Hey guys! I hope everyone’s weekend has been awesome so far!!  Mine’s been a little different than usual. But before I get into that, let’s talk about stuff. For the last nine months, I’ve kept up a schedule of posting 2-3 times per week (usually 3) with various projects and home-related topics, most of which have centered around our home. As mentioned in various places on my site, this blog is my outlet… a DIY diary of sorts to look back on later. For the most part, this schedule has been doable without issue and I’ve continued to be excited/borderline-impatient to publish every post.

But, alas, I’m like many people when it comes to DIY stuff. It kind of ebbs and flows according to life. And lately it’s been ebbing thanks to an uncharacteristic amount of travel. I actually have painted our bedroom chair as alluded to in this Instagram pic (Yep, I’m on Instagram now. Anditrocks.)…

…but, unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to style it and take “after” pics yet. So, stay tuned for that.

Anyways, within the past month we’ve traveled twice, which is highly unlike us. And we have another trip planned before month’s end, which is pretty much crazytown in our neck of the woods. Our first trip was to Mexico as described in this post, and over the last few days we’ve been in North Carolina for a memorial at Fort Bragg to honor my brother, Alex (you can read about him in this or this post if you’re new and/or interested).

Memorials are funny things. You want to be happy to be there because your loved one deserves it, but it’s also really hard emotionally to have everything rehashed and fresh. I’ll be honest and say that I was kind of dreading it for the latter reason. In the end, though, I’m really glad I went. I didn’t take a ton of pictures, but I’ll share a few of my Instagram pics from the weekend to give you an idea.

The event was for the families of eighteen fallen solders, whose names were to be engraved in the Memorial for Fallen Special Operations Soldiers. We had a reception to attend the first night, which is where a truly momentous thing happened. Joey and I got a halfway-decent serious picture together….

I know. I can’t believe it either.

Then, the following day, we had a busy agenda with several events which culminated with the ceremony at the memorial where we finally got to see it…

As I approached the wall, I gazed at his name, then quickly brushed it with my fingers as I walked away. I had no idea at the time that one of Alex’s teammates had captured the moment…

It’s an experience that I knew I’d remember, but never expected to have a momento from. I nearly lost it when he sent it to me and am so grateful for his impeccable timing.

I have to say that everything about the weekend was very organized, respectful and interesting. We got to learn a lot about what Alex did out there with his job, which was awesome. He was the senior engineer on the team (and I learned that his actual role was called 18 Charlie) and we got to see the tools that he used and familiarize ourselves with some of his responsibilities. They had some educational exhibits and we got to visit the Airborne & Special Operations Museum to learn about our Special Ops history.

But my favorite part was getting to spend time with Alex’s team….

This is me, Joey and my parents with the team. Getting to hear stories about Alex and finally putting faces to names was incredible. We had such fun with these guys at dinner after the ceremony and at various points between the more formal events throughout the weekend. It was an experience that I’m truly grateful for.

Seriously… I know you hear things all the time about thanking and appreciating our military. I’ve always felt this way (of course), but even with my brother in the service, it was always kind of an obscure idea in my mind.  After speaking with all these guys, and hearing stories about how it is out there and things they do, I have a completely new outlook and a much grander and more specific appreciation for them. These highly-trained and especially brave men and women who serve our country deserve the type of respect reserved for the greats.  Memorial Day has a whole new meaning to me now.

So, with that said, we have one more trip coming up, then things should be getting back to normal. I have a few smaller projects up my sleeve in the interim, but content may be a little lighter than usual on the DIY side for the next week or two. I appreciate you guys bearing with me and I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday weekend.

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