Here at the ‘Ranch’ we have a Support our Troops effort. They send goodie boxes to the ‘Ranch’ family members in harms way, do fund raisers, send $$$ at Christmas time, and this past Saturday organized a trip to DFW to welcome home an R&R (rest and relaxation) flight of troops from Iraq. Mandy and I went and it’s really moving.
I’d been before (it’s where the photo was taken – forgot the camera today but it would have gotten in the way of all the handshakes) but Mandy hadn’t and did not know what to expect. And just because I’d been there before and thought I knew what to expect, I’d forgotten the magnitude of the feelings that come gushing forward. I know, what a softie, right? Well, my story is that the softieness happened when I turned 55 and I’m sticking to it.
And not only don’t we know what to expect, neither do the troops. They might have been told there would be local folks there to welcome them home but there’s no way they could understand the outpouring of feelings. It was something and even as I write this, my eyes are welling up.
Last Friday night, ABC news did their person of the week – it was Bert Brady. He’s been organizing the DFW scene for quite some time. If you didn’t see it, here’s a link to the story. The segment video is even up on the ABC News site.
No nap on Saturday – watched the circus that’s also known as the FBR Open – last weeks PGA tour stop in Scottsdale, AZ. The broadcast team reported that there were 165,000 people through the turnstiles on Saturday. Most tournaments can handle 45,000 to 50,000 per day for 4 days. Large crowds like that creep me out.
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