The Kids

We had a great weekend with the kids being home. Lots of family came over for dinner on Sunday and we won't all be together again until the holidays. Noelle left last night to go back to work in Chandler, Arizona at Intel. Justin will hang around until Wednesday when he returns to Syracuse, NY to start his work on his Masters in Public Administration. (High level policy wonk stuff) He will also get married to his girl Karly in October. We will travel to Olean, NY for that.

Justin and I went to HELLO DELI! for his favorite breakfast burrito this morning. It was so nice to sit there with him and talk about the state of the country, world and where it is all going. Justin is a true progressive and, like his sister Noelle, smart and animated.

It was sad to see the Albuquerque Journals in the Deli with the headline about the young man from Los Lunas who was killed in Iraq with just a couple of weeks left before coming home to see his soon to be born daughter for the first time. It made me want to cling even more to our kids, which I have a tendency to do, which drives them crazy. Bobbi always tells me to chill out on this stuff.

This young mans death in Iraq won't even cross the minds of bush and cheney today. They just go about their daily routine of living in denial about what disastrous leaders they really are. They must be truly oblivious to the suffering of the families involved. Meanwhile, Governor Richardson's enhanced insurance for New Mexico GI's killed in the line of duty will at least help this young mans family. Richardson led the way for the rest of the country with that program which provides close to $500,000 for surviving family members.