Deborah Woehr

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. Mine was spent back East, with my husband’s relatives. We left Friday, June 27 and came back late last night. I wasn’t sure what we were going to come home to, due to all of the fires we’ve been having. This shot was taken from my backyard, two weeks before we left.

The air wasn’t much better when we left that Friday morning. In the sky, we saw the smoke trailing all the way into Nevada. Then, when we were in Philadelphia, my mother-in-law announced that 1,400 wildfires were blazing up and down the state. That wasn’t big news back there, so we heard snippets here and there.

Thankfully, our home was still standing when we got home. We welcomed the cool night (and smoke-free) air when we got off the plane. It was so refreshing after dealing with the heat and humidity all week. We all had a great time. I’ll write more about my trip later, when I’m more coherent.

Click for a larger view.

I’ve seen many pictures of the Vietnam Memorial in various books and magazines. Somehow, I pictured the wall to be a great big monolith. I’m glad it’s not and yet wish that it wasn’t there at all.

Michael S. Vrablick was my mother-in-law’s cousin. He never got to meet his son or grandchildren.

Looking at his name, I thought of my father, who was enlisted during the height of the war. He was a helicopter mechanic and could have been shipped out to Saigon at any time. Instead, the Navy saw fit to keep him in Kingsville, TX the entire four years, long enough to meet my mother and to conceive me.