Return With Honor

We all have those events in our lives that we can remember where we were and what we were doing. One of those occurred for me last October. I was sitting in the Marriott Center with my kids for my cousin Chris' last BYU basketball blue and white scrimmage. My grandpa called my aunt and said that one of my childhood friends, Dale Griffin, had been KIA in Afghanistan. Dale was one of those bigger than life kind of guys and it was so hard to believe he was gone. The next morning, the world woke to the image above as the President of the United States greeted Dale's body at Dover, Delaware.

In April when Gene and Dona were out here visiting, we took them out for dinner. They help me remember that I too can do hard things. Their optimism and hope was so inspiring as they talked about the previous five months and how they had endured them. They talked about the thirty-five years of preparation they had for that moment when they learned Dale had been KIA. They talked about people from all over the world who had reached out to them. They talked about people from our close-knit 2nd ward family who had wrapped their arms around them. And they talked about how they had made it their mission to reach out to the other families who had lost sons in the explosion that had killed Dale.

On Memorial Day, we had taken our kids to visit the graves of Matt's grandparents. We have been trying to teach them the importance of honoring not only the soldiers who have fought and died for us, but also our ancestors who sacrificed for us. While we were in Terre Haute, I wanted them to also visit Dale's grave, which was marked by this griffin. As we saw all the little trinkets that had been left there, it was a reminder of all the people who were missing him. The freshly turned earth next to him reminded us that he is taking care of his little sister now. Thank you Dale for the sacrifice you have made for us.
We will never forget.