Sisters

I had to make a quick trip to the post office (who all mailed their Christmas cards for Operation Santa?) and I grabbed our camera because I’d been meaning to take a photo of Aaron’s memorial downtown. (We just call it Aaron’s as his name was singular for a very long time.) My sister, Lisa, has taken it upon herself to keep the flowers changed on it. (I love my sister).

In the photos, note the ladies and gentleman adding flowers, wreaths and ribbons to the previous war memorials. I asked to take a photo of them (they gave me their backs!) and told me this is the first year they’ve ever done this. (Now that I think of some of the faces I saw, this must be the Master Gardener’s of Lea County (I used to work in the Extension Office here at the courthouse) and if so, or if not, I do thank them for their efforts. After I got home and loaded the photos, I noticed the wreath and ribbon on Aaron’s memorial, well, I noticed it there too, but it took a while to dawn on me that this was something new to the memorial. I called Lisa to verify and she verified what I had thought. So the crew downtown there put the wreath and ribbon up at Aaron and the Major’s memorial.

It was this summer that the name of Major Tom Bostick, Jr. was added. As you can see from the photo, the Major had been in Afghanistan and I think that was his third trip there. He also had a deployment to Iraq under his belt. He is one of our heroes that enlisted straight out of high school, earned his hard stripes and education in the military, received his commission and led from the front. His death saved the lives of the enlisted that were with him at the time.

I’m still the only Gold Star Mom in Lea County. The Major had gone to school here through junior high and then his family moved to Texas, however, his extended family, grandparents, aunts and uncles still live here in Lovington. I went to school with his Aunt Bobbie and she called me when it happened. When people think of aunts, I sometimes think they view them as someone “a lot lower down the ladder than the mom.” What they may forget is that by merit of being an aunt, someone along the way was a sister or brother, and in our family, that’s major business for sure. I nursed Kayla to my very own breast and there is absolutely nothing Lisa would not have done for Aaron. Aaron adored her and called on her frequently.

Anyway, wanted to share these photos with our readers and while I’m on the sister bit, I wanted to tell everybody that soon, very soon, maybe like twelve days before Christmas, gUnZ uP’s very own “THE ERMA BOMBECK OF CHRISTMAS” (Lisa) will share her very own HELPFUL HINTS FOR THE SEASON. Some of you may remember her comments last year as she carried on her busy schedule and provided us a glimpse of adding more. This year I’ve invited her back but have asked her to do it as a post so it won’t get lost in the comments. She’s agreed, but said she’d just write it down on scratch paper along the way (busy, busy) and give it to me to put up. Something to look forward to as my little sister is quite humorous and has a hideous family to back up Erma’s column of old. Let me clarify, they are precious and hideous. You know, don't you have one? LOL!

Merry Christmas!
De’on