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Ok, so Rachael's Ramblings didn't quite seem appropriate for some reason, because I do plan to be more "concise" than my normal ramblings (we'll see if that happens!)...

So, thought this was appropriate for the current focus I'm thinking of...

Anyway, here is the explaination:

Mike wrote me an email, about 2 weeks before he was lost...telling me about his unit's first casualty....and this is what he said to me ---

“That was the strange part; you don't drop everything and go home when people die or get hurt. You still have your mission, and you can't run away and give the enemy the chance to do it again.” ~ Cpl Mike Lindemuth, USMC

And so, that's what I've been trying to hold onto...when I spoke at his funeral (which I hadn't planned on doing)...all I could get in my head was this email...so I read it to everyone...and I asked them to find their mission...whatever it was meant to be...and make it happen... that was my challenge, and Mike's urging, to them....complete YOUR mission...

Every person that falls, well, a piece of them lives on, every day, through each and every person that knew them...so in theory...they never die...because their legacy lives through each of us...

The reason I haven't updated...

It's been a long time coming...but as you can imagine, it's an interesting position, to be young, and involved in something, intimately, like war... or more rightly stated, losing someone you love so much, to war...

I once read an article where someone in a similiar position, except not to war, describe herself as a "widow without having ever been a wife"...now, I won't claim to be a wife or widow, since I was neither...but I definately see where she was coming from.

I've hesistated to write much, in public, because I've been afraid that others would take something I said, not in the intent it was meant, and that I would somehow make it worse for someone experiencing a similar loss...or that somehow, someone out there would think that a Marine's girl is anything but tough and strong, like the man that loved her....well...I've come to realize, maybe that's exactly what the world has been waiting for...someone to speak for those, that my best friend, herself a Gold Star Wife, once said "for those that don't have a voice"...the unheard of fiancees/girlfriends of the fallen...we know there is a difference, but the technicalities don't make the love shared, any less...


Anything I say here is, completely of my own opinion, and no way warrants or represents anyone else...it's just me...

Oh, and for the record...I'm VERY proud of My Marine...My Love... Always will be...love never dies...and also, for the record, I'm so lucky to have known such a true love...not everyone gets to experience that in their life...so although it was far too short here on earth, I am very blessed to have known such a love...and I wouldn't trade the limited time I had here with Mike, for an eternity with someone else.... Love is eternal.

Special Remembrance to all of our beloved fallen, but especially to the 48 Fallen Marines and Corpsmen of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines ... KIA 2005 Iraq

...Fallen, but NEVER forgotten... ALWAYS in OUR hearts...

PROUD SUPPORTER OF OUR TROOPS & VETERANS & THEIR FAMILIES

There, got the intro out of the way! =)