shakespeare and snowflakes

Yesterday was Veteran's Day. And yesterday we honored our people in uniform. Those we have among us and those we don't. My dad is one of those people. Him? Well, he's still hangin' around. Almost 88 now. Still gets up on the roof to clean his gutters...still swings an axe to cut his own firewood...still married to the same lady for 62 years ...and still won't listen to a damn thing any one of us say to slow it down and take it easy. His story, well, I'll write about that sooner or later. It's a good one. But today, it's about Mark Daily. Sound familiar? It shouldn't. He's not a celebrity. He's not a politician. He's not on the Forbes Top 100. And he isn't the latest hottie, in the latest movie, wearing the latest couture, in the latest club, doing the latest thang. He's dead.

These are some of the things that he was- born on the 4th of July, 23 years old, honors graduate, a son, a brother and a husband. He came from Irvine, shipped out at Ft. Bliss and died in Mosul and I am pretty close to certain was reborn in a lovely, remote stretch of the Oregon coastline.

But those are just the facts. Take a minute and read some almost perfect writing about the story of this young soldier...who he really was and the writer who shared in his life only after his death. And may your prayers travel west to his mother, the person that needs them most.

Click here for Mark's story