Today the street to the Catholic church was lined with people in jeans, and some in suits, with flags. While I did not know the young Marine who died, I have many friends who did. My sons and I went and helped to line the streets.

One son said, “This is a lot of fun.”

I told him, “Why we’re here isn’t a lot of fun. What he did that got him killed wasn’t a lot of fun. It’s not a lot of fun for his parents. He’s gone forever. We can be here for ten minutes.”

God bless his parents, his family, his friends.

One nice thing for us, his parents had the window of the limo down and had a hand stuck up in the air, kind of like a wave only not. His grandmother was in the front seat and had her hand out, too. They acknowledged that they knew we were there. I appreciated that.