In 2007 I met a young Marine in Vegas....he was just back from Iraq. We were on the 22nd floor and he was looking out the window at the view down below. He said that it didn't look that radically different than Iraq seeing as how Vegas is a desert too. He was shaking. As a mother, I felt like I should try to figure out a way to soothe his soul, but as a stranger, I recognized that that wouldn't be appropriate. So I talked to him for a little while. I thanked him for his service and he assured me that he would be going back to Iraq as a good Marine would.

It was then that I decided that I would adopt a soldier in Iraq. In fact, I adopted 2. However, I was only able to maintain contact with one as the other was moved and I didn't get information about where he went. I do recall that when his packages were returned to me that I worried that something had happened to him. I was so relieved to know that he had just been moved.

The other soldier I was able to exchange letters with for a year. What an extraordinary transaction. I came to know him as a friend. I suspect that he and I would never had become friends under normal circumstances because our paths would not have ever crossed. I have wondered if perhaps this was the universe's way of telling me to look outside my normal circle or square, as it may be.

The one thing that I came to know was that having someone, a stranger, back home write to him, made a difference for him. You can often be yourself with a stranger in a way that it is sometimes difficult to be with someone you know well. And knowing that I made his day better, made my day better.

So I continue to write....almost daily, to different soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. And when I hear back from them, it puts a smile on my face......