Henry's Web Log

Today marks our 20th Anniversary. Lisa and I are enjoying a fantastic marriage, but certainly this deployment will be an interruption we won't forget.

On our 10th anniversary, Ethan was just 5 months old, so we mutually decided to postpone a celebration vacation until our 11th anniversary! So now on our 20th, the decision to postpone a vacation has been made for us.

There were two small things I could do to celebrate my wonderful bride. In Christiansburg, I rented the local flower shop's sign:

I sent her flowers, too, but I couldn't hang those on the sign!

In Basra, I made coordination back in June to fly my own US Flag over the Division Headquarters in honor of the occasion. They have a program for this, and Major General Nash provided a very nice certificate recognizing our anniversary. I coordinated to be the one to hoist it, so my day started at 7am, raising this flag over the 34th Division Headquarters, Coalition Operating Base Basra.

Notice I'm squinting: the sun's up at 4:30am, so by 7am, it's not only bright, but hot!

So, to Lisa,
It has been the best 20 years a guy good hope for- and more. It still feels like the beginning of our marriage, because there's so much more ahead of us. I love you deeply. and I owe you one heck of a great vacation! How about we go someplace with lots of water?