Big News

The War Hits home.

Last Monday, I announced that there was something I wanted to tell you all but was waiting on details.

My brother (known as UTMan) is in the National Guard. The remainder of his unit (half of it is already in Kosovo) has been activated.

He leaves June 11 for training in Mississippi for a couple of months; another month at Fort Irwin ("where happiness is Fort Irwin in your rearview mirror.") and deploys to Iraq in October. He will be gone in total for over a year and a half.

Sure, other families are seperated. This affects thousands of people. What you do need to understand, my brother and I have spent nearly every day of our lives together since he was born in 1981. Aside from the occasional week vacation, the longest we have been apart was when he went to Basic. There are married people who have not spent as much time together as we have.. but our relationship is not twisted like Angelina Jolie and her brother... that comes under things that make you go... ewwww ::shudder::

Yes, I knew (and have been wanting) to go separate ways. We are adults, have our own lives and can often go for days without seeing each other depending on our schedules. But the thought of him going into a hostile area... particularly when he is the only family I have any contact with whatsoever... is damn terrifying.

When our parents divorced when I was 10 and he was 4, I had to step up.. almost as a surrogate mom. When our mom died, he was 19.. and I bore the brunt of the responsibility for the estate planning and providing for him for almost 2 years. Since then, he has been attending school, working and becoming more independant.. contributing to the household expenses and decisions as an equal. He handled alot of the early stages when our dad passed away because I was just not able to emotionally be there. I checked out.

It's taken alot on my part to not see him as a 10 year old boy who needs my help.. but a Godly, confident, intelligent, funny, and giving young man of 22.

So, in three weeks, he will be off to do the duty he signed up for. Please pray for his safety, the strength of his faith, and my ability to cope and not worry myself sick.