Home

When I went away to college, I pined for home - and everyone knew it.  One day a boy I worked with asked me, "Who would want to live in Roosevelt, Utah?  What's so great about it anyway?  I drove through there once and I thought it was pretty ugly."
I responded with something awesome like "The people there are the best people in the world!"

Every once in a while I think of the exchange and it makes me smile again.  I'd like to tell that 18-year-old a thing or two, but I just can't do it.  She was so full of confidence and love and loyalty that I hate to clue her in.

Every once in a while, though, I think she might have been right.  Like this Thursday, when Slice and I drove to Vernal to join the Welcome Home procession for the first Uintah Basin military man killed in action since Vietnam.  It was quite a sight.

photo kifed from here

We got there early (and it was a little late), so we had plenty of time to take pictures, which I will be posting over on the photoblog.

I love that my community rallies for things like this.  Businesses closed for hours - in the middle of the day - and people of all ages flocked to watch the procession without candy or scantily-clad dancers.  It was solemn, short, and, in my opinion, beautiful.

I just kept thinking that I would want the same for my son.