Old Soul, Young Heart

Sending off these care packages to my soldiers before Christmas has been a pain in the ass. I know once I've done it the first time that I'll know how to do it for next time, but it's a lot of hoops to jump through. It's been quite expensive too, because I want to make it worth my while. I think I've spent close to $75 for each one, and it's $12 to send the package. I mean, it's my choice to buy whatever and put it in there--I want them to be excited about it, so I don't want it to be crappy. I think I'll only be able to do that once every 3 or 4 months though. Sending letters should be easier, so maybe I'll do that next time instead. Anyhow, I now have to go to the post office to weigh each individual item for customs. (I have 19 items per box.) I'm just scared of doing something wrong and then all of that money and time will be wasted. I also hope that it actually does get there on or before Christmas, though nothing inside of it is super-C...

I decided a few days ago to adopt a soldier. Someone on Facebook said that they did it and it was kind of the culmination of a series of things that were going on for me. One afternoon I spent a good 15 minutes looking at the list on Mollie's door of soldiers that have died the past two weeks in Iraq and Afghanistan. She posts a new list every time one is available and it keeps a running total of how many have died since the war started. They are all so young, usually under 22 or 23 years old. I decided to try to find some way that I could be on the listserv that does the same thing (her's is through the Episcopal Church) and while looking I found a website that has the picture of every soldier killed and links to articles in the newspaper about them. I probably spent an hour looking at their faces and learning about them. It is devastating to me that kids that young are being killed--and for what? I have no clue for what, but the whole thing got me thinking. In the past I...