remembering...

got an email from my mom this morning. she said there was an article in the newspaper there about someone i used to go to school with. someone who died in Baghdad during an uprising. someone who was one week away from being sent back to Germany. and back to his fiance. how sad is that. i feel sad whenever i hear or read about a soldier being killed. but still there's a separation between me and them. because I never knew them. but when you knew the person who's died, however briefly, it makes it seem so much more real. so much more tragic.

we were only friends in the first and second grade (and I think kindergarten too). then i moved to another school and our paths through life diverged. but we were really good friends for those first couple of elementary school years. we learned together, played together. and boy did we laugh together. he was also one of my first boyfriends. :) i can still picture in my mind the baby blue and pink plastic heart bracelet (very '80s!) he gave me for my birthday one year. ::sigh:: nice memories there.