[Darlin']

Brace yerself, girlfriend..... LordHaveMercy its cold down here and I know its even worse where you are. Brrrrrr. It finally made it up to 34 but w/the wind chill it feels like 27. BUT, we had SNOW FLURRIES this morning and they say there is a chance we'll have more than just flurries tomorrow..... Of course, come Monday its back to the mid and high 60s again.... I'm ready for this cold stuff to be outta here.

[Darlin']

Since I know that several FReeople have, in essence, "adopted" a serviceman and others contribute in different ways, I thought all of you might find this article especially heartwarming. You just never know the impact a single act of thoughfullness or kindness may have on another person's life.

"NO GREATER GIFT: In 1943, tiny box warmed lonely Michigan soldier's heart on Christmas

by Jeff Seidel, Free Press staff writer, December 23, 2004

Christmas Eve, 1943, Bougainville Island, South Pacific

As darkness fell, the bombing began again.

Leonard Owczarzak, a 19-year-old private first class from Detroit, hunkered in a hole, firing a .50-caliber antiaircraft machine gun at Japanese bombers.

"They bombed us all night," Owczarzak remembers. "They knew damn well it was our holiday. They kept us up, all night long, continuously."

There was no pattern to the attacks. One plane. Three planes. Two planes. They seemed to come every hour, all night long"

Link to the full article