the help they desperately need. And it carries on for years. Not only do they exhibit tremendous bravery in battle, but when they return home they carry it with them and still have to battle every day to work through the experiences they had. Sometimes it gets the better of them. The military is starting to do more for our veterans who suffer from PTSD, and hopefully that movement to educate and treat will continue to grow.

We love Tom and we miss him.

When we got to the cemetery I saw that his son Tommy had left his boots on his father's grave. Tommy served in Iraq this time around. I was very moved by his tribute.