Fourth Of July

On the Fourth of July, Independence Day a terrorist breached the perimeter of an US base in eastern Afghanistan.

The suicide bomber was driving a truck filled with explosives. It detonated just outside the gates of the base, killing Aaron Fairbairn, 21, and another officer, according to David Masters, Fairbairn's stepfather from Olympia, Washington.

Aaron was scheduled to return home from his deployment Afghanistan in September. Members of his family were awaiting the arrival of his body to US soil in Dover, Delaware on Sunday.

David Masers wrote asking the Twitter community to post Thank You, Aaron on their personal pages. The hashtag #thankyouaaron has been the #1 trending topic all night.

Thank you Aaron.

As a mother of a soldier stationed in Iraq it is news I am praying never to receive. I just can't imagine burying my child. David, I will keep you and your family in my prayers.

Today I was a bit wistful about past July 4th celebrations. I missed watching the fireworks in DC or at Pax River. I was thinking about how I took Michael to Chesapeake Beach one Fourth of July when he was little and it was just a spur of the moment trip. It had been so much fun. I mentioned it to Darryl and he said, "Well why didn't you say you wanted to go some where. I suppose it's my fault if you don't go somewhere." He always takes things like that. What I really wanted was to relive one of those summer days of my youth. It was a time when anything was possible but so often couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel or even realize that there was any other way to live. Moments of pure joy and happiness were so beautiful and at the time seemed so rare that I remember them in technicolor and I want to live in that moment again.

So how did we spend the Fourth? We grilled burgers, I baked some sweet potatoes and we went out for ice cream. It's not the old days but it's not so bad.