My Mom Voted for Nader, and Now My Brother Has To Go To Iraq

I'm getting bumper stickers printed up with the above. Gonna slap it on the ol' Focus.

This past weekend, my immediate family gathered from our corners of Dacotah Territory; my brother was especially adamant that we all come because he wanted to tell us that he is the lucky recipient of an all-expense paid trip.

To Iraq.

He's OK about it--he's an officer, and will be in a safe place, and will be doing civil affairs. But, he just got married. And he leaves in February. And I hate it.

Michael being Michael kinda joked about it, and said he was actually relieved, because Iraq has been hanging over his head for 7 years now, and so many of his buddies have gone, and it's his turn.

He played the Iraq card all weekend:
"Lu, want another beer?"
"Nah, I'm good."
"Um, I am going to Iraq. Have a beer."

"Dad, wanna take the boat out? Fish a little?"
"Maybe..."
"Your son's going to Iraq. Go fishing with him."

We got to spend all weekend together, with the highlight being West Fest. There was this big parade with marching bands, and I ate loads of tootsie rolls, and Sam cried at the Shriners.

When the Pay Day Loan float went by my brother yelled, "Oh, that's wonderful for our economy. Keep up the great work, guys!" And then my dad smacked him with the literature handed out by the Jehovah's Witnesses minutes before.

Usual family (dys)fun.

Sam is getting so big and he crawls so fast! I was feeding him bananas one morning and started singing, "This meal is bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!" And he laughed and laughed.

Watching the parade (my father had to visit every farm and fleet store in the tri-county area, so he was late to the parade):




Sam and Michael sharing some Taco John's:




Sammy-boy:








As usual, Sam was super impressed with his Auntie Lu: