Absurd moments

Tonight I found myself at a sushi bar, stuffing my face with eel, sitting across from my husband who two hours earlier had been at the airport awaiting a dead body, still wearing sweaty clothes from playing 45 minutes of racquetball in an oven, wondering about the remnants of a former category 4 hurricane that's supposed to arrive in my backyard tomorrow. It's was one of those absurd moments that pop up every now and again.

Rewind two days to Saturday: Zac and I watched the movie, "Taking Chance". It's a great movie. Very moving. It is the true story of a Marine officer that escorts the body of a PFC home for burial. The movie is a quick hour and 15 minutes long, but it is packed with lots of raw emotion and great acting. Kevin Bacon plays the older Marine Lieutenant Colonel who is dealing with issues of guilt for not being on the ground. He's concerned that his desk job isn't being true to what he was trained to do - fight. He feels guilt, and even shame, that he has chosen the safety of a desk job so he could be with his family. When the name of a young Marine from his hometown appears on the list of fallen soldiers, the officer volunteers to escort the body home.

Never mind. I just decided that I'm terrible at movie reviews. Just trust me when I say that it is most definitely worth an evening of your time.

This morning Zac was asked to be a pall bearer for the body of a Navy Chief that was arriving back in Hawaii today. Zac agreed to help out so this afternoon he put on his summer whites and headed to the airport with three other Chiefs. After the body had been unloaded from the plane, they met the body and its (his?) escort in a cargo area. They saluted the body and loaded the body into the hearse. Afterwards Zac told me that the process was almost exactly like it had been depicted in the movie. He even noticed that, indeed, the bodies are always pointed feet first towards their destination.

It seems odd to me that we randomly watched a movie on this topic and then 48 hours later, for the first time in his naval career, Zac was allowed to see part of the process in person and honor the final arrival home of one of our Navy's sailors.

Go watch the movie. It will explain things better than I can.