Emotions...

Just a brief thought.

I have watched Ladder 49 dozens of times (it is one of MacK's favourite movies), and tonight was the first time I have seen it since returning from Afghanistan. Spoiler alert - the central premise of the film is that the central character is a firefighter who is fighting for his life after a rescue gone bad. The movie is a series of vignettes recalling his life and development as a firefighter.

The film doesn't end well for Jack, with final scenes being of his funeral. It has never hit me at an emotional level before, but tonight I just couldn't hold back the tears. I can only think that I have now seen a couple of ramp ceremonies, one of which is still particularly poignant. We had a situation overseas where there were two (US) brothers in the same platoon, and one was killed in a green on blue attack. The surviving brother held it together during the ramp ceremony, and only broke down in the aircraft that was to take his brother back to family.

I saw him as he exited the aircraft, where he just knelt on the tarmac and cried. His platoon mates surrounded him, to protect and comfort him. Not a lot of dry eyes on the flight line for that one.

I can only think when watching that scene that I have a limited appreciation of what a family might go through when a perfectly fit and healthy son or daughter is suddenly taken.

Now if you will excuse me, I will indulge by way of a little reflection.

The heir apparent makes himself known

It appears that some people (my wife chief amongst them) believe I am a pedant, or at least display pedantic tendencies (I am fond of the Oxford comma). Furthermore, she also believes that her Dad is of a similar bent. Proving that there is a familial link for such character traits, MacK is driving all and sundry nuts with his advanced language understanding.

Perhaps the best example happened yesterday at day care, when he and his friends were motoring around the playground. The staff told them to stop running, at which time the wee man responded with “its ok, I’m not running. I’m galloping!”

What do you do? I say we should publicly celebrate the fact he can manipulate language, whilst privately gnashing our teeth in despair! Of course, we love him to bits, and try not to laugh too much when he does these wonderful things.

 

Our Super pedant!

And we're back!

Hello again, after what seems like an age.

Since our last post, I have spent a significant period in Afghanistan (which I will not be writing about on this forum), where I was deployed with the US Army 1st Cavalry Division in Kandahar. I do have a separate journal you are most welcome to read - you just need to pay us a visit first!

On return, we decamped to the farm to start building the house. It was an incredible experience, and we will be forever in debt to both David and Tyson for the work they did on the build. A photo essay will be one of the very next posts. i hope that you are as impressed with the house as we are!

The last couple of weeks have been hectic as we have both started back at work, with its attendant requirement for new year mandatory training and inductions.

MacK has started swimming lessons again this year after a hiatus last year, and has taken to them like the proverbial.

We hope to be a little more regular this year, and hope to see all of you through the year.