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no action hero Sometime during the night the temperature must have dropped a few more degrees, because when I looked out my window this morning there was snow on the roof of the building across the street from where I live. It wasn't as though the landscape had been completely transformed, but seeing even that small amount of the white stuff did surprise me a little. Now the next question is whether or not more of it will fall before Christmas. ... At two this afternoon, I left the east side for the last time this year. Even though next week is set aside for exams, the semester is over for me because my class doesn't have a final exam. The paper that I handed in was the last thing that I needed to do. As of now I am free from school until the spring semester starts next year. After talking with some of my fellow classmates, I have a feeling that I will see some of the same people in class next spring and that should make the class interesting. Not only did I like the people in my class, but I can't remember the last time that I was with so many people that shared a similar goal in life. That common bond makes the class that much better. ... My family ate out tonight with my sister Hope. Thankfully the conversation at the restaurant was cheery and the food was good, because it was the last time that any of us would see her for what may be a year at the least. Now the military has control of her life and there isn't anything else that can be done except wait for her to return home. There wasn't anything that I could say to her that someone else hadn't already said so I just hugged her and said that I would be thinking about her while she was gone. During that hug everything else in the world slipped away for a moment. Just like in a movie the sounds of the people in the restaurant around us were muted. It was just her and I saying goodbye for a time. From my perspective it was more powerful than anything that I could have said. Of my three siblings she is the one that I'd have to say that I know the best and soon she will experiencing something that none of us ever wanted her to see or do. I've never been in a place where people want to kill me. I've never been forced away from home for over a year. I can't possibly know what will happen to her. All that I can do is hope for the best and that I will see her soon. This isn't a movie. This isn't her playing at being G. I. Joe. This is her life being put in jeopardy for something that doesn't make me happy. Maybe that sounds selfish, but at the moment I don't want to hear anything about politics or why she has to go. Personally I would be willing to go for her. I've had ten more years of living and she could certainly use that time. I guess that the best thing for my family to do would be not to think about the worst possible outcome, but just focus on when we will see her again. |