Here's a toast to the host...

Over they years, Zeb and I have been blessed with many friends near and far. Many of those who are far from us but close at heart are from our times at respective Academies. Knowing the jobs they hold are dangerous is usually in the backs of all of our minds until it hits close to home.

This past weekend, I am deeply sadden to say we lost a classmate and friend from the P-School (Class of '04), Victoria "Tori" Pinckney (formerly Tori Castro). At the P-School, she was the glue that held our team together. She always smiled. She always knew how to make someone's day better. Tori was Tori. An amazing woman, friend, officer, wife, and mother. She met her husband, Rich, at P-School, and the match couldn't have been more perfect. They have a handsome little man, Gabriel. I can't begin to tell you how much Tori will be missed. I can't believe she is gone. I always looked forward to seeing her posts about Gabriel pop up on my FB wall. We have been blessed to know her and call her a friend.

So, raise your glasses tonight to one of the best - one that was taken far too soon. Remember, freedom is not free. God bless you, Tori! We love you! Sometimes, God takes his angels home early... Here's a toast...

 

 "High Flight"

 Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
 And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
 Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
 of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
 You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
 High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
 I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
 My eager craft through footless halls of air....

 Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
 I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
 Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
 And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
 The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
 - Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

~John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

 

XOXO,

Ashley