The people in the news are no longer nameless and faceless

I picked up the paper today because to scope out mine and Ben's engagement announcement and poked through the paper to find it, found it was satisfied for my $50 dollars worth of silly little article about Ben and I and put the paper down pretty much forgetting about it until our drive home from Devils Lake.

However, on the way home I decided to see what was in the news. While flipping through I see the headlines on the second front: North Dakota Soldier Dies in Road side bombing I said the title out loud, commenting on how sad that was but pretty much was going to continue on to other articles until Ben asked me the name of the fallen soldier, I begin reading the article, and am dumbfounded to read that this soldier grew up in my home town, nowinterested I read further, only to find out that this soldier had at one point and time been a person I had considered a friend. Jeremiah was always a funny guy, laughed, got into a lot of trouble and somehow ended up in the military. The last time I seen him was a couple of years ago, and he had changed so much. He was making something of himself, and it is horrible that he had to die at the young age of 21. Until now I had not known a soldier that had died, and it really brought the war close to home. It also made me remember a friend... and how delicate friendships are. I hope that whereever Jeremiah is he is happy and at peace. I hope he knows what a great person he was. How much he touched the lives of the people he met.

I can think of many memmories that he was a part of throughout the years and I smile at each and every one of them. Including the ones that ended a big group of us in the principals office. Sigh.... life is way to short.