I've been listening to XM radio's 30 days of Coldplay while I do my domestic stuff around the house. I remember listening to them since the beginning of my mama life, when my first was born, it was "Yellow" and then when I lost Alistair, it was "The Scientist" and a many other good songs along the way. I'm not a huge fan but I do find them hard not to like, all the songs are calming to me--even the sad ones.
This is the part that reminds me of Alistair in "the Scientist,"


I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
And tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start

I'm grateful for a great weekend at the reunion for my dad's company in Vietnam, The Delta Raiders. There were some soldiers there that he had served with and some that had come before him, some after. I got to meet 2 widows of Medal of Honor winners, here is the story of one of them, http://www.mishalov.com/Sims.html

I remember going with my dad to his very first reunion, back in 1983. I was 10 and it was just the two of us, we camped in a tent. When we got to Brown County state park in Indiana my dad disappeared to talk to his fellow soldiers and I saw him only briefly after that. I would try to sit and listen and some of the stories were very intense. My dad was lost in conversation the whole time, and its still like that now, 25 years later.

I grew up military and I rebelled, I was a teen hippie. A total pacifist animal rights type of chick. My dad was patient with me, but that must have been very annoying for him. When he gave a speech last night at the banquet, he explained the war and all of the men's place in it so well. I don't have the kind of eloquence my father does, but every single soldier there was important.

On Friday night there was a chorus of young soldiers from the base we were staying at. (Ft. Eustis). They were very talented and the sang a version of "American Soldier" by Toby Keith that was extremely emotional. One of the men came over to me and said, "You know, this is your dad's song." I was just thinking the same thing, it was also my family's life, my entire childhood. I didn't have a lot of respect for the military when I was growing up, but I do now and I am so proud of my Dad and all of the soldiers who fought and had to come home to such an unwelcoming country.

Its a real bummer not having a camera anymore! I feel like I am talking too much on here, :) So, an update on my ridiculous kidney stones. I saw the urologist today, my second one--the first was nice but extremely paternalistic and treated every patient the same in terms of treatment. The good news is all the stones are small enough to come out on their own and with a little narcotic help--that should work out fine. More later...