Hey Everyone!
So sorry for the lack of updates. Traveling, moving, etc. I got home last week from a wonderful month in Florida. I owe a huge THANKS to all my friends down there who always make me feel so welcome and make SW Florida feel like home!

We are in our house on Fort Belvoir, about 20 miles south of DC. It's a great house and we are starting to get things the way we want them and feel sort of settled. And we finally got hooked up with the internet.

It's good to be connected but sometimes the news isn't so good. I had to try and find places that would allow me to check my email last week and in two different days, I received two different emails letting me know that two different friends had passed away.

This is the first time I have ever received news like this via email. There's never a good way to get sad news but I guess email is nice from the standpoint that you get to ponder it and digest it without having to respond right away like you do with a phone call.

The thing that made these two emails so interesting is that while reading both emails, I had little Eric on my lap. So I would go from looking at this sad and startling news on my computer screen to looking at these huge blue eyes full of joy and life as if he were saying, “come on dad, enough computer stuff, let's play!”

It is amazing to see the joy and innocence of new life. Eric knows nothing of any of this. And on one hand, as a parent, it easy to wish for him to never experience loss and the emotions that come with it. But the only way for that to happen is to never get close to anyone. And so far, with people I've known and lost, the pain of losing them pales in comparison to the pleasure of knowing them.

So I guess I hope that Eric learns that death is a part of life and that the only way to avoid the good-byes is to avoid the hellos in the first place and that's no way to live. So good-bye to Nancy and good-bye to Judy. I'll miss you both!

Matt