Air Force Memorial near Washington DC

When I initially blogged this series, I didn't feel the need to write any words to accompany the images. Or not many words. I suppose it's partly because I was absorbing still the purpose and meaning of this site, but perhaps also because, quite honestly, the air force is my life, so what more is there to really say? But looking back I feel a bit remiss in not having said something about the feelings evoked within me, walking around the memorial, looking at the remembrances that others are leaving behind for fallen airmen. And I definitely feel that I should have acknowledged the emotions that rose to the surface when I looked at the shiny black wall etched with the long list of wars that we have fought, some with start and end dates neatly inscribed, some with only start dates because we're still there, with no end in sight. A small part of me shuts this kind of thing down because, being married to an airman, an airman who fights these wars, I don't want to see it. I don't want to know about it. I just want it to go away. But the reality is that it probably never will. And for some, their loved ones don't come home from conflict. And every day I should, and would if I could, muster up the courage to be conscious of that fact and grateful for every person who has been braver than me and stepped forward to serve.

Off we go...