DIGIJOURNAL 012--3 FEB 2007

DATELINE: 03FEB07 PB PALIWODA

A letter to my son on his birthday

My Beloved Son,

As you can see by the date [30JAN], it is one day before your birthday. I am going to do my very best to call you. One of the most difficult things about being away is that I am missing all of these important days. It has made your father very crabby. One idea I have is that we will have to celebrate your birthday when I get back. We will have to get a cake, go to Putt-Putt, and have olive pizza.

I miss you very much and wish I could be there with you. My prayer is that you will not look back at these absences with bitterness at me or at the Army. While we always focus on the soldier, the family of the soldier is also making a sacrifice of service to the country.

I love you because you are my son, the little boy who brought more joy than I could have ever imagined into my life, the young man whose happy and gentle manner reminds me more of his mother, my love and my treasure, with each passing day.

I honor and respect you for the sacrifice you make as the son of a soldier, for the prayers you say for me and all our soldiers, for the tears you cry because you miss me, for doing the best that you can, despite the bad days, when I am not there.

I am proud of you and I love you, and I thank God for bringing you to me.

Daddy