What would you do in the name of love? Probably anything for your family.  I would and I have. But what about a friend? How about a friend from your past? How far would you go to make sure they knew they were loved?

This weekend we were shown what happens in the name of love. Just a little over a month ago, we reconnected with friends. These are friends from our past. Like military past. While we were stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio (1992-1996) the Big He worked with another young (single…important to the story) airman that we will call “S” at the jail on the base. At the same time, I was attending UTSA working on my degree in Biology where I met  a young woman (single…again, important to the story) who I will call “M”and her and I became friends.  If you have not already figured it out, the cliff notes are that we played match maker to the single young airman and the single  young college student. Today they have been married 20+ years, have 4 children, run a successful law practice and live in El Paso, Texas. We were there when they got married and had the opportunity to meet their first born when she was a few months old.

This reconnection with them has been amazing. S contacted us after learning of the Big He’s diagnosis from another military friend. M & S have made it a point to reconnect. S took it upon himself to get a reunion together. Not so much as asking IF we wanted to get together but WHEN. What started off as a weekend reunion in San Antonio ultimately ended with a weekend in Austin. While I think he was not sure how his persistence was taken, I can reassure you it was very appreciated. Taking decision making away from us for certain things believe it or not, is what we need. There are so many critical decisions we must now make on a daily basis that there are some things that we will put at the bottom of the list. Its not because they are not important it is just so many important things are occurring right now.  S also understood that it may be easier on our family to meet at our house. S also offered to help with any “honey-dos” we may have.

So, in the name of love, M and S packed their family of six in their SUV and drove 10 hours to spend 1 full day with us. They arrived around 6:00 pm on Friday and will leave this morning after popping in for what S called our “front porch goodbye”. Giving us one last time for hugs and kisses before they head back home. It has been an amazing weekend for us. This has been another one of those reconnections that it is as if no time has passed between us. We picked up where we left off.  There have been laughs and serious talks about Alpha Lima Sierra. It has been good for us and them.

As I sit here, I am aware that our reconnection is not by chance. We are experiencing what our family calls a “A God thing”.  It is in the name of love, we are being shown that while at times we feel alone in this fight, we are not. It is when we need lifting the most, we get it. While this weekend is just one example of this, another is that there have been many visits from Tom’s oldest and dearest friend, L.   L always seems to show up when we need it showing us how much he loves us.  And there are the visits from D and S.  D is my brother from another mother and my man-of-honor.  They travel from OK to be with us. These are people that are more than friends, they are our family. We love them  and appreciate what they do for us more then they can ever know.

We have many people that love us. Those that we know, those that we have not yet met, and those that are coming back into our lives. So, what would you do in the name of love?

(The kiddos at the State Capitol 2/18/17)

All my love,

The She

The Big He’s update: As you can guess, he is progressing. His walking is slower and we use the manual wheelchair more and more. He now has his ventilator to use at night which  has allowed him start sleeping better. Before the ventilator, he would wake up throughout the night not able to catch his breath. The VA should be putting in the order for his motorized wheelchair so that is coming soon.

Our desire to push some legislative changes to allow state employees that are also veterans and who work in law enforcement to utilize their military credit toward retirement has come to an end. At our meeting with our Representative  it was identified to us that there is actual language in the Texas Constitution that prohibits the addition of changes to LECOS while the system is actuarially unsound. Meaning, as long as the fund is not financially sound then it is a no go. Will it ever be sound, probably not but we will continue to watch it and you never know…if it happens, we will attempt to make changes.