The Black Dress

I looked into the closet for something appropriate to wear, something that would match the occasion.  I held up a shirt, a skirt and nothing looked quite right and then I saw it.

The dress.  The dress that I had hoped I would never wear again.  The one that I had shoved to the back of my closet after I wore it. I last wore it six years ago to my mother-in-law's funeral.  I knew that I would never wear it again in my every day life because it reminded me so much of that day, of that time, of all the pain.

I pulled it out and it fit.   This morning I put the dress on and the dark jewelry and I went to say goodbye to a hero.

1st Lt. Jonathan P. Walsh.  A husband, a father, a son, a brother and a friend.   He died on April 22nd, 2012 in Afghanistan coming to the aid of another platoon when an IED exploded and took his life and the life of another young soldier with him.

His parents are our neighbors.  JP was finishing up school in the two years after we first moved here.  He came and helped Bud move a playset for our girls.  He was handsome and strong and had his whole life in front of him.  He was 28 years old.

It has become easy in the past few years to forget the sacrifices that are being made by our military members.  The dangers that they face.   The hardships and heartaches that their families endure while they are gone.

We were reminded this past week as we saw the pain on his parent's faces, as his brother carried JP's 5 month old son as they walked toward the casket, as one of his platoon members knelt in front of his mother and said again and again, "I am so sorry," and as his wife reached out to accept the flag placed into her arms, "On behalf of a grateful nation...."

I came home this afternoon, exhausted and saddened by the events of the day.  Praying and thinking of his family and what they have lost and what this will mean to them in the future.  I hung the black dress up and once again shoved it to the back of the closet hoping that it will not need to be pulled out again anytime soon.