We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:54:02 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Here at the Castle we get emails like this one I'm about to share, now and again. Today is Easter for the Christian world, so this seems appropriate. I am a man with faith, though I do not seek a relationship through the offices of any particular organized community of faith. Yesterday, Blue Star Chronicles left a trackback on the H&I which I thought needed to be moved up into the post itself. Titled, "Final Salute" it is more about her concerns for her son's impending deployment to the Big Sandbox, and the pain she's seen already, and she... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:39:21 -0600 What a beautiful post! I'm going to copy the poem on Blue Star Chronicles. Thanks for the link - but especially thanks for the poem and the post. Beth http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44069 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44069 Mon, 17 Apr 2006 12:19:39 -0600 John, very cool post. Aslightly related story... My mom came from a large family, nine brothers and sisters. We all lived in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area so Thanksgivings and Easters were always a big deal. I can remember as a teenager hiding 30 dozen eggs around the yard of my parents house for the little ones to find. The last big Thanksgiving, the table for the food was three sheets of 4x8 plywood laid end to end, and there were 27 cakes and pies in the kitchen. But then people started leaving South Florida, and the only time we all got together was for weddings or funerals. When my Dad died in 1995, two days after Easter on April 18, several cousins and I were sitting around my Mom's house and we decided that we needed to do something. So we started an annual family reunion. Now, every Memorial Day weekend we all get together. We average anywhere from 100 to 160 people, depending on who is able to get there. We always have a prayer before the big dinner. I think this year, I'll read "The Chair" because the ones who are gone are reason we are there. Thanks, John. Great post... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44049 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44049 Sun, 16 Apr 2006 20:25:00 -0600 We have a few more vacant chairs this year. They did not sacrifice today on the field, but long ago and they returned to us as whole as one can after such endeavors. Now they pass from us one at a time and the emptiness of each chair seems hard to ignore. We might laugh and joke, yet we always seem to end up some how including them by telling a story about this incident or that. So, the chair may be empty, but they are always there. So I feel that keenly for all of the families who have lost loved ones in our current battle and for those whose loved ones are still far away. REmember them fondly and remember, the resurrection was the promise of renewal and joy. I remember the words in a Psalm, sorrowful, yet rejoicing. Two years ago near Easter when we were laying my grandmother to rest, as I drove home, I saw it on the sign in front of a church and I knew instantly what it meant. The betrayal of Christ, his scourging, his crucifixion, His Mother crying at his feet and then his resurrection which gave us hope in the everlasting, a sign of renewal and joy, appearing to his disciples and his mother as proof of his word. It helped me to be reminded of that. In that moment, when I read the sign as I traveled to the funeral, I felt I had received a powerful personal message. God works in mysterious ways, and Easter is a reminder of that fact. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44044 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44044 Sun, 16 Apr 2006 12:52:11 -0600 Very nice - Thanks for a beautiful post, and reminder. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44037 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44037 Sun, 16 Apr 2006 10:21:21 -0600 Wow! Beautiful, John. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44036 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/the_vacant_chair.html#comment-44036 Sun, 16 Apr 2006 10:03:03 -0600