Happy Veteran's Day

To all who have served, thank you for your sacrifice. My brother Donnie served in Operation Desert Storm in the early 90's, so naturally I think of him today. (Actually, I think of him every day, but that's a topic for a different post).

Last week Ella came across letters that I had saved from when he was serving overseas. He wrote the letter below for my 16th birthday, he was really bummed that he couldn't be here. You see, he didn't want to miss out on being the first to let me drive, so prior to being deployed, he let me drive his piece of crap Camaro. I will never forget that day... we were out driving around and he took me to Service Creek Cemetery (where he is buried, oh the irony), and, after hanging out, he got in the passenger seat of the car. I was like, hello? What are you doing? He replied, "don't you wanna drive?" So I drove down that old road as cautiously as possible because I was always afraid of breaking laws and such (we were so different).

If you would like to view the letter larger in an attempt to read it, you can do so by clicking here. Pardon the profanity, but if you knew Donnie, then you know that it was just a part of him. I think he gave me $100, which is what he is referring to in his post script.

My favorite part? "Hows your boyfriend? Heard he bought you roses. Never mind how I heard, I hear everything!" The return address on the envelope read, "Big Daddy." What a riot.


I was 16 when I received this letter, what in the world possessed me to save it? I would typically read something and then throw it away. I saved most of his letters and boy are we grateful. Little did I know that just four short years later he would be gone.