University of Virginia

Speaking Engagement

545 Ray C Hunt Drive

Charlottesville, VA 22903-2981

(434) 924-0311

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Unity College

90 Quaker Hill Road

Unity, ME 04988-3712

(207) 948-3131

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WHUCC Women’s Fellowship

5:00 PM, Presentation, Dinner

Rockland Library

6:30 PM, Reading, Signing

80 Union Street,

Rockland, ME‎

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My eldest son, a United States Marine,  will almost certainly be deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.  I’ve decided to be brave about this, or at least to postpone panic until he is actually on the plane.

Still, some fretfulness is leaking out around the edges of my stiff upper lip, so my daughter Ellie recommended  I get in touch with OPERATION GRATITUDE. On their website (www.opgratitude.com) there is a list of all sorts of items one can send to their headquarters, where volunteers assemble care packages for our soldiers and marines presently serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.  And, as my clever child had already determined, hand-knitted items are on the list! 

So yes, I’ve been knitting hats and neck-warmers in the boring-but-safer warrior shades of stone and sand. Operation Gratitude also invites us to write cheerful, non-political letters and cards: I’ve written several of these and sent them off as well.  It is surprisingly hard to write to an imaginary soldier.  I try not to be motherly, mushy or boring.  I try not to picture a blond young man with a large nose and kind eyes… I throw in a few jokes, and keep my prayers to myself.

 Ellie, home for the holidays, has made what seems like a thousand Valentines to be sent Over There. She says Valentines are perfect—minimal text required, and they are intrinsically cheerful, enjoyable to make and to receive. Once the glue dries, she puts each card into an envelope (UNSEALED, NO POSTAGE!) and will mail a boxful to Operation Gratitude for distribution. (One can specify  “To a Marine” or “To a Soldier” or whatever—she tried to be even-handed about this)  If you would like to make a Valentine or two, the address to send them to is: 

Operation Gratitude

16444 Refugio Road

Encino, Ca. 91436

The opposite of fear is love, someone once said. I don’t want to fear for my own boy, so I am sending as much love as I can to other people’s children: May they soon be home,  safe and whole. May they, and we, find peace in 2010.