memorial

in november in 1966 a soldier named russell halley stood up in a ditch in vietnam, and took bullets for another man he had never met, and never would. the story is deep and touching about how the man who survived went on to honor pfc. halley all these years later.

i can't stop thinking about the love he left behind. there is a picture of her in the paper today, with red hair and pink nails. almost 40 years later she is wiping tears away as she listens to words describing the last moments, the last bloody and heroic moments of her husband's life. the story goes on to say that she married again, but divorced some time later. she never truly loved again, not after russell.

the pain of her lost love tears at me, and at the same time i realize she is one of the lucky ones among us.

to have loved and have been loved so strong. he is gone for many years now, but she can still feel it. she can still feel the depth in the forever of it. he is with her always, but for his touch. and someday when she sees him again, she will have that, too.