As the year comes to an end I thought I might try to find a few "happy" things to say/post, and not just bitch about this or that topic (that is too darn easy).
I spend more time here then I really should. I can point to several reasons that is the case, but maybe the first is below the fold. Something I don't think I've ever really mentioned here in much detail. What I'd call a pretty happy story that this site created.
I hope you enjoy. Peace.
More than a few years ago I ran into a women here, a school teacher in Iowa, who explained that she had a brother that was home from his first tour in Afghanistan. He had been shot five times in combat. From the pictures I'd later see it was a miracle (and a testament to his fellow soldiers) he didn't bleed out right on that far away mountain top.
He eventually made it back to the States. But he didn't seem to be getting any closer to home or much better. His unit was still deployed and he, as best they could tell just sat 24 hours a day alone in his room staring at the walls thinking he was a complete failure cause his friends were off fighting and he was stuck in a wheel chair.
He'd stop going to rehab, and nobody in the military seemed to care. He'd ceased almost all contact with his friends and family back home. They feared he might harm himself.
As many of you have heard me say I am an Air Force brat, and I jumped up and said that ain't right, get the solider home where he has a strong support group of loving friends and family members. I've also said many times here I am a marketing geek. At that time I had access to a lot of resources and I started a little application and pulled up every single media outlet around her and the point-of-contact. Sent it to her along with a list of talking points and a press release I suggested she send out.
I didn't hear a single thing for weeks. I had almost forgotten about it all, until I got an email from her showing me pics of this massive family reunion, and her brother was the person in the middle of all the pics. I kid you not, the day he got back to Iowa was July 4th.
Later I'd learn she used the information I sent her, worked the phones 24/7, and in fact actually got Tom Harkin's office to make a few calls. So anytime somebody says one person can't get something done, let them know they are wrong.
We never communicated again on Daily Kos, not sure she ever came back here. But we communicated a lot via IM, the phone, and email. As a dude in Southern Illinois and a women in middle Iowa we were not that far from each other. We planned, or attempted to plan a few things, but they never worked out. So is life.
Then a funny thing happened.
Some guy named Barack Obama said he'd announce he was running for President in Springfield, IL. I am only a hop skip and fall from there. She wasn't much further away. I think I might have sent her an IM that said "maybe we should find each other in Springfield."
At the time I was for Edwards. She, well all in with Obama (who was smarter there BTW -- and she still likes to point this out). We met that day, a cold, very cold day in Springfield. One of the better hugs I've ever had and I like to think I gave as much back.
Standing there in like -10 wind chill Springfield that day two things happened. We formed some strange bond that is hard to explain. We realized Barack Obama was going to be our next President.
I still talk to her pretty much weekly in some way. I know about as much about her as I do anybody in this world. I am pretty sure she could say the same about me. All cause I left a comment in a Diary where I think I just said something like, "I think I can help, give me a few minutes to pull some information together. I'll email you."
I'd almost forgotten that is how I met her, cause years and thousands of conversations have passed since my first comment in her Diary, but that is why I keep coming back here! I am willing to bet I am nothing close to the only person with a story like this.