Day 416 - Jul 19, 2009

As I mentioned yesterday - today was the anniversary of the date that Kevin left for Basic Training. Such a weird coincidence, huh?

And y'all know that Kevin's Purple Heart Ceremony was today. I was just so proud of him. He did so incredibly well at the ceremony and when it was all over he stood there and met all of the people that came down to talk to us. Hundreds of people. They were all surrounding us and to be honest - Kevin really enjoyed it. It just amazes me how well he did with everyone! It was just so nice seeing him remember people he hasn't seen in so long and he was very courteous to those he had never met before.

After the ceremony, we went to a private dinner that the Legion held for us. 130 of our friends and family joined us - sorta. I could tell that Kevin was over-stimulated after we left the field so he and I took a car ride for some down time. At that point, dinner was already a half hour later than it should have been, so we went back to the Legion, but Kevin didn't want to go in. I left him in the car long enough to go in and talk to each of the tables and explain that Kevin had just had enough and that we were going to go home. Everybody ate and by the time I finished saying hello/goodbye to everyone, Kevin decided he was feeling better and he finally came in the door.

He had a blast and so did I. It was so wonderful to see all of the people that were invited and you couldn't have asked for a more elegant and wonderful dinner than what the Legion served. They completely outdid themselves and I thank them from the bottom of my heart!

I also do want to thank Tracy for putting this whole thing together. It would have never happened if it hadn't been for her just taking the bull by the horns and doing it.

I also want to thank Bruce for being the Master of Ceremonies and Captain Turner (with the help of Rigney) for presenting the medal.

And I realize that there are so many more that I need to thank, but I will do it privately.

I have to be honest and tell you that I am just too tired to post any photos so I will get to them tomorrow night.

In the interim though, be sure to check out the article from http://www.post-gazette.com/. There is also video with a whole bunch more photos. I am anxious to read what they have to say tomorrow too.

I also know that Kevin was featured on many different local news channels, here is what I have found so far:

KDKA News - video on right.

WPXI - Channel 11

And now this lady is hitting the hay! I am just so exhausted...