Peace
I’ve been thinking a lot of my brother, Steve, lately. This month, my book club took on “No Immediate Threat: The story of an American Veteran,” the book I wrote about his struggles after the Vietnam War.
It was a pleasant surprise when they suggested they read and discuss the book close to Veteran’s Day.
It was especially poignant, as today is the 10th anniversary of his death.
I couldn’t be farther from where I was that cold night back in 1999 when my brother went to sleep for the last time.
I was a new reporter on the school beat for a local daily. My day timer shows that although it was a Saturday, I was busy working, covering a Boy Scouts event. When we learned of Steve’s death 14 months later, I looked at my calendar and actually remembered thinking of my brother while I was at that event the day he died, as he had also been a Boy Scout.
Vietnam changed the Boy Scout and athlete we knew. My brother returned a tormented soul.
In the years that have followed the aftermath of his death, The Little House has played an important part in helping me shed some of the emotional clutter, to find my own sense of peace.
