~in a letter to Lizzy's grandpa~

I've had easier weekends than the one that has just passed and without going into it, I was anxious to get the school week started and move on.  Monday had to be better.

Yet in the early morning darkness of yesterday I found things not all that much smoother as the tote basket that I use to carry my school work back and forth suddenly came apart at the bottom.  Before I knew it, what seemed to be reams of papers were strewn from "here to tomorrow" and I had to scurry to make sure that I got all of them retrieved before the wind took them away.  I proceeded to jam up the copier in the teacher's lounge within the next 10 minutes and after that, well after that the walk down to my classroom seemed a whole lot farther than it already is sometimes.  As I got to my room and opened the door, I found myself saying a prayer out loud right there in hallway of the primary wing of our school.  It was a simple one to be sure and it came from deep in the heart and spirit of someone who obviously  needed a change in attitude.

"God could you send me just one good thing today?  That's all I want.  Just one good thing."

Little more than an hour later, He did just that and it is told of in the following "in a letter to Lizzy's grandpa".

Dear Dave,

I received your nice letter yesterday morning at school and it is with gratitude that I write to you in this way.  Dear little Lizzy came to my desk with it, tiny smile on her face, and pressed the envelope into my hands.  I said to her, "Lizzy if this is a bill for something, you are gonna have to give it to Sally the Dog.  She has all of our money right now."  Lizzy smiled and told me that it wasn't a bill.

When I opened it up and saw the beautiful handwriting on the note I still didn't realize at first who it was from.  Then I scanned to the bottom and knew it was from you.  When the Army patch fell out and spilled onto the top of my messy teacher's desk, a huge lump came to my throat and my eyes began to sting with tears.  When I finished reading your message, one that told me that you desired that I would have this emblem to remember my brother by, I had to swallow very hard.  I could have cried like a baby at that very moment but somehow I got it together and was ok.  I gave your dear Lizzy a hug that was from me to you.  This morning I am still amazed at your kindness and the gift that allows me to have a memory of my older brother and his days of being a soldier, Specialist 4th class,  in Vietnam.  

The kids still remember the day you came to visit our classroom and told us of what it was like to be a soldier and about your time spent in a southeastern Asian country so far away from the beautiful Colorado mountains.  They had never heard of a place called "Vietnam" before you came to speak to them on that Veteran's Day.  You taught those children a lesson of life that late fall afternoon and that is my favorite kind of learning experience.  To be right honest Dave, I don't even remember what I taught them that afternoon but I do remember what you taught them.  It was nice to be able to share with you that my brother Mike was also there at the same time you were and that he was a Spec. 4th class too.  Standing alongside you was kind of like standing alongside my own brother and it was a good feeling.

I have placed the Army patch in a special box with your letter alongside it and it is something that I will forever treasure.  No matter where I go between now and my last day here on earth, it shall remain with me.  Although you could not have known it, the date of your letter was marked "March 21".  My brother's 70th birthday would have been the day before.  He has been gone now since 2007, his body quickly ravaged by the effects of ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease.  I never once heard him speak of his time there in South Vietnam but I can only imagine the way it changed his life.  It wasn't the most popular of wars but when his draft notice came he did what he was called to do.  My brother was just a farm kid from the plains of south central Kansas but your message reminded me yesterday that he indeed was a soldier too.  Thank you for reminding me and honoring his memory in such a poignant and meaningful way.

We have only a few short weeks that remain at school and we are hard at work trying to accomplish all that needs to be done.  Yesterday morning started off kind of rough in the early morning hours at school.  I was more tired than not and I'm afraid that my spirit was wavering.  I did ask God to just send me one good thing, one thing that could turn my attitude around and not surprisingly at all, He did just that.

It was a letter from Lizzy's grandpa.  

Sincerely and with the deepest of respect for you my friend,
Peggy

The little girl that I used to be missed her brother very much during his one year stay in Vietnam.  I remember being very scared that something would happen to him.  I was one of the fortunate little sisters.  Many other little girls lost their brothers in that place so very far away.

Whether the war was "right" or not, I am still proud of my brother to this day.  His name was Larry Michael Scott and he was a soldier in the Army.