Our year-end family ritual is to reflect upon the good things the year brought and we typically ring in the New Year with a grand toast, a series of toasts, in gratitude for blessings past. This year my family has so much to be grateful for and I want to herald in the new with a nod to the past.
To so many I owe so much for helping our family help my warrior son, John, on that long hard journey from combat to homecoming. There were times when his nightmares, two or three a night, became too much for all of us and a friend would lend a shoulder to cry on or a safe harbor to rest in.
Thank you to his brothers in arms from earlier wars that alone knew all too well what he suffered and the impact upon his family and rallied to help him climb the dark side of the mountain and turn his face into the sun. After almost three months in the VA hospital he learned to tame his demons, to respond rather than react and made lifelong friends.
Especially I am grateful to John’s own dogged Marine determination to reroute his neurons and relearn to be a productive member of society. Today he lives in a wonderful community in California that understands and supports our veterans and is attending a college that has put special emphasis on adapting to the special needs of combat veterans.
John now works with college regents and planners to help other veterans be successful in school and speaks at many public functions in support of these goals. His movie star good looks and new found speaking skills has brought him to the attention of documentary film makers and he will be working both in front of and behind the camera to produce media to help our veterans.
Thank you to John’s baby brother, Chris, who gave up his own plans to stick with us and endured so much hardship in the process, we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you to his sisters, Sarah and Shanley, for understanding, (most of the time anyway).
For John’s mother, she is eternally grateful to all who helped him make these strides and while his life is still a struggle and he will never be the same, she now knows that he will still be wonderful. Thank you to all who helped us through this difficult time.
Also, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the V-LIM turbine. Ric Morrisonn, my fabricator has put together an amazing team of gifted and talented local engineers and artisans to bring the LIM to reality. People around the globe have contributed valuable data from material harmonic stress levels, torque calculations and dozens of empirical observations.
Coos County, without even knowing it, has been the recipient of tremendous goodwill from all over the world. Engineers and scientists from Amsterdam to Dubai to Beijing to Portland are pushing for the successful completion of the prototype.
Thank you to Jean Ivey, editor of The Sentinel for allowing me to share an alternative point of view with her readers each week and thank you, dear readers, for your kind words and feedback. Happy New Year everyone!
