My Nephew

Again, I checked my email. I do that in the morning, it is during this time I catch up with me. Early in the morning, I can sit, have my tea, and enjoy a few minutes of solitude. This is the time where I reconnect, with myself and others.
THis morning I opened an email from my Nephew. He is currently in Iraq working as a contractor, in the private sector. He isn't military personnel, but he is there. He is married to a great "girl" from THailand. She is not with him in Iraq.
He created a blog, and said that I inspired it. Well, I don't think that I have ever inspired anything with him before.
Tom is a good person, who wants to make the world a better place. He has always wanted that, he has been environmentally conscious, and still is, he finds the good in people, and looks for it too. He marches to his own drummer, usually the beats of THe Greatful Dead. I have called him a throwback, to another time, a sort of hippie, in the modern way. When I think of him, I smile. We grew up together, him being 6 years younger than me. I babysat for him, and for Jess, his sister, because they would have killed each other if he was in charge! No really, it was so that there was an older, "more responsible" person there. I used to let him stay up late on Saturdays to watch wrestling on channel 9. Good thing there was a long driveway at the house on John Street. He had time to get to bed before his parents came in the back door.
I don't think I have told him much in his lifetime, but I love him very much. I used to love to ride my bike to the baseball fields and watch him play, it was fun. As he became older, I stopped babysitting. I missed watching wrestling with him. He worked at "real Jobs" (ones that gave a paycheck) in high school. For a brief stint, he worked in the same clothing store as I did, I was a cashier, he was one of the stock boys, he ticketed and moved merchandise all over the basement. That was short lived, he didn't make good money there.
He always was an interesting sort of kid, now he is a man in his thirties, still interesting, still determined, and still able to march to his own beat.
Good Luck, Tom, I will worry about you, and wish I could protect you, while you are there.