Ruminations when I should be Crew Resting

If you don't know, I'm deployed right now. I've been gone for a little while and I'll be gone for a little while longer. I'm on the other end of the world trying to keep myself busy flying, reading, writing masters papers, watching a million movies and snorkling in the sea (I didn't say it was all bad).

Tonight I was sitting in my room writing an outline for something and listening to my iPod. It has a cool little feature where you can put on a couple of songs and have it flip through all your pictures in a slideshow. So of course I eventually stopped working all together and just laid down on my bed to watch pictures of my family flip through.

I'm very grateful to Michelle for posting these pictures the last few days and for the other ones she has sent me. They are really nice and very much appreciated. It kills me to see them from so far away.

I loved the picture of Brig with his shirt off, pulling a 'funny face' or callie mack resting his little head on my chest while we both slept. I loved seeing Brig take down Berthelotte's kid like an unsuspecting QB on a weakside blitz and Callie sitting on his Bumpahs lap watching the world in front of him. Or that picture of Michelle holding both boys and while watching the blue Barney video tape for the first time. All three we so mesmerized you could have performed brain surgery and tied all three of them together at the cranium and not a one would have noticed. Unless Cal got in Brigs way, then there would have been some motion.

I saw something tonight in my boys. Brigham has always been very happy, inquisitive, searching lovable and 'golly-gee' type cute. He is impossible to ignore. He is what little boys should be. I often remember the first thing that my friend Brock said when we brought Brig home for the first time, "Man, he really is cute. Like really. I hate it when your friends have an ungly baby and you're required to lie to them and say the kid is cute when he really isn't. But this is a good looking kid." And he is. And smarter than I deserve.

Calvin on the other hand is beautiful. We have a video from when I was a baby that Grandma B's neighbor, Mr. Task, took of us. Aaron and KK were running around the living room in San Antonio making utter fools of themselves because they could see it on the television. A little while into the video somebody went to the back room and woke me up from my siesta to bring me into the party. When I came into the room sucking on my thumb and slinging my blue silky over my shoulder in a Linusesque way Grandma B said, "Oh look at him, he's pretty!" Uncle Bill didn't think that was appropriate and said, "Boys aren't pretty." To which Grandma B quickly replied, "You're right. He's beautiful." Calvin Mackay definitely pulls that quality because looking at that pure little face, he is beautiful.

I love my boys. And even more, I love my wife. Whereever they are if you are near or not, please take care of them for me while I'm gone.

Blue Skies,

dAddie.